Team
Carlos Montes
Lead Innovation Hub
Judge Business School CIGB
Cambridge University
Carlos leads the Innovation for Prosperity Hub at the Cambridge University Judge Business School, CIGS.
Driving innovations that scale through markets and benefit all citizens, especially open commerce networks and digital infrastructure. Carlos leads the Innovation for Prosperity Hub at the Cambridge University Business School.
Alongside roles in international institutions, governments, and large corporations, including the World Bank, European Commission, Cisco and Accenture, Carlos has also spent eight years ‘front-line’ in a social innovation lab for the delivery of health-related behavioural change in East London -initially Jamie Oliver branded.
Carlos was Associate of the UK Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit under Michael Barber and Director of Evaluations of EU Programmes worldwide. He also led an evaluation for the European Council of Ministers covering €10bn programmes. Previously, Carlos was an economist at the World Bank and the Central Bank of Peru. He holds post-graduate degrees in Economics from Yale and Columbia Universities. Carlos was also recently lead advisor to the Pathways to Prosperity programme, focussed on identifying global best practice for successful democratic transitions, decentralised governance and building of state capacity and accountability.
Nandan Nilekani
Co-founder
FIDE
Nandan Nilekani, Infosys co-founder and non-executive chairman since 2017, is also chairman of EkStep foundation, to create a learner centric technology platform to improve basic literacy and numeracy for millions of children. As founding chairman of India’s digital ID and then advisor to the Universal Payment Interface he has become the key architect of India’s digital transformation. Recognitions include Fortune’s “Asia’s Businessman of the Year.” Joseph Schumpeter prize, Time’s 100 Most Influential People and Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers. He has been inducted as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. In 2022, Nandan was appointed the co-Chair of the G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure. He also won the Business Standard’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.
Nandan is the author of “Imagining India” and co-author of “Rebooting India: Realising a Billion Aspirations.”
Jan Dehn
Innovation Hub
Judge Business School CIGB
Cambridge University
He was Global Head of Research and member of the Investment Committee at Ashmore Group plc, having joined Ashmore in 2005. As a global strategist and economist, with vast experience in international macroeconomic issues, Jan was responsible for making key calls on markets and economies at a global level. His expertise spans developed and Emerging Markets with particular emphasis on the international linkages between economics, finance and politics. Jan has traded developed and Emerging Markets, including sovereign external debt, local currency bonds, FX, corporate bonds, and Frontier Markets. Earlier in his career, Jan was a strategist at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York and London. He has also worked as a consultant at the World Bank in Washington DC undertaking research on public finance and commodity issues, and has been an economic adviser to a number of Emerging Markets governments. Jan holds a Doctorate in Economics from Oxford University, a Master’s Degree in Quantitative Economics from Warwick University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Sussex University. He has lived on three continents and travelled to more than 160 countries. He is also a fully qualified wooden shipwright.
Yukti Sharma
Volunteer
Beckn Open Collective
Yukti Sharma, a dedicated volunteer at Beckn Open Collective and a senior strategy consultant with a top multinational contributes her expertise to fostering open digital ecosystems. With a passion for community-driven initiatives, she plays a vital role in advancing the goals of Beckn, promoting inclusive and equitable digital commerce networks in India, Latin America, and Africa. She is a Young India Fellow and an International Corps Fellow with over 7 years of work experience at the intersection of Technology, Public Policy, and Business. She has worked on enabling product and policy frameworks for using emerging technologies in User Identification and Digital Health. She was instrumental in the design, development, and rollout of India’s flagship national digital health program and led the national health identification program for the country. Currently, she plays a pivotal role in advancing DPI efforts across different geographies and sectors, notably Rede Belém Aberta in Brazil and Open Gambia Mission in West Africa last year. Yukti also writes on social innovation and technology’s power to derive high-impact solutions. She has authored and contributed to various publications with the Atlantic Council, Observer Research Foundation (India & US), World Economic Forum, and leading Indian newspapers.
Jaideep Prabhu
Professor of Marketing and Director CIGB
Judge Business School
Cambridge University
Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business & Enterprise and Director of the Centre for India & Global Business (CIGB). His research focuses on international business, marketing, strategy and innovation. He is best-selling author of “Frugal Innovation” and “How Should a Government Be”. Specific interests include: radical innovation in high-technology contexts such as banking, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; the role of firm culture in driving innovation in firms across nations; how multinational firms organise their innovation activities worldwide; the internationalisation of firms from emerging markets; and innovation in emerging markets.
He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Marketing, the International Journal of Research in Marketing and the Journal of Management Studies. He is an associate editor of Customer Needs and Solutions and BMJ Innovations, is on the editorial advisory board of The Schmalenbach Business Review, and is a member of the senior advisory board of the European Journal of Marketing Prior to his current position, Jaideep Prabhu was Professor at the Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London; Assistant Professor and Fellow at the Center for Economic Research, Tilburg University, the Netherlands; and Visiting Assistant Professor at the Anderson School of Management, UCLA.
Pramod Varma
Co-founder
FIDE
Pramod, chief architect of India’s “Aadhaar” project and creator of UPI, digital locker, and eSign, sits on tech advisory boards for various Indian government bodies. With a Master’s and Ph.D. in computer science, plus a second master’s in applied mathematics, he has over 25 years of experience in internet-scale distributed architectures and intelligent systems. Currently serving as CTO at EkStep foundation, Pramod continues to drive innovation in technology and governance.
Tanya Filer
CEO State Up
BIPP
Cambridge University
A leading expert in public-purpose technology and digital governance, Tanya has worked widely with technology companies, public sector and international organisations, and research institutes across Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
Prior to founding StateUp, Tanya founded the Digital State programme at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, a research unit of the University of Cambridge. She is widely published in academic and media publications, including Wired, NS Tech and Brookings Tech Stream, where she is Contributing Author.
Tanya teaches across several postgraduate programmes at Cambridge. She is also Academic Director of the Internet and Digital Economy Parliamentary Scheme, a year-long programme for MPs in the UK.
Tanya sits on the Academic Advisory Board of VentureESG and Advisory Board of the Information Law and Policy Centre, School of Advanced Studies, University of London. She has served on the Steering Committee of the Cambridge Trust and Technology Initiative and the Council on the Future of Information and Entertainment at the World Economic Forum.
Tanya is passionate about “translating” between different parts of innovation ecosystems—government and the technology sector, academic research and policy and industry decision-making—which is a key motivation behind StateUp’s products and services.
She is a graduate of Oxford, Cambridge, and UCL.
Kamiar Mohaddes
Director
Entrepreneurship Lab, King’s College
Cambridge University
Associate Professor in Economics & Policy at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, and the Deputy Director of the Cambridge Executive MBA programme. Fellow in Economics at King’s College, Cambridge, Co-founder and director of the King’s Entrepreneurship Lab.
Main areas of research include climate change, energy economics and applied macroeconomics. His research has been published in edited volumes as well as in leading journals and has been covered in major international news outlets. His work has been cited extensively by policymakers, including by members of the United States Congress. Kamiar has been consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations, Departmental Special Advisor at the Bank of Canada, and a regular visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund. He has worked extensively on issues related to climate change and sustainability with both the public sector and a number of organisations including BCG, BNP Paribas, KPMG and RMS.
Sujith Nair
Co-founder and CEO
FIDE
Sujith Nair is the CEO and co-founder of FIDE – Foundation for Interoperability in Digital Economy. FIDE is the genesis author and angel donor to the open-source protocol Beckn. This protocol makes possible open transaction networks.
FIDE was co-founded along with Nandan Nilekani and Pramod Varma, key architects of India’s digital transformation. FIDE is an organisation central to Bangalore’s digital ecosystem, the 8th start-up city in the world.
Sujith conceptualised and helped set up the world’s first open network for transport mobility in the city of Kochi. The Kochi Open Mobility Network was launched in July 2021. He also was instrumental to the set-up of the Open Network for Digital Commerce in Dec 2021. Today ONDC has made partnership agreements with all the largest digital companies in the world.
Sujith is a global advocate for interoperable and decentralised digital ecosystems.
Rajeesh Menon
Head, Growth & Strategy
FIDE
Head, Growth & Strategy, Foundation for Interoperability in Digital Economy (FIDE).
Rajeesh Menon is a seasoned healthcare technologist with 17 years of diverse experience spanning health, life sciences, and social protection sectors. An engineer by education and passion, he has excelled in strategy consulting, product management, and software engineering roles across the Americas, APAC, and Africa. His expertise includes greenfield product design, regulatory compliance, and program management, notably in LMICs. Menon has contributed to significant digital health and identity transformation programs, collaborating with government, NFP clients, and multilateral funding organizations across India, Africa, and SE Asia.
Carlos Montes
Lead Innovation Hub
Judge Business School CIGB
Cambridge University
Carlos leads the Innovation for Prosperity Hub at the Cambridge University Judge Business School, CIGS.
Driving innovations that scale through markets and benefit all citizens, especially open commerce networks and digital infrastructure. Carlos leads the Innovation for Prosperity Hub at the Cambridge University Business School.
Alongside roles in international institutions, governments, and large corporations, including the World Bank, European Commission, Cisco and Accenture, Carlos has also spent eight years ‘front-line’ in a social innovation lab for the delivery of health-related behavioural change in East London -initially Jamie Oliver branded.
Carlos was Associate of the UK Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit under Michael Barber and Director of Evaluations of EU Programmes worldwide. He also led an evaluation for the European Council of Ministers covering €10bn programmes. Previously, Carlos was an economist at the World Bank and the Central Bank of Peru. He holds post-graduate degrees in Economics from Yale and Columbia Universities. Carlos was also recently lead advisor to the Pathways to Prosperity programme, focussed on identifying global best practice for successful democratic transitions, decentralised governance and building of state capacity and accountability.
Jaideep Prabhu
Professor of Marketing and Director CIGB
Judge Business School
Cambridge University
Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business & Enterprise and Director of the Centre for India & Global Business (CIGB). His research focuses on international business, marketing, strategy and innovation. He is best-selling author of “Frugal Innovation” and “How Should a Government Be”. Specific interests include: radical innovation in high-technology contexts such as banking, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; the role of firm culture in driving innovation in firms across nations; how multinational firms organise their innovation activities worldwide; the internationalisation of firms from emerging markets; and innovation in emerging markets.
He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Marketing, the International Journal of Research in Marketing and the Journal of Management Studies. He is an associate editor of Customer Needs and Solutions and BMJ Innovations, is on the editorial advisory board of The Schmalenbach Business Review, and is a member of the senior advisory board of the European Journal of Marketing Prior to his current position, Jaideep Prabhu was Professor at the Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London; Assistant Professor and Fellow at the Center for Economic Research, Tilburg University, the Netherlands; and Visiting Assistant Professor at the Anderson School of Management, UCLA.
Kamiar Mohaddes
Director
Entrepreneurship Lab, King’s College
Cambridge University
Associate Professor in Economics & Policy at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, and the Deputy Director of the Cambridge Executive MBA programme. Fellow in Economics at King’s College, Cambridge, Co-founder and director of the King’s Entrepreneurship Lab.
Main areas of research include climate change, energy economics and applied macroeconomics. His research has been published in edited volumes as well as in leading journals and has been covered in major international news outlets. His work has been cited extensively by policymakers, including by members of the United States Congress. Kamiar has been consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations, Departmental Special Advisor at the Bank of Canada, and a regular visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund. He has worked extensively on issues related to climate change and sustainability with both the public sector and a number of organisations including BCG, BNP Paribas, KPMG and RMS.
Nandan Nilekani
Co-founder
FIDE
Nandan Nilekani, Infosys co-founder and non-executive chairman since 2017, is also chairman of EkStep foundation, to create a learner centric technology platform to improve basic literacy and numeracy for millions of children. As founding chairman of India’s digital ID and then advisor to the Universal Payment Interface he has become the key architect of India’s digital transformation. Recognitions include Fortune’s “Asia’s Businessman of the Year.” Joseph Schumpeter prize, Time’s 100 Most Influential People and Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers. He has been inducted as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. In 2022, Nandan was appointed the co-Chair of the G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure. He also won the Business Standard’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.
Nandan is the author of “Imagining India” and co-author of “Rebooting India: Realising a Billion Aspirations.”
Pramod Varma
Co-founder
FIDE
Pramod, chief architect of India’s “Aadhaar” project and creator of UPI, digital locker, and eSign, sits on tech advisory boards for various Indian government bodies. With a Master’s and Ph.D. in computer science, plus a second master’s in applied mathematics, he has over 25 years of experience in internet-scale distributed architectures and intelligent systems. Currently serving as CTO at EkStep foundation, Pramod continues to drive innovation in technology and governance.
Sujith Nair
Co-founder and CEO
FIDE
Sujith Nair is the CEO and co-founder of FIDE – Foundation for Interoperability in Digital Economy. FIDE is the genesis author and angel donor to the open-source protocol Beckn. This protocol makes possible open transaction networks.
FIDE was co-founded along with Nandan Nilekani and Pramod Varma, key architects of India’s digital transformation. FIDE is an organisation central to Bangalore’s digital ecosystem, the 8th start-up city in the world.
Sujith conceptualised and helped set up the world’s first open network for transport mobility in the city of Kochi. The Kochi Open Mobility Network was launched in July 2021. He also was instrumental to the set-up of the Open Network for Digital Commerce in Dec 2021. Today ONDC has made partnership agreements with all the largest digital companies in the world.
Sujith is a global advocate for interoperable and decentralised digital ecosystems.
Jan Dehn
Innovation Hub
Judge Business School CIGB
Cambridge University
He was Global Head of Research and member of the Investment Committee at Ashmore Group plc, having joined Ashmore in 2005. As a global strategist and economist, with vast experience in international macroeconomic issues, Jan was responsible for making key calls on markets and economies at a global level. His expertise spans developed and Emerging Markets with particular emphasis on the international linkages between economics, finance and politics. Jan has traded developed and Emerging Markets, including sovereign external debt, local currency bonds, FX, corporate bonds, and Frontier Markets. Earlier in his career, Jan was a strategist at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York and London. He has also worked as a consultant at the World Bank in Washington DC undertaking research on public finance and commodity issues, and has been an economic adviser to a number of Emerging Markets governments. Jan holds a Doctorate in Economics from Oxford University, a Master’s Degree in Quantitative Economics from Warwick University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Sussex University. He has lived on three continents and travelled to more than 160 countries. He is also a fully qualified wooden shipwright.
Tanya Filer
CEO State Up
BIPP
Cambridge University
A leading expert in public-purpose technology and digital governance, Tanya has worked widely with technology companies, public sector and international organisations, and research institutes across Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
Prior to founding StateUp, Tanya founded the Digital State programme at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, a research unit of the University of Cambridge. She is widely published in academic and media publications, including Wired, NS Tech and Brookings Tech Stream, where she is Contributing Author.
Tanya teaches across several postgraduate programmes at Cambridge. She is also Academic Director of the Internet and Digital Economy Parliamentary Scheme, a year-long programme for MPs in the UK.
Tanya sits on the Academic Advisory Board of VentureESG and Advisory Board of the Information Law and Policy Centre, School of Advanced Studies, University of London. She has served on the Steering Committee of the Cambridge Trust and Technology Initiative and the Council on the Future of Information and Entertainment at the World Economic Forum.
Tanya is passionate about “translating” between different parts of innovation ecosystems—government and the technology sector, academic research and policy and industry decision-making—which is a key motivation behind StateUp’s products and services.
She is a graduate of Oxford, Cambridge, and UCL.
Rajeesh Menon
Head, Growth & Strategy
FIDE
Head, Growth & Strategy, Foundation for Interoperability in Digital Economy (FIDE).
Rajeesh Menon is a seasoned healthcare technologist with 17 years of diverse experience spanning health, life sciences, and social protection sectors. An engineer by education and passion, he has excelled in strategy consulting, product management, and software engineering roles across the Americas, APAC, and Africa. His expertise includes greenfield product design, regulatory compliance, and program management, notably in LMICs. Menon has contributed to significant digital health and identity transformation programs, collaborating with government, NFP clients, and multilateral funding organizations across India, Africa, and SE Asia.
Yukti Sharma
Volunteer
Beckn Open Collective
Yukti Sharma, a dedicated volunteer at Beckn Open Collective and a senior strategy consultant with a top multinational contributes her expertise to fostering open digital ecosystems. With a passion for community-driven initiatives, she plays a vital role in advancing the goals of Beckn, promoting inclusive and equitable digital commerce networks in India, Latin America, and Africa. She is a Young India Fellow and an International Corps Fellow with over 7 years of work experience at the intersection of Technology, Public Policy, and Business. She has worked on enabling product and policy frameworks for using emerging technologies in User Identification and Digital Health. She was instrumental in the design, development, and rollout of India’s flagship national digital health program and led the national health identification program for the country. Currently, she plays a pivotal role in advancing DPI efforts across different geographies and sectors, notably Rede Belém Aberta in Brazil and Open Gambia Mission in West Africa last year. Yukti also writes on social innovation and technology’s power to derive high-impact solutions. She has authored and contributed to various publications with the Atlantic Council, Observer Research Foundation (India & US), World Economic Forum, and leading Indian newspapers.
