Governing Body

Ex-Officio Member, Governing Body Shri S. J. Haider is a member of the prestigious Indian Administrative Service and has been serving in the Government at senior leadership positions for more than 26 years. He is currently serving as Principal Secretary, Higher & Technical Education (H&TE), Government of Gujarat.

Mr. Nilesh Hada is the Chairman of “Uniworld Educare Foundation”. A visionary graduate from reputed University of Calcutta, with specialized skills in Education Management, Mr. Hada is a first generation entrepreneur. He has devoted his skills & pursuits in shaping the strategies to create value in his entire business endeavour, be it in the field of Education, Textiles, Distribution, Hospitality or Real estate. It can be best illustrated by his capabilities to handle projects of various natures, founding and building Education institutions of repute  like Singapore International School ( Mumbai) , SIS – Prep ( Mumbai & Ahmedabad) , Karnavati School of Dentistry, Unitedworld School of Business, Unitedworld Institute of Design & Unitedworld School of Law at Ahmedabad.

Shri Kapil Dev, captain of India's first World Cup winning team and Indian Cricketer of the Century (Wisden, 2002) is the Brand Ambassador of Karnavati University. He is recipient of Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri and Arjuna Award.

Mr. Ritesh Hada is the Promoter & Managing Director of United Group. The Group is presently operating in the verticals of Education, FMCG, Hospitality, and Textiles. He is the president of Karnavati Institution, a prestigious private university with 8 top-notch institutes and more than 8500 students on campus, which is situated in Gujarat. Mr. Hada has established and directed corporate operations such as finance, strategy, business process optimization, innovation, investor relations, etc. for the past 20 years with an emphasis on achieving sustained growth. Under his capable direction, Karnavati University has improved professional education standards through research-driven coursework, technological advancements in the classroom, and improved student experiences. Mr. Hada is in charge of corporatizing United Group through the establishment of procedures and the selection of qualified individuals for the management team. A variety of students in different professional education streams have been drawn to United Group and Karnavati University because of their distinctive growth model and competitive edge. United Group has created tremendous value for all of its stakeholders by upholding the highest standards of corporate governance and business ethics. Karnavati University, under his direction, won the CSR Awards' prize for Excellence in Education in 2020. The education industry recognizes Mr. Hada as a thinking leader. He has been crucial in transforming the country's design education landscape from a government-dominated sector to one that is led by professional institutes. Mr. Hada is a graduate of Calcutta University and the Leicester Business School at De Montford University in the United Kingdom. Mr. Hada, a proponent of India's startup culture, played a key role in creating the country's first-ever defense incubation system at Karnavati University, known as the Defense Design and Technology incubator of India. He has also led the Karnavati Innovation Incubation Foundation, a parallel ecosystem at Karnavati University. In recent years, Karnavati University has organized prominent national events like Ahmedabad Design Week and the Youth Parliament of India, in which students from all across the country and beyond have passionately participated. Mr. Hada is actively involved in SIS Prep, Edumystic Global (the United Group's international education arm), and the board of United PolyFab Gujarat Ltd, a fabric manufacturing company, in addition to Karnavati University. Notable Awards & Accolades: 2020 - Excellence in Education Award by CSR Awards 2019 - Best Private Dental College Award by DIAC 2019 - The Best Emerging University of Gujarat by DIAC 2018 -  Best Design Institute in India - UID by WEA 2019 2018 - IP emerging Campus of the year (Legal) - UWSL by IPPO 2017 - Top 10 promising Law Colleges in India - UWSL by HER

He has done his Master’s in Business Administration with specialisation in Marketing from ICFAI University. He has nearly 16 years of experience at various levels of administration in the higher education system. He has through knowledge and understanding of higher education rules and regulations formulated by statutory bodies like UGC, DCI, BCI, Education Department, Government of Gujarat, AICTE etc. He has been instrumental in getting statutory approvals at KU and thereby played an important role in setting up of various institutions in Karnavati University. He is also entrusted with responsibility of Controller of Examination at Karnavati University since its inception.

Dr. Malay Mahadevia is Group Director - HR, Adani Group and Wholetime Director, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. (APSEZ) He joined Adani in 1992 and worked on developing Mundra port from conceptualization to commissioning. Dr. Mahadevia has been awarded 'Outstanding Manager of the Year' by Ahmedabad Management Association in the year 2002. In 2008, he was conferred PhD by Gujarat University in the field of "Coastal Ecology around Mundra area".

Mr. Shashikant Chaudhary is a serial entrepreneur and innovator who has co-founded five IT companies. He is a renowned mentor and Angel Investor. He was ex-President of TiE-Nagpur Chapter. He also founded Nagpur Angels-group of Angel Investor from Nagpur. He has invested in several early stage and student start-ups.

Mr. Ajay Umat, a well-known and respected senior journalist from Gujarat has built a formidable reputation for himself in 28 years of exemplary service in the field of journalism. A prolific writer, journalist and an orator he has honed his skills in some of the premier newspapers of the country including Gujarat Samachar, Sandesh, India Today (Gujarati), Jansatta-Loksatta, Dainik Bhaskar and Times of India. Mr. Umat, joined The Times of India as a senior political editor from 2010 to 2013, and is currently the Chief Editor of Navgujrat Samay (a Gujarati language daily from the same group). Before joining The Times of India Group he was State Editor of Divya Bhaskar (The Gujarati language newspaper from Dainik Bhaskar Group) for eight years.

Dr. Amaresh Chakrabarti is a Senior Professor and current Chairman for Centre for Product Design & Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bangalore. He has led for 10 years the Design Synthesis group at EPSRC CoE Egg Design Centre at University of Cambridge. He has published 17 books, over 300 peer-reviewed articles and has 11 patents granted/pending. Dr. Chakrabarti has received Careers360 Faculty Research Award 2018 for being the ‘Most Outstanding Researcher’ in Decision Sciences. He is also among the global top 1% of researchers in ‘Design Pratice & Management.’ His interests are in synthesis, creativity, sustainability and informatics. He has BE (Topper in Mech Engg, IIEST Shibipur), ME (topper in Mech Design, IISC) and PhD (Engg Design, Univ of Cambridge UK).

Chief Corporate Affairs at Advisor @ Zydus Group (Pharma Group, Healthcare, Education)

N C Singhal was the founder Chief Executive Officer, designated as the Vice-Chairman & Managing Director of the erstwhile SCICI Limited, a premier banking institution, structured for the development of industry and infrastructure in India.  Earlier, he was a senior executive with ICICI retiring as a member of the Board of Directors.  NCS was engaged as a Management Specialist with the Asian Development Bank, Manila, for its programs in South Korea and Pakistan, and for advising the National Bank of Uzbekistan.  The Government of India had deputed him as a Banking Expert to the Industrial Development Bank of Afghanistan,  a World Bank program . He was also Adviser to Nikko Securities, London/Tokyo. He has been associated with banking, industrial and educational organisations, in India and abroad, as advisor, chairman/director and trustee, including Vice-Chairman of the Maritime Commission of The International Chamber of Commerce, Paris.  He obtained PG degrees in Economics, Statistics and Administration, and participated in several AMPs. He was awarded the United Nations Development Program Fellowship. He has been regular invitee to the annual meetings of the IMF-World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the Association of the Development Financial Institutions of Asia & Pacific; as well as a guest speaker at several conferences, organised by international banks, International Chamber of Commerce in France, and at several business schools and professional bodies.

Surojit Bose is the Director - (Academics & International Collaborations) of Unitedworld Institute of Design (UID), Karnavati University. He obtained his MBA from Delhi productivity Council, GGS IP University, New Delhi and Masters in Economics. Earlier as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Parsons, Mumbai, he helmed operations, curriculum delivery, quality assurance, collaborative projects, student mobility. He has served as Senior Vice President (Academic Management – International Relations & Process Re-engineering) at Pearl Academy, for 10 years, responsible for academic management, process re-engineering, designing & developing systems and academic processes benchmarked to international standards. Under his leadership, UID has collaborative partnerships with some of the top Design Schools in APEC region, Europe & UK and soon in Canada & Americas to be called truly United - worldwide (UWW) under KU - Go Global initiatives. He has been instrumental for UID’s membership to premier Internationally recognized Design bodies – WDO (formerly – ICSID), Cumulus Association, ADI & IFFTI and active collaborative partnership. Col Bose has implemented KPMG Project with a leadership role for implementation of Cloud based real time operations & resource optimization, - SAP Modules of Student Life Cycle Management System (SLCM) / MM / HCM / HR & F & A – aligned to SAP process models. and workflows for automating academic management - Attendance, faculty workloads, assessment etc.

Madhavi Mudgal is an Indian classical dancer known for her Odissi dance style. She has won several awards, including the Sanskriti Award, 1984, President of India's award of Padma Shri, 1990,the Orissa State Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1996, Grande Medaille de la Ville by Govt. of France, 1997, Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 2000, Delhi State Parishad Samman, 2002 and the title of Nritya Choodamani in 2004. She is globally acclaimed for her deep insight into the art of choreography and her commitment to train and encourage new dancers to finer nuances of Odissi