Nand & Jeet Khemka Distinguished Speaker Forum-From Investments to Impact: Driving Transformation with Vision and Voice (PPIL Approved)

Vishal Bakshi '00

Founder and Managing Partner

Avatar Growth Capital

Vishal Bakshi is a seasoned private equity investor and business leader with over two decades of global experience across investment banking and private equity. A proud member of the Columbia Business School Class of 2000, Vishal spent 16 years at Goldman Sachs, where he led the firm’s $1 billion India Private Equity business. Under his leadership, the team built a differentiated investment strategy focused on proprietary, non-auction opportunities and delivered strong results across sectors, stages, and control structures.

Earlier in his career, he served as global head of IT services M&A and corporate finance within Goldman Sachs’ Technology Investment Banking group in New York, and prior to Goldman, he led private equity investment banking at the ICICI/JP Morgan joint venture in India.

Today, as founder and managing partner of his own investment platform, Avatar Growth Capital Partners, Vishal continues to work closely with high-growth technology-driven businesses.

Vibha Bakshi

Responsible Films

Dr. Vibha Bakshi is an internationally acclaimed film director and producer, and a four-time National Film Award winner - India’s highest cinematic honor- awarded by the President of India.

Dr. Bakshi was conferred an Honorary Doctorate from Boston University, her alma mater, in recognition of her powerful use of cinema as a catalyst for social change.

Vibha’s groundbreaking documentary ‘Daughters of Mother India’ became the ‘Most Awarded Social Campaign in the World’ (Global Creative Index) and is instrumental in gender sensitising over 150,000 police on the burning issue of rape and violence against women.

Her most recent multi-award winning film ‘Son Rise’, is being showcased by the United Nations across 71 priority countries as part of the global #HeForShe movement, spotlighting the role of men in driving gender equality.

Dr. Bakshi co-produced along with Oscar-winning filmmaker Maryann DeLeo ‘Too Hot Not To Handle’ (HBO), addressing global warming, and Terror At Home (Lifetime TV), an Emmy Award-winning campaign to stop violence against women.

Gita Johar

Faculty Director of the Chazen Institute's India Business Initiative

Columbia Business School

Gita Johar is the faculty director of the Chazen Institute's India Business Initiative. She has been on the faculty of Columbia Business School since 1992 and has served in many leadership positions at the school, holding roles as Senior Vice Dean, Vice Dean for Research, and Vice Dean for DEI. She has also served the university in many capacities including as Chair of the Faculty Steering Committee for the Columbia Global Centers | South Asia in Mumbai. She currently serves on the Provost’s Advisory Council for the Enhancement of Faculty Diversity and received the university-wide Faculty Service Award this year.

Johar has served the marketing academic community as co-editor of the Journal of Consumer Research, guest co-editor of the Journal of Marketing Special Issue on Better Marketing for a Better World, and as President of the Society for Consumer Psychology. She also serves on the Board of Advisors at Asia Initiatives and on the Morgan Stanley Institute for Inclusion Advisory Board.

Her scholarship is in the area of consumer psychology, focusing on consumer identity, beliefs, motivation, and persuasion as they relate to branding, advertising, and media. Her current research examines consumer interactions with technology, aims to understand and mitigate the effects of misinformation, and studies how to use psychological principles to inspire consumers to combat climate change. She is working with NGOs in India to implement research-based interventions in the field, in areas such as tree planting and education. She currently teaches MBA classes on innovation and social innovation as well as a Global Immersion class focused on innovation in India. She is closely involved with the marketing PhD program and has taught Research Methods and has mentored a number of doctoral students over the years. She was recognized for this work with the CBS Service to the Doctoral Program Award in 2023.