Seema Arora
Deputy Director General
Confederation of Indian Industry

Ms. Seema Arora pioneered the creation of services on Sustainable Development within CII. Her journey with CII began with engaging Indian Industry towards the run up to the Earth Summit in 1992.

Seema Arora works with industry to build evidence & the business case for industry to invest in Sustainability and Climate Action. She works with Industry and Government to develop policy instruments and curate collaborative initiatives across sector and stakeholders. She has created and incubated innovative alliances such as India CEO Forum on Clean Air, CII Climate Action Charter, India Plastics Pact, India Business and Biodiversity Initiative, and India Business and Disability Network etc.

Seema has also successfully contributed to the mainstreaming of Gender and Inclusion within the Industry Agenda that has led to the launch of the CII Centre for Women Leadership.

Her portfolios in CII include Sustainable Development, Climate and Energy Transition, Circular Economy, Diversity, and inclusion.

Seema Arora has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Delhi University. She is a part of the Asian Impact Leaders Network co-created by AVPN & Rockefeller Foundation. She has thirty plus years of experience in the field of Sustainable Development

Shivani Kumar
Executive Director
CII Centre for Women Leadership

Her work focusses on Gender Mainstreaming and advocating for accelerating the inclusion of women in the workforce through advocacy and capacity building of corporate members as well as through design and development of self- assessment tools that not only identify gaps but also provide the nudge for companies to move in the right direction. She is also working to build a network of grassroots women change leaders who are striving to change gender stereotypes.

Shivani has over 18 years of professional experience across NGOs, Development organizations, corporates and politics. She has worked on issues of reproductive and Child health, Education and community development in Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Maharashtra. Shivani holds a MA in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, MA, USA. She also holds an MA in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and BA (Hons) in History from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University.

Neeraj Kumar
Sr. Manager
Finance and accounts

Neeraj is a Finance professional, with more than 18 years of experience. He is a learned professional with expertise in Operations, Cost Management, financial Management, Tax Management, Audit, MIS, Event Management, Staff Management, Travel management, Facility Management Compliances, Procurement & Maintenance.

He is Conversant with concept and methodologies of ERP Software ACCPAC, Tally (latest Version), ERP GITL and MS office 2010.

Shivani Bhaskar


Shivani Bhaskar has an extensive experience of working in both the development and corporate sectors. Her work focuses on advancing women’s leadership in the formal sector by designing and driving impactful initiatives. She collaborates with industry leaders and stakeholders to promote inclusivity, develop scalable programs and creates advocacy pieces to enhance women’s participation and leadership in the workforce.

With over 20 years of experience, Shivani has worked extensively on health, education, child protection, and gender issues within the realm of child rights. She has championed the agenda of child-centric development through her policy advocacy efforts. Shivani holds a master’s degree in business administration.

Salin Mahajan

Salin Mahajan is a dynamic policy professional with a robust academic background and a diverse range of experiences. He holds a PGP in Policy Design & Management from the Indian School of Public Policy. He also earned a BSc in Hospitality and Hotel Administration from Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management.

Professionally, Salin has contributed to impactful initiatives through his roles at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the ISPP Development Team, where he worked on stakeholder management, fundraising, policy research and the Women in Public Policy initiative. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found a cloud kitchen, where he successfully scaled operations and improved business efficiencies.Salin has joined the Centre for Women Leadership at CII as an Executive, where he continues to apply his expertise in policy and leadership to drive meaningful change.

Salin has joined the Centre for Women Leadership at CII as an Executive, where he continues to apply his expertise in policy and leadership to drive meaningful change.

Valbha Shakya

Her work is dedicated to designing impactful policy tools and actionable programs aimed at improving the representation of women in leadership roles and achieving parity in the formal workforce. She advocates for women leadership through her research, which identifies best practices within the industry while addressing the gaps and challenges in promoting gender parity. By collaborating with industry stakeholders, she ensures that initiatives deliver measurable outcomes.

She has excellent academic background with MPhil in economics from JNU, master’s from Delhi School of Economics and graduation from Shri Ram College of Commerce. With over 7 years of professional experience in teaching and research, she has published her work in reputed journals and newspapers. Her work spans the development and political economy sectors exploring various topics such as Indian labour laws and firms’ hiring decisions, rural infrastructure and workforce participation among others.