Our Team

Dr Kalpana Sankar

Dr Kalpana Sankar is the Chairperson of Hand in Hand India and is one of its co-founders. She is also the Managing Director of Belstar Microfinance Limited, a leading microfinance company with a pan-India presence. Dr. Sankar has been involved in the self-help group movement for more than two decades and has specialized in participatory assessment; gender differentiated impact and monitoring tools working on UN and World Bank projects.
She has a double doctorate in nuclear physics and gender studies and an E-MBA from TRIUM.

Mr. Sridhar R

Sridhar Ranganathan has over three decades of leadership experience. After serving as the Managing Director for Allergan India, he went on to become the Associate Vice President based out of UK. He is currently Co-Founder of HELYXON, Co-Founder of Jokesapart and is also on the board of a few healthcare companies apart from being an Independent Director on board for Unimech Aerospace. He is also a member of the Steering Committee in the Department of BioTechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt of India. 

He is passionate about transforming people through training and mentoring and has been part of various initiatives throughout his leadership journey.

Dr.U.A.Balasubramanian

He is a former General Manager of Indian Bank. He has over 45 years of teaching and training experience to officers of the banking industry. He was an advisor (training) to CMD / Board, Indian Bank. He is a visiting professor with NIBM & IMAGE. He has prepared the syllabi and curriculum for the Masters and Doctoral Programs in Extension Education of the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University. He has guided Masters and Doctoral Scholars in the field of Extension Education and Rural Development. He has done an extensive research project on “Maternity and Child Care” for UNICEF and Govt. of Tamil Nadu.

Ms Madhumathi C

Ms. C. Madhumathi is a dynamic Human Resource Management professional with 30 years of experience in formulating strategies and organising learning and development programmes. She is meticulous about optimising resources and increasing productivity levels.

MR. S. CHANDRASEKAR, Director

He has more than 38 years of corporate and entrepreneur experience. His career graph includes stints at AF Ferguson, Coopers & Lybrand, and National Finance Company – Oman, Sundaram Infotech and Belstar Microfinance. Functional experience spans- audit, finance, HR, IT, credit operations, training and general management.

DR. Y.JOE, HEAD

Dr. Joe is an experienced professional with over 29 years of work across academia, research, industry, and grassroots development. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Microbiology from the University of Madras and a Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Science. His core expertise includes project management, climate change mitigation, environmental training, and development sector strategies.

Currently leading the Hand in Hand Academy for Social Entrepreneurship, Dr. Joe focuses on fostering innovation and capacity building for social enterprises. His international exposure includes developmental and environmental engagements in Switzerland, Sweden, Sri Lanka, and at the UNFCCC Climate Change Conference in Songdo, South Korea.

Mr. Yeshaswi Nag, 

Deputy General Manager

Working as Deputy General Manager for New Initiatives at Hand in Hand Academy for Social Entrepreneurship. Heading the Marketing and Business Development Team and New Initiatives which includes interventions related to Entrepreneurship Development, Startup Promotional activities, Business Incubation and Innovation Processes.

He has 17 + years of experience as trainer / motivator in Entrepreneurship Development and Mentor for several Startups in Product Development & Scale up and Higher Education Institutions helping them to establish Technology Business Incubators.

He is an Engineer in Biotechnology and Certified Master Trainer in Entrepreneurship