PUNEET SHARMA Co-Founder & Managing Director, UtSide

Puneet Sharma is the co-founder and Managing Director of UtSide, offering online specialisation courses in Animation, VFX, Gaming & Comics (AVGC). He has been part of the AVGC industry for 25+ years, both in Animation Production & Education. Puneet has played an active role on the Managing Committee of The Animation Society of India (TASI) from Year 2009 to 2016. During his tenure, He was involved as one of the core members to organize India's most popular International Animation Festival for Students, ORBIT LIVE! He has been part of the International Jury Panel for various National & International Animation festivals such as GOLDEN CURSOR Animation Awards (Mumbai, India), ITFS Festival (Stuttgart, Germany) & ANIMAYO Festival (Gran Canaria, Spain).

Saksham Dwivedi, Co-Founder, Leader, Developer, Designer, Director Agarthian Games

Saksham is a 16 year old Game Developer and Co-Founder of Agarthian Games, along with this he studies in class 12th. He started game development back in class 8th in 2018. The teenager was always interested in technology and being inspired by Super Mario Bros., GTA Vice City and Pokèmon Go, he started game development. In 2020, he co-founded Agarthian Games along with other talented people and also led the team. Before Agarthian Games, he used to make games to acquire the skill of 3D modeling, programming, designing, etc.

He has also done video editing, VFX and animations. Managing Game Development with studies is a hassle, but time management helped him do this. The youngster loves learning new things.

P JAYAKUMAR - CEO TOONZ MEDIA GROUP

A distinguished figure in the M&E industry, P. Jayakumar has spearheaded the success story of one of Asia’s most pioneering animation studios, Toonz Media Group. Joining the organization as the Chief Financial Officer, Jayakumar took up the reins of the young company in 2001, becoming the CEO of Toonz.

Under his inspirational leadership, Toonz expanded from its homeground growing its global footprint, diversifying business, and making strategic international acquisitions, such as the Spanish distribution company Imira and Ireland-based studio Telegael.

Jayakumar is a member of the prestigious International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He is a member of CII, FICCI, and also the president of Society of AVGC Institutions in Kerala (SAIK) as well as a member of the MESC.

Jitendra Arora, Dean - Atlas School of Film and Animation

Jitendra Arora studied Architecture, pursued Design, and ended up being a Narrative Explorer deeply interested in the mediums of Film and Animation.

He studied at Lucknow University, trained at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and transformed at New York University with a Fulbright Fellowship. At NYU, he got the opportunity to explore the world of museum narratives and work at Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, where he layouted the CY Twombly retrospective for the Bilbao Guggenheim.

Upon returning, he worked closely with the French educators at DSK-Rubika Supinfocom, Pune in designing a robust and highly effective International Masters Degree program in the field of 3D Animation. He's been heading the DICE VFS School of Entertainment Arts since 2019 and is currently the Dean of the School of Film and Animation at Atlas SkillTech University, Mumbai.

Jitendra holds over 21 years of experience both in education and industry.

Kushal Baid, Founder and CEO, GamerGage Studio LLP

Kushal Baid is the founder of GamerGage Studio LLP, a game development company based in Delhi. He started making Games when he was 12yrs old and it has been more than three years that he is doing it.

Last year in October he incorporated his company and now they are working on the development of many cool mobile games which will be out soon. The company is also working with one of the top hyper-casual publishers.

Suresh Eriyat, Founder and Director, Studio Eeksaurus

Born in November 1973 Suresh Eriyat is a 1997 graduate of the prestigious National Institute of Design. Specialising in Animation Film Design, Suresh came to Mumbai looking for opportunities in making animation films. Prospects of creating original animated stories in India back in the 90s being very nascent, he, in collaboration with Famous Studios, set up Famous House of Animation in 1998 and through that landmark venture he created numerous animated ads, shorts, music videos with many firsts, which brought not only national and international recognitions but also changed the way people perceived animation in India.

The impending dream of creating original animation films got closer for him when in 2009 he started Studio Eeksaurus with his wife Nilima as partner. He continues to elevate the recognition of quality Indian animation content across the world. Eeksaurus also is a very well-known and widely respected advertising film production company in the country. Having won the first ever Annecy Cristal for the country in 2015, Suresh also won the president's national awards in 2016 and 2018 for best animated film. Having sat in several prestigious jury panels of the likes of Clio, Asia Pacific Adfest, Apollo, LIA, AICP Blue Ribbon Panel, D & AD, KROK, Promax etc since two decades. He takes time from his busy schedule educating students, taking masterclasses for aspiring filmmakers across India and abroad. His films have won more than 200 plus national and international awards and have a rich portfolio of more than 500 films. He is also a trained Carnatic musician, an artist, a keen observer, TEDx speaker with a deep interest in philosophy, anthropology and culture.

Vaibhav More, Founder and Director, VAIBHAV MORE FILMS

Vaibhav More is a graduate of Sir JJ School of Fine Art. He is an Animation director/Designer/Director of Vaibhav More Films and primarily catering to the advertising industry as vfx and animation director.

Vaibhav More films was founded in 2009 and since then has worked on many award-winning projects. Alongside winning 25 Promax BDA awards internationally Vaibhav is also a committee member of TASI.

Vaibhav More Films firmly believe in creating quality content for their clients in India and abroad.His client list includes prestigious brands like Google, Lego, MTV international, Nick India, Cartoon Network, Star tv, Zee entertainment, and many more to name. Vaibhav has been actively involved in the promotion of Open-source software for the last 5 years. He has been on panels of many animation institutes. Vaibhav More films is currently located in Navi Mumbai

Deepak Kumar EP Freelance Animator and Fine Arts Student Thrissur Govt College of Fine Arts

Deepak as a kid drew a lot and began with some animation in flipbooks and slowly made some digital stick figure animation. When he was in 8th standard he made a small animated movie in one year, where his friends helped with voice acting. Later it got an international award from CHIYOKO International Film Festival at Zurich, Switzerland and a Child National award for exceptional achievement in art when he was in 10th standard.
He also got a scholarship from Toonz Animation Trivandrum soon after 12th, then joined Toonz from where he continued learning animation. During his time in Toonz he got a chance to compete in India Skills under the category of 3D game art, where he achieved first place in the state-level competition.
He worked on a few animated projects in Toonz on Covid 19 awareness videos for Kerala Govt and did two projects for UNESCO. Currently he is doing BFA (2nd year) in Thrissur Govt College of Fine Arts.

Bejoy Arputharaj CEO, MD & VFX Supervisor PhantomFx

With more than a decade of experience in the VFX field, Bejoy has led the growth of PhantomFX from a studio of six to a prolific studio with more than 300 employees. PhantomFx has emerged as a successful VFX company, with studios set up in Chennai and Mumbai and administrative offices in the US and Canada. Right from the inception to till date, Bejoy dons several hats at PhantomFx.
He has worked on over two hundred feature films, both domestic and international. As a VFX Supervisor, he has overseen the completion of notable projects like 'The Little Mermaid’, 'The Flash', 'Dangerous', 'Superman and Lois', 'Project Blue Book', 'Ayirathil Oruvan', 'Vishwaroopam 2, 'Indru Netru Naalai', 'Haathi Mere Saathi', 'Kaithi' and 'Beast'.
In May 2017, Bejoy was elected as a board manager for VES India Section.

Rajat Ojha CEO Gamitronics

Rajat has been in the video game industry for 26 years and worked on marquee games like Resident Evil, Battlefield, Final Fantasy, SGS and many more. Always at the forefront of technology, he's currently busy building India ka Apna Metaverse, PartyNite which has hosted some of the marquee events in metaverse.
Rajat is one of those successful entrepreneurs who could take his gaming experience to the theme park industry and built some of the most popular theme parks across the world.

Rajesh R. Turakhia Founder & Director Frameboxx Animation and Visual Effects Private Limited

Mr. Rajesh R. Turakhia, has successfully launched two of the leading brands (MAAC, Frameboxx) in the domain of quality education of Animation, VFX and Gaming. The institutes headed by him have trained over 1,00,000 students in the past 20 years. His primary aim was to improve the quality and studio readiness of skilled manpower in the industry. Apart from the education vertical, Rajesh also handled the state of the art production studio named MEL (Maya Entertainment Limited) in the position of CEO / Executive Director.
Under his guidance, Frameboxx launched India’s first Metaverse course and a full-fledged extensive course on Game Art. Both the courses are supported by practical AR and VR projects for practical knowledge.

Prof.Diwakar Shukla Dean Faculty of Journalism and Creative Studies Head-JLU Advancement & International Affairs Jagran Lakecity University

Prof.Diwakar Shukla Dean Faculty of Journalism and Creative Studies Head-JLU Advancement & International Affairs Jagran Lakecity University

Nikhil Mittal Head of Growth Skill-Lync

Bhavna Padmanbhan Head of Product Bigfatphoenix Interactive

A S Krishna Swamy Professor Animation Cinema Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute

C B Arun Kumar Academic Director Pearl Edge

Prerna Jhunjhunwala, Founder Creative, Galileo and Little Paddington

Prerna Jhunjhunwala is the founder of Creative Galileo- a new-age Ed-Tech platform transforming early learning globally for children from three to ten years. The e-learning app witnessed seven million downloads and over 7,00,000 monthly active users in a short span. The app aims to accelerate a child's early literacy development through narrative videos, gamification and personalized learning journeys. She also founded one of Singapore's leading pre-schools, Little Paddington.

Prerna graduated from NYU and moved to Singapore with a vision to modernize and upscale the education imparted to children in their budding or formative years. She believes that a child's future not only depends on the grades but also on their impeccable social, cognitive and leadership skills.

She is a recipient of Economic Times' Women in Tech'- Inspiring Business Leader Award and Entrepreneur India's most coveted recognition 'Creative Entrepreneur of the Year'.

Vaibhav Kumaresh, Director, Vaibhav Studios

Aby John, Producer, Chief Operating Officer, 88 Pictures

Hafiz Shaikh, Regional Sales Manager - West India, Wacom

Simran Bahal, User Experience Designer, Boolien NFT

Armaan F. DadyBurjor, Student, Poddar International School (IBDP)

Armaan F. DadyBurjor (Born 12th December 2006) is an Indian visual arts student aspiring to join the animation industry. On the internet, he goes by the pseudonym �Tablespook�. He started drawing at the age of 5, due to his at-the-time large obsession with science-fiction movies and TV shows. He is currently studying digital art, 3D modelling, photography, and animation. He has won numerous child animation awards with his fellow students of the animation class Toon Club. In his spare time, he enjoys watching cartoons and anime, along with playing video games. He dreams of making his own animated series or video games in the future and had designed simple games on his computer at a very young age.

Sanjay Khimesara, Partner - Arena Animation, Geeta Bhawan, Core Committee Member - Asifa India, Founder - Horizon Institute of Design

Pioneer in Design, Media & Entertainment Training in central India Since 1997, Sanjay is an Engineering Graduate, Management Post Graduate & a research Scholar. Student graduating from HID have won huge recognition's at top film festivals and leading creative contests across the globe. Over 30 graduates from his school have worked on 11+ Oscar & National Award Winning Movies.

He volunteers with Asifa India as Director & Core committee member. He is also Secretary, AVGC-XR Media & Entertainment, President of an educational society & co-founder of Samvad. With his expertise of around three decades, he manages a team of amazing experts, who guide youth as mentors. Key strength of his Design School is strong industry & alumni connect.

Siddharth Jabade, Vice-Chancellor, Vishwakarma University

Abhinav Anand, Founder & CTO, Quizbee

Mr. Abhinav Anand, Founder & CTO of Quizbee holds a degree in M.Sc Honours from Banaras Hindu University. Prior to starting his entrepreneurial journey, he worked as a Senior Associate in Sapient and Solution Analyst and later on as Business Development Manager in Sapple Systems.

With more than 20 Years of experience in business development, he is passionate about turning ideas into applications. In Quizbee, Abhinav looks after managing the technical aspects of the application and handling development and releases.

Vikash Srivastava, Co-Founder & CTO, AlmaBetter

Vikash Srivastava is the co-founder & CTO at AlmaBetter. He is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur. In his professional career, he has worked with multiple MNCs, such as HSBC, and Amex to name a few, in the role of Data Scientist. At a very young age, he brings in vast expertise in the field of Data Science. He is curious and passionate about technology and firmly believes technology has the potential to democratize access to education. At AlmaBetter, he is exploring the regime of how great products can shape the future of learning and careers. He also loves to read about science and history and often meditates on Naval's podcasts and considers him to be a guru.

Savio Mascarenhas, Group Art Director, ACK Media Pvt.Ltd

Savio Mascarenhas has been involved in the world of comics for the past 22 years. He is a commerce graduate and has worked in advertising as a copywriter for a couple of years after graduating. He started as a freelance cartoonist for Tinkle comics in 1992 and continued to do so for a couple of years and finally joined as a full time artist in 1994. He has co created characters like Mopes and Purr,the detective duo from Crawford market Mumbai, Janoo and Wooly Woo, the good witch and the Shy dragon , Super Suppandi, a creation that exists only in the hyper imaginative mind of Suppandi, and Adventures of Little Shambu, based on the childhood adventures of Shikari Shambu.

Presently he is the Group Art Director at ACK Media Pvt.Ltd. Here he handles Amar Chitra Katha, And Tinkle, the Fortnightly magazine for Kids.

Prof- Binoj V John, Head of Animation Design Dept., MIT Institute of Design

Tehzeeb Khurana, Founder, Toon Club

Celebrated Animation Director with over 20 years of experience, Tehzeeb is the founder of Toon Club, a pioneering organisation teaching the art of animation filmmaking and storytelling to children 7 -18 years olds.

Toon Club's award-winning curriculum educates students in the Fundamentals of Art and Animation, History of Animation, Basics of Film Language, Character Development and Experimental techniques of Animation, giving students a holistic understanding of the subject.

Films created by children at Toon Club, under her creative supervision have received 56 International awards & 3 Industry Recognitions. Her seminal efforts have culminated in the animation curriculum being appended across select premier schools in Mumbai. Besides she has also conducted workshops for leading NGOs, museums, International Festivals and Organisations & corporates.

Dr. (h.c) Ankit Jain, Assistant Professor, School of Design, Dr Vishwanath Karad MIT World Peace University

Geeta Khatwani, HR Manager, Famulus Media & Entertainment

Over 10 years of experience in a variety of industries such as Media & Animation, Shared HR Services, Logistics, Management Colleges, Training institutes among others. With a diverse work portfolio that includes end to end Human Resources Planning & Development including strategic & operational aspects, Business operations, Mentoring, Educating and Counselling.

PShajan Samuel, Chief Revenue Officer, Safalta

He currently works as Chief Revenue Officer Safalta an edtech brand backed by Amar Ujala . Safalta.com is an innovative edtech platform for youngsters of semi-urban and rural India, who are fighting their fate-line by seeking education and employment to realise their ambitions.

Shajan has more than two decades of experience with brands like MRF Ltd , JK tyres , Manipal , Quess Corp & Aptech Ltd . He is one of India's top 100 long distance runners and also Limca and Indian Book record holder.

Preethi Vickram, Managing Director, Tapas Progressive Institution.

�Inspire, Nurture, Transform� - these three words define Preethi Vickram�s professional motto and journey. She is a committed educator, an exponent of �learning through play', a passionate parenting coach, a change catalyst, a leadership mentor, and a brand champion with a sincere desire to make that catalytic difference in the lives of children and consequently, the world at large.

Nikhil Malankar, Founder & CEO; Game Developer, Author, YouTuber, GameEon Studios

Avin Sharma, Vice President, U-Games, Games24x7

Ashish Kulkarni Chairman of AVGC Forum - FICCI Founder - Punnaryug Artvision

Ashish Kulkarni embarked on his journey in the field of arts and media in 1995, and is the founder of Punnaryug Artvision. Ashish is also the Chairman of the AVGC forum at FICCI and MCCIA, and has been persistently engaged with AVGC policy makers in India at central and state levels.
In the last two decades, Ashish's push for state level policies inclusive of AVGC skill development and creation has allowed for their successful implementation under IT ITES policies or independent AVGC policies in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, AP, Telangana, Goa, MP, Chattisgarh, West Bengal and Kerala. Moreover, states like UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat are actively considering the formation of AVGC policies to promote creative skill development and job creation.

Abhijeet Kini Founder Abhijeet Kini Studios

Abhijeet Kini is an illustrator, animator and independent comics publisher with over 2 decades of cartooning experience, known for his comic series "Angry Maushi", "Rhyme Fighters" and "Fanboys". Winner of the Best Illustrator Awards Bronze (2018 and 2019) at the Comic Con India awards and also won Best Merchandise Awards (2021) at Animation Xpress’ CBAM Awards, Abhijeet has been a regular participant in all the Indian comic cons and has also participated in international editions. Along with cartooning for magazines and newspapers like Times group, HT, he has been a regular illustrator with Tinkle comics since 2004.
He also runs a merchandise line called KiniStudios featuring his artworks. Abhijeet has been conducting workshops across all age groups on ideation, creative writing and drawing and comic making and is also a visiting faculty at media and educational institutions.

Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury Secretary, Global Media Education Council Strategic Adviser & Professor, Daffodil International University, Dhaka

Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury is a maverick who travels between media academics and media practice, between profession and social activism, between travelling and staying put. Currently the Adviser and a Professor with Daffodil international University of Dhaka and the Secretary of Global Media Education Council, till recently he was the Pro Vice Chancellor of Kolkata based Adamas University, and had been earlier the Dean of Symbiosis and Amity universities, apart from Pearl Academy and Whistling Woods International.
He had been a wanderer, working as a media consultant in Nepal, consulting with Amsterdam Film School in Netherlands, working on films for WHO in several nations, and working with Acore Media in Dubai. He speaks and writes on various platforms, and works in civil society initiatives on media, youth entrepreneurship and democracy.

Sekhar Mukherjee, Director, NID Andhra Pradesh

After graduating in commerce in 1989, his passion for cartoon art fetched him a job at Economic Times Kolkata as a newspaper cartoonist, illustrator & info-graphics artist. Prof. Sekhar Mukherjee studied Master's in animation film design from NID Ahmedabad & also served as a senior communication design faculty with his alma mater from 2002 to 2018. In 2000, he formed the first 2D animation studio in Dhaka, Bangladesh and in 2002, he joined his alma mater as a design educator. For the next 12 years, he headed the Animation Department. In 2009 he received the Best Animation Teacher Award from CNBC-TV18 for “outstanding contribution to the cause of animation education in India”. On December 24th 2018, he took charge as Director of NID Andhra Pradesh, a baby design school of the same breed. His gift to students is the humble Chitrakatha International Student Design Story Festival, which occurs biennially since 2007

Soumitra Ranade, Founder and Chairman, Paperboat Design Studios

An alumnus of Sir J.J. School of Arts Mumbai and FTII Pune, Soumitra has been writing, directing and producing a wide range of animation and live-action projects in feature films, TV serials, documentaries and short experimental genres. His work has been showcased at various prestigious international film festivals and has received numerous awards. Soumitra has written and designed numerous books for children and has had three photography exhibitions. He is the Founder-Chairman of Paperboat Design Studios and divides his professional time between Mumbai, Hyderabad and Toronto.

Dr Anuj Kacker, Executive Director and President, Aptech Ltd.

He is currently the President and Executive Director at Aptech Ltd. In this executive role, Dr. Kacker responsible for Individual Learning and Skill Development retail business lines for all the brands at Aptech Ltd including Arena Animation, Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC), Lakme Academy powered by Aptech (LAPA), Aptech Learning, Aptech Aviation and Aptech International Preschool. Dr. Kacker heads these businesses at Aptech both for India as well as International. He is an active member of various bodies like ASEAN-India Business Council, The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). He is also a member of the Governing Board of the Media and Entertainment Sector Skill Council as well as the Beauty & Wellness Sector Skill Council which are the nodal bodies in India for developing the skill ecosystem in the respective domains

Akhauri Sinha MD Framestore India

Anil Wanvari Founder, CEO & Editor-in-Chief Indian Television Dot Com Group.

Part of Indian Television Group Anil Wanvari, is the founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of the Indiantelevision.com group. He has spent more than 37 years in the media industry and is considered India's foremost analyst, consultant and catalyst for the media sector. It achieves this through its various B2B and B2C portals: indiantelevision.com (for the cable, satellite, OTT, production, advertising, marketing, media industries), tellychakkar.com (TV show and actor news for TV fans), AnimationXpress.com (for the VFX, comics, gaming, and animation segments) and radionandmusic.com (for the FM radio, digital music and music industry). He is also a well known Television/Digital Producer known for producing The Indian Telly Awards for the last 16 years and oodles of digital content. It engages with industry by organizing thought leadership forums under its various verticals: Video and Broadband Summit, RadioConnex Awards, News Television Awards ,BrandVid, The Content Hub, Kids Animation & More, etc.