About

Shakti, known as Shaks to his childhood friends, is a husband, father, brother, friend, philosopher and guide. He sees himself as a world citizen sporting a universal and inclusive outlook. Born and brought up in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, to parents who hailed from Lahore [now in Pakistan], Shakti is the youngest of four siblings; husband to Suchita, a travel-trade professional and father to Karishma, a public health professional.

He grew up in a cosmopolitan environment, attending Campion school – a Jesuit run institution – followed by degrees in accounting and business administration. On graduating from his MBA class, he experienced a great void arising from the lack of an appreciation for humanities, social sciences and the arts. He continued to pursue a commercial career while making up for his thirst for liberal arts through avid reading. His corporate career spanned 33 years, initially as a banker and later as a management consultant, corporate strategist and business development executive. He spent 15 years at IBM from where he emerged as a Corporate Service Corps (CSC) alum. After reaching retirement age at IBM in 2017 he crossed-over to the social sector and now works as a Senior fellow with PYXERA Global, a D.C. based non-profit.

During his formative years and later, Shakti has been influenced by several wonderful souls. These include the likes of the Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello S.J., noted poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, the legendary investment manager Sir John Templeton, noted management consultant Peter Drucker, prominent oncologist Dr Bernie Siegel, M.D, economist E F Schumacher, earth scientist James Lovelock, Theosophist Madame Sophia Wadia, author Dr. Monica Sharma, systems thinker & physicist, Fritjof Capra and spiritual gurus Mirra Alfassa  (a.k.a. The Mother), Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and S.N. Goenka.

His professional interests are wide and cover systems thinking, international relations, education, public health, financial inclusion & literacy and environment & sustainability.  He is always on the lookout for cross-fertilization of disciplines to promote greater regional and global understanding and strives for a harmonious balance between economic progress and ecological security. He is fond of the outdoors, in particular hiking, cycling, running and sailing. He is an advocate for eco-intelligence and preventive medicine and loves gardening, travel, music, the arts, yoga and meditation.

He is an avid speaker and blogger and has spoken at several conferences and forums on a variety of topics. His outlook to life can be best summed up as ‘Live and Let Live’