Pratim Roy

Director Dreamer, and Founder – Director, Keystone Foundation

Pratim Roy started his career at  Development Alternatives, New Delhi. He founded Keystone Foundation along with Sneh and Mathew in 1993 where he works on advocacy, fundraising and organisational development. He developed the Keystone Programme in the Nilgiris with a focus on Conservation, Enterprise and Livelihoods. One of the key members of the Save Western Ghats Movement, Pratim is a Rockefeller Bellagio Residency Scholar-Practitioner in Italy and has done an Environmental Diplomacy Course in Geneva organised by the UNEP and the University of Geneva.

He is a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at Cornell University (2011-2012) and has exhibited proficiency in building teams and working with multidisciplinary approaches. The brain behind the Nilgiris Field Learning Centre, a collaboration of Keystone Foundation and Cornell University, he has extensive work experience in Evaluation Missions for Development & Environment Project which includes formulating new programme areas of work. Climate change, rural development, ecology-enterprise in the NGO space and working with the government and donors are his forte.  

He has travelled extensively across countries like Costa Rica, Bangladesh, Nepal, Malaysia, Turkey, Belgium, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, USA, Germany, Switzerland, South Korea, Australia, South Africa, Netherlands, Hong Kong and Qatar on work, assignments, studies, etc.

Ramya Reddy

Director Visual Storyteller, Author

Ramya has been a visual artist and professional photographer for over fifteen years drawn especially to blurring lines between physical and imaginary worlds. She took to the artistic possibilities of the camera early on and pursued her love of the photographic arts at the Light and Life Academy, Santa Fe Workshops and Parsons School of Design. Her work has been exhibited in India and internationally. She has collaborated with several boutique lifestyle and hospitality brands including Taj Hotels and Forest Essentials. Her work has appeared numerous publications including Conde Nast, Michelin Guides, Vogue, and a host of coffee table books and photography journals. She is the author of Soul of the Nilgiris, which documents her nine-year-long journey across the Nilgiris and its indigenous landscape – told through a personal tapestry of conversations, writings, and over 300 photographs. She is the founder of Coonoor & Co, a slow lifestyle brand and journal, and a director at The Nilgiris Foundation.

Sarasasmeeta (Sara) Pathy

Director Hub of Doing, and Head of Admin at Keystone Foundation

Sara worked as a sales assistant at Erode before walking in for a job at the Keystone Foundation in Sept 2003.  Sara had initially joined the marketing team but switched to administration soon after. As an administrator, she handles all operations from pin to plane. Being in the administration for the past 17 years, she coordinates with the labour office, the FRRO and the district administration. She has been involved in diverse projects and events ranging from TNUSSP & TNC, Coimbatore to organising relief materials during floods in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

As an administrator at Keystone, she also has hands-on experience with setting up projects like Last Forest, Aadhimalai and the NNHS. She was involved in setting up the Bee Museum and later, was a part of the core team of Place to Bee, the slow food restaurant. She is a core team member of the NFLC and went to Cornell, US for the signing of the MoU. She was instrumental in implementing the Windflower project, a Keystone community housing programme in 2010. Sara played an active part in launching the US office—the Nilgiris in San Francisco—in 2019 and is working on opening a fund-raising hub. Apart from working as an administrator, Sara also shows interest in working for the betterment of children living in the slums.

Rajesh Reddy

Director Serial Entrepreneur, Innovator

Rajesh Reddy is an entrepreneur and innovator, focused on mobile platforms for over two decades. An early proponent of the idea that mobile internet will fundamentally redefine our lives, his companies have delivered on that promise.

Rajesh was chosen by MIT TR35 among 35 global technology innovators under 35 in 2002, a recipient of the Golden Mouse award for contributions to the Internet and has several patents in mobile technologies.

In 1996, his first company, Unimobile, built the world’s first mobile internet platform and consumer messaging service (over IP and SMS) used by millions of users in over 130 countries and deployed 500 carriers globally. Over the last two decades, the companies that he has built from an idea have gone on to become world-leading platforms with some of the smartest teams, raising capital from top tier venture capital and strategic investors while delivering value to hundreds of millions of users.

Balu Iyer

Director, Secretary Cooperative Champion, Fundraiser

Balasubramanian (Balu) Iyer is the Regional Director of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) Asia and Pacific. Balu serves as the administrator for the Domus Trust and is on the steering committee of the World Co-operative Monitor. He is also part of the strategic academic advisory board of the Xavier School of Sustainability. 

Balu brings strong management and operational credentials in strategic planning, budgeting, performance assessment, compliance and audit to the job. His project experience across Asia extends to the areas of co-operatives, business associations, water, food security, women’s empowerment and economic development. He has worked with The Asia Foundation, The International Development Exchange, ActionAid India and Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in the past. He has served the Goldman School of Public Policy Alumni Board and was part of the team that co-founded the Global Women’s Leadership Network.

Hemanth Habbu

Attorney / Legal Consultant

Hemant R. Habbu worked for a small boutique firm before he joined his family’s extensive law practice covering varied areas as customs, excise, labour, corporate, intellectual property, international trade and general litigation. Habbu graduated with an LL.M. degree from Tulane University after which he worked at a law firm that focused on business, corporate, and tax for a few years. 

In 1993, Habbu founded his own law firm in San Jose, California. He now focuses on the areas of corporate/business, immigration and international transactional matters. He assists numerous corporations (both domestic to the US and international), cultural organisations, non-profit institutions, multinationals, etc. in meeting their legal needs and provides guidance on federal and state income tax, California sales tax and India taxes.