The first school captain of DAV Gopalapuram (Class of 1975), Rajiv Choudhry wears many hats – he is a Life Skills & Leadership Coach, Educationist, Business Consultant, Curator & Creative Producer, Actor & Director.
Rajiv has over four decades of business and consulting experience spanning from manufacturing to media. He has trained over 50,000 participants using experiential learning methodologies and creative tools like theatre, film, art, sports and simulations. He has served on Manipal Board of Studies for Media, consulted for FICCI’s Animation Awards and been an Advisor & Speaker Coach for TEDx Chennai.
Vikas Arya, a DAV Alumnus, leads the team as the Honorary Secretary. He holds an MBA from IIM-Bangalore and is also a Chartered Accountant. Prior to joining DAV in 2016, Vikas spent over a decade in the Financial Services domain, working with International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), Gaja Capital Partners, Crisil and General Motors.
In addition, he has learnt various aspects of the Vedic philosophy at the DarshanYogMahavidyalaya, Gujarat. He has also authored a series of Value education books for the children, titled – ‘Fostering Vedic Values’
Shanthy Asokan M.Sc, B.Ed is a seasoned educator in Biology with an illustrious career in the field of education, spanning over 35 years. Her mastery in Biology has facilitated students to achieve great academic goals like CBSE merit certificates in AISSCE and DBT scholarships at the National level. Observing her notable contribution, CBSE conferred her with the key position of Subject Expert in Biology from Chennai region. Determined and focused to establish moral values primarily, in the students, her mission was always to synchronise academics with character education. As an Educator and a true Academician, she has epitomized learning, as she strongly believes that learning forms the nucleus of a teacher’s life.
Radha Subramanian M.Sc., B.Ed., began her teaching career in the year 1994 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Nagpur. She has a Masters degree in Chemistry and a Bachelors degree in education. She joined the D.A.V. Senior Secondary School (boys), Mogappair in 2003 as a chemistry teacher and took up over as Principal of D.A.V. Sr. Secondary School in May 2019. Her educational philosophy is based on her strong belief that all students can learn and excel if there is a positive learning environment, a committed and focused educational team, an encouraging community and a supportive family.
Shoba Raman is an accomplished educationist with nearly three decades of experience in teaching, administration and teacher training. With postgraduate degrees in Chemistry, Education and Public Administration, she is a passionate advocate of innovative teaching methods. She has served as Head Examiner and Central Nodal Superintendent for AISSCE and AISSE evaluations. A Fulbright Scholar (2006) and recipient of the CBSE Best Teacher Award (2020), Shoba Raman spent 28 years at Vidya Mandir, Mylapore, including a decade as Principal. She firmly believes that learning is a lifelong pursuit, and the teacher’s role is to actively guide and facilitate this process.
With over three decades of experience in education primarily in service to the D.A.V. School branches, Sripriya N (M.Com., M.Ed., M.Phil.) is a dedicated and passionate educator committed to fostering a positive and engaging learning environment. She has been the Head Examiner for AISSC Examinations conducted by CBSE and a resource person for Commerce in the Southern Region for several years now. Known for her patient approach and ability to inspire, she has built lasting relationships with students, colleagues and parents. Sripriya continues to incorporate innovative techniques and technology in teaching, while maintaining a strong focus on academic excellence and personal development.
Dr. P Ravi, the former Regional Director of National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) Chennai is an eminent educationist with over 35 years of experience. He was groomed as a teacher from RIE (NCERT) and has served in prestigious institutions such as KVS, NVS & NIOS. He excelled in the nuances of the education system as teacher and administrator in both formal and open/distance learning. His significant contributions in NVS fetched him the Best Principal Award. He established the NIOS regional centre at Chennai in 2013 and helped increase the visibility of NIOS for the benefit of people of Tamil Nadu & Puducherry.
An alumnus of Modern School, Delhi, Brij Kishore Bharadwaj holds a Post Graduate degree in History and Education. With over three decades of experience, he has served as faculty for Humanities in some of the top boarding schools which are members of Indian Public Schools Conference (IPSC). He was engaged by Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, Ministry of HRD, Delhi with the task of setting up residential schools in Gujarat and was member of the ‘Expert Committee for Navodaya Vidyalaya Scheme’ under the Planning Commission, Government of India. Brij Bharadwaj served as ‘Chief Educationist’ at Jamshedpur & Mumbai with TATA Steel and Ambuja Cements respectively. He has worked as Principal and as Director of CBSE schools across India under Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan and Delhi Public School Society besides leading various international schools in Dubai, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Balaji has over two decades of experience in a Fortune 100 Automobile MNC.
He is skilled in Governance Risk Compliance, Business Continuity, Operations Management, Account Reconciliation, Accounting, Business Process Improvement and Team Building.
Sriram Santhanam, an Architect who graduated from NIT Trichy with an MBA in Project Management, has a vast experience of about 30 years in Residential, Commercial, Retail and Hospitals. He had worked with various developers including the Ozone Group, Tishman Speyer, Marg Group and Puravankara Group at Senior Management Level and worked at Design Firms like RSP and Technicaliya. Sriram had served as Director, Projects at FHD Group, one of the leading Architectural Firms in India. His last stint was as Director, Project Management at KKvinDC. His project associations include International Stadium and Shopping Market at Rourkela; various multi-storeyed Residential Buildings at Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar for Prestige, AKME, Mantri, Brigade, Adarsh, Vaswani and Puravankara Groups; Data Centers and Wills Lifestyle Retail Stores For ITC; Hospital Buildings at Pariyaram and Kannur; Five-star Hotel Projects at Puri and Kolkata for a hotel chain in the North East.
With over 20 years of experience across media, communication and events, Hamsavani Raman has worked with internationally reputed companies across industries like banking, IT, manufacturing, hospitality and media.
An artist and a Trainer, she extensively uses the arts as a tool to design experiential learning workshops that address behavioural skills. She also creates training content and facilitates sessions.
Nandakumar M.Phil, M.Ed was President of the Tamil Nadu Association of Matriculation Schools and their managements (an umbrella organization of more than 9,000 schools) for a period of 7 years. He has served in senior positions for 13 years with two schools consistently ranked 1 & 2 in India – Dhirubhai Ambani Int’l School, Ecole Mondiale WS & Oberoi Int’l School. He was the founder director of CBSE’s first Nodal Centre in SE Asia and currently heads Datta Educational Consultants, which has been instrumental in the setting up of reputed schools across India and acts as Consultant for IBO, CIE and Private CBSE & CISCE Schools.
Vidya Murali is a HR professional with more than two decades of intensive experience across the spectrum of Human Resource activities. In her role as consultant, she has enabled several Organizations to transform their talent strategy and adopt robust people practices. Vidya has been part of the HR Leadership team in leading multi-national Organizations, including Cognizant where she was responsible for the People Development function. She is certified in Executive Assessments from Saville & Holdsworth UK. In her corporate HR leadership role, Vidya was responsible for conceptualizing and implementing the first set of Assessment centers for the IT industry in India.
A dedicated and a dynamic educator with more than 4 decades of teaching and administrative experience in several prestigious educational institutions, Smt. Vasantha Balasubramanian was the founder Principal of D.A.V. Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Gill Nagar. She has served as a resource person in training Chemistry teachers of the state and has coauthored Chemistry Text Books for leading Publishers. A recipient of the Dr. Radhakrishnan State Award, she was also a member of the Board of Secondary Education, Government of Tamil Nadu. Extremely committed to every task she undertakes, her mantra for success has always been, “Give your Best and a Little more”
Lakshmi Ramesh has 27 years of work experience in varied domains and has been with DAV Shikshanam since its inception in 2017. Having begun her career as an associate partner for a bank, she along with her husband soon started a Marketing and advertising Company which had an employee count of more than a hundred. Her extensive experience as an entrepreneur liaising with EPCs – manufacturers and suppliers as well as various Government and Corporate entities has given her enormous capacity to work across domains and sectors.
R. Kanjana B.Sc, M.P.Ed., is passionate about sports and yoga and excited to teach it to her students. She has completed her Graduation in Chemistry, Post Graduation in Physical education and also cleared the S.L.E.T and UGC exams. She has spent over 20 years as a physical education teacher nurturing young talents in sports and teaching yoga. She is especially passionate about the game of basketball and has coached her team to victories in numerous tournaments at the State as well as National levels. She is also an avid practitioner of yoga and has a Postgraduate degree in Yoga from the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University, Chennai.
Dr. Arti is a multifaceted individual who has excelled in education, culture and the performing arts. With a Ph.D. in Hindi Literature, she demonstrates a deep understanding of cultural heritage and linguistic expertise. As a seasoned Cultural Coordinator, she has played a pivotal role in organizing various school functions, showcasing rich cultural traditions and promoting cross-cultural understanding. A gifted performer since the age of 2, Dr Arti is an accomplished theatre artist and dancer, with a passion for storytelling through movement and expression.
A post-graduate in Mathematics and an M.B.A. (HR) holder, Karthikeyan Subramaniam has 24 years of multi-cultural experience in Banking & Credit Cards, Healthcare, Retirement Systems, Manufacturing, Retails industries and has served in senior tech positions. He has been heading the IT Dept at DAV from 2018.
Mr. K R Meenakshi Sundaram has worked in multiple fields with vast experiences for close to three decades.
Having begun his career as a process engineer, Meenakshi Sundaram further widened his experience with diversifying in IT, ITES, HR and administration fields, specifically establishing a firm hold on educational administration in the past 14 years.
Prabha Priya B (B.Sc., MLIS, M.Phil, PGDCA, PGDLAN) is a dedicated librarian who has been an integral part of the school community for well over 2 decades. With a passion for literature and learning, she supports in the cultivation of welcoming and inclusive library spaces promoting love for reading and academic excellence. Prabha Priya has an extensive knowledge of children’s and young adult literature, and her expertise in information literacy and cataloguing allows her to help design engaging displays and materials that boost student reading engagement.
