Advisors

Mr. Satish Pai

Satish Pai has been the Managing Director of Hindalco since August 2016. Headquartered in Mumbai, Hindalco is the metals flagship of the Aditya Birla Group, a diversified global conglomerate with operations spanning 36 countries. In his role as MD, Satish also oversees the operations of Hindalco subsidiary Novelis Inc., which is the world’s largest aluminium rolling and recycling company.

Satish’s experience in managing complex, global operations dates back to his 28-year career with oil and gas services major Schlumberger, where his role included Executive Vice President – Worldwide Operations, Vice President – Technology and President of its Software entity.

A highly-regarded influencer and spokesperson for the sector, Satish advocates for the industry through his positions as the Chairman of the International Aluminium Institute, Chairman, Non-Ferrous Metals at FICCI, and the Indian Institute of Metals. He also serves as Director on the boards of Aditya Birla Management Corporation Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai and BP, London.

Satish holds a mechanical engineering degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. In his personal capacity he holds a patent in directional drilling. Satish was conferred the ‘Distinguished Alumni Award’ by IIT Madras in 2017 and the honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) by Ajeenkya DY Patil University in 2020.

Mr Thierry Pilenko

Thierry Pilenko is the former Executive Chairman of TechnipFMC plc, a leading provider of equipment, project management, engineering and construction for the energy industry, a position that he held until May 2019.

He was the Chairman and CEO of Technip S.A. from 2007 until its merger with FMC Technologies in 2017.

From 2004 to 2007 he was the Chairman and CEO of Veritas DGC, a seismic services company.

Previously Mr. Pilenko served in various management positions with Schlumberger Ltd in Europe, Africa, Asia and the United States.

Thierry Pilenko graduated in Engineering from the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Geologie de Nancy (France) and from the French Petroleum Institute School. He is the founder of Pil & Co LLC, a consulting company and is a director of Arkema S.A., Trident Energy and P6 Technologies.

Mr. Joël Nana Kontchou

Joel Nana Kontchou is a Senior Energy Industry Leader with 35+ years of experience. Hands-on management and operations experience in public electrical utility services and across the full spectrum of the upstream oil & gas industry.

He is currently Managing Partner at CETD CAMEROUN working in strategic consulting, project management, technical studies, and engineering. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of Energy of Cameroun SA (Eneo), the leading company in charge of production, and distribution of electricity in Cameroon.

Prior to this he held various position in Schlumberger working in Bahrain, Egypt, Syria, India, Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, Scotland, France, USA and Congo performing each time at various highest managerial positions in Operations, Human Resources and Marketing.

Joel Nana Kontchou has completed 5 full marathons and numerous half marathons. He holds an MSc in Electro Mechanics from Ecole Nationale Supérieure Polytechnique in Yaoundé – Cameroon and has also attended numerous professional development courses.

Dr. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam

Dr. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam is a faculty of Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) in Department of Electrical Engineering and heads IITM’s Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre (HTIC).

After his PhD and postdoc stint in US, he returned to India in late 2008 with the goal of developing indigenous medical technologies and set up HTIC in 2011.

Today, HTIC has grown into a unique and leading med-tech innovation ecosystem in the country bringing together around 40 medical institutions, industries, government agencies in developing and deploying affordable healthcare technologies. Five of these technologies have resulted in commercially successful products.

Since 2017, HTIC houses a medical technology incubator nurturing over 30 startups in this field. He received the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) Young Engineer Award and IITM’s R&D Early Career Award. He has over 200 research publications in leading journals and conferences.