Board of Directors
Biju Thampy
Founder PresidentBiju is a social entrepreneur passionate to see every human enjoy their right to live with dignity. He is the managing director of a business Jireh Exports and the social enterprise Jireh Initiatives, which leverages environmentally sound products. Biju is known internationally as an inspirational speaker, frequently headlining conferences across the US, UK, Australia, Brazil. He is a graduate of Sheffield University, UK.
Varun Vijit Singh
SecretaryVarun is an accomplished and versatile Banking & Financial professional with over 22 years of experience with renowned organizations such as Citigroup, HDFC Bank, Volkswagen Financial Services and Daimler Financial Services. He has garnered recognition for being an astute financial strategist with expertise in building and motivating top performing teams and leading organizations through critical transitions. He has vast experience in providing guidance in functions such as optimization of resources as well as creating streamlined, well-documented processes and procedures. Varun is a forward-thinking business leader with excellent communication, leadership, and strategic planning skills, with the ability to rapidly assimilate and use new technologies to augment innovation and productivity.
Abraham Punnoose
TreasurerAbraham is business leader with over two decades of professional experience spanning national & international sales, marketing, branding ,business development, business strategy & operations, credit, fraud & risk management across retail banking, credit cards and telecom operators business verticals like mobile applications, media , telecom software , value added services and carrier service operations. He serves as an Advisory Board Member at CMO Council, India & APAC. His specialties include Marketing, Branding, Business Development, Sales Head, Strategy, Technology Partnerships, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Operator Operations, Retail Banking, Enterprise Business and Risk Management.
Girish Kumar
TrusteeGirish Kumar is professionally qualified as a Company Secretary from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, and also holds a Degree in Law from Government Law College from Bombay University. He worked for 24 years at The Federal Bank Ltd. as a Company Secretary and was in charge of the Compliance Department before he retired as Senior Vice President and Company Secretary in 2019.
Deepa Chandrasekhar
TrusteeDeepa Chandrasekhar is a HR leader with 16 years of experience in large multinational organizations both in India and overseas. She has experience in Organizational Development, Change Management and Employee Engagement during large-scale mergers and acquisitions. She is currently Vice President HR in a large IT services company in Bangalore. Deepa is a firm believer that each of us is placed in the marketplace for a reason and that reason is people. Deepa is married to Shridhar and they are based out of Bangalore.
Rohit Paul
TrusteeRohit’s entrepreneurial career began at just 19 years old, when he hired fellow students of Central Saint Martins to meet the branding needs of local businesses in London. Shortly after graduating he launched Red Identity, a brand strategy firm. After almost ten years in London, he returned to India to seek meaningful involvement in the challenges faced by the most disenfranchised in the country. Rohit once designed and delivered training interventions for some of the world’s largest corporations, including HP, Volvo, HSBC and Accenture. Today, however, his passion and focus lie in equipping educators with tools to build transformative relationships with their students and foster empowering learning cultures in their schools.
Navin Chatterjee
TrusteeNavin is a senior sales and marketing professional with over 25 years of experience working with A-lister corporates in travel & tourism, media and sports. For the last two years, he has spearheaded his own start-up. Naveen was born, raised and educated in Jabalpur and strongly believes in constantly developing his physical, intellectual and spiritual areas of life for successful living. He is blessed with a loving and caring wife and a family of two children who are his firm pillar of emotional support and strength. Naveen loves travel, food, music and exercise and strives to keep giving back to the world with whatever he has so that abundant life may flow through him and impact others.
Rajesh Jadhav
TrusteeRajesh is a self-driven activist who has raised his voice on various social issues. He is an able operations professional who has worked alongside Biju and Secunda Thampy from day one of Vision Rescue. After 11 years of leading the organisation’s operations, he now shepherds its internal and external cultural values by empowering employees to capture and keep alive the organisation’s core culture and vision. Rajesh is passionate about raising able leaders for tomorrow through Vision Rescue.
Executive Leadership Team
Biju Thampy
Founder PresidentBiju is a social entrepreneur passionate to see every human enjoy their right to live with dignity. He is the managing director of a business Jireh Exports and the social enterprise Jireh Initiatives, which leverages environmentally sound products. Biju is known internationally as an inspirational speaker, frequently headlining conferences across the US, UK, Australia, Brazil. He is a graduate of Sheffield University, UK.
Secunda Thampy
FounderSecunda is a passionate advocate for children’s rights and women empowerment. As co-founder of Vision Rescue, she has championed the upliftment of children by directing the non-profits’ various education initiatives, and spearheading its employability skills training endeavors for women. She holds a Masters of Sociology.
Ajesh Jose
DirectorAjesh came to Vision Rescue with excellent analytical skills, a background in statistics and hands-on experience running a family business from his college days. Today he serves as Vision Rescue’s Director of Operations, implementing the strategies designed to achieve the vision and mission of the organization. He is a Computer Science graduate from KU, Telengana.
Sam Koshy
Director | Advocacy & Capacity Building Team – The Movement IndiaSam is a talent development professional with over a decade of talent consulting experience. Prior to Vision Rescue, he worked with the Talent Development team of TCS. He also served as a faculty delivering the Phillips ROI Methodology with over 30 start-ups and industry giants across India. Sam is passionate about bringing talent and expertise to those who need it the most in disadvantaged communities as director of Vision Rescue’s Advocacy & Capacity Building Team – The Movement India .
Rajesh Jadhav
Director | Organisation CultureRajesh is a self-driven activist who has raised his voice on various social issues. He is an able operations professional who has worked alongside Biju and Secunda Thampy from day one of Vision Rescue. After 11 years of leading the organisation’s operations, he now shepherds its internal and external cultural values by empowering employees to capture and keep alive the organisation’s core culture and vision. Rajesh is passionate about raising able leaders for tomorrow through Vision Rescue.
Susan Raju Paul
Chief Executive OfficerSusan is a physician-scientist by training and currently serves as Chief Executive Officer at Vision Rescue. Prior to assuming this role, she dedicated nearly a decade to immunology-based research at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Aside from her scientific acumen, her expertise also encompasses strategic operations, including project management of clinical studies, and in navigating global collaborative endeavors between academic and pharmaceutical partners.
Leadership Team
ANITA KHUDE
City Community Operations Lead (Mumbai)
BINU THAMPY
City Community Operations Head (Kolkata)
TENI THOMAS
City Community Operations Head (Chennai)
ESTHER ANNA SAM
Head -Media & Communications
KASHINATH KAMBLE
Community Centre Mobilizer (Shivaji Nagar)
YESHWANT METHRI
Community Centre Mobilizer (MH Nagar)
TRIPTI DATTA
Education Mentor (Primary)
SIMONE SOANS
Education Mentor (Pre-primary)
PALLAVI GAIKWAD
Chief Mentor (Govt School Support)
DR. REENA THOMAS
Chief Mentor (Dental Care Support)
RIDJU CHERIAN
Chief Mentor (Healthcare Support)
SIMON GOPALAN
Chief Mentor (Nutrition Support)
RATHEESH RAJU
Chief Mentor (Sports Support)
BENNI THANGADURAI
Finance Manager
BINU ZACHARIA
Commercial Manager
MONALISA VISHWANATHAN
HR Manager
ANEESHA SARAH REUBEN
Advocacy & Capacity Building Lead- Corporate
PREETI CHATTERJEE
Advocacy & Capacity Building Lead- Education
SMITA FERNANDES
Chief Mentor (Vocational & Livelihood Support)