Ashish Kulkarni embarked on his journey in the field of arts and media in 1995, and is the founder of Punnaryug Artvision. Ashish is also the Chairman of the AVGC forum at FICCI and MCCIA, and has been persistently engaged with AVGC policy makers in India at central and state levels.

In the last two decades, Ashish's push for state level policies inclusive of AVGC skill development and creation has allowed for their successful implementation under IT ITES policies or independent AVGC policies in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, AP, Telangana, Goa, MP, Chattisgarh, West Bengal and Kerala. Moreover, states like UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat are actively considering the formation of AVGC policies to promote creative skill development and job creation.

Biren Ghose has been the Country Head for Technicolor Creative Studios in India for the past 13 years. He has taken the India studio to a strength of over 7000 employees. This includes TCS’s marquee brands MPC, The Mill, Technicolor Games; & Mikros Animation.

Biren is a thought leader and industry evangelist for the past 23 years. Technicolor has won over 8 Emmy Awards for TV animation; 4 Academy Awards for VFX Films plus 24 Cannes Lions, 28 VES, 4 BAFTAs, 90 D&AD; plus the British Arrows, etc.

He is the CII National Media & Entertainment Committee VC and President of ABAI. In 2021, Biren received the National Order of Merit - a knighthood conferred by the President of France.

Biren is multi-faceted and has a passion for art, music, Formula 1, tennis, photography, wines and spirits.

Rajiv Chilaka’s entrepreneurial journey started with a vision of creating an animation studio at par with the best in the world. This took shape with the establishment of Green Gold Animation in 2004 when the industry was still in its nascent stages. Braving the odds, he created and brought India’s most loved and iconic character, Chhota Bheem, to life.

Today, as the CEO of the Green Gold Group, he leads a team of over 800 artists who have produced over 10 shows, 700 episodes, 80+ TV movies and 6 Feature films in the last decade itself. Green Gold Group’s footprint spans across television, movies, digital and L&M; reaching an audience of over 100 million kids globally.

Green Gold Animation has won many accolades and achieved many milestones, the most recent being the creator of India’s first Netflix original animation series, Mighty Little Bheem.

A distinguished figure in the M&E; industry, P. Jayakumar has spearheaded the success story of one of Asia’s most pioneering animation studios, Toonz Media Group. Joining the organization as the Chief Financial Officer, Jayakumar took up the reins of the young company in 2001, becoming the CEO of Toonz.

Under his inspirational leadership, Toonz expanded from its homeground growing its global footprint, diversifying business, and making strategic international acquisitions, such as the Spanish distribution company Imira and Ireland-based studio Telegael.

Jayakumar is a member of the prestigious International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He is a member of CII, FICCI, and also the president of Society of AVGC Institutions in Kerala (SAIK) as well as a member of the MESC.

Vani is a creator, creative producer and a director. She founded Dancing Atoms, a home for creators to develop animation and live action content. Dancing Atoms works with a team of writers, art directors and talented creatives, based in Mumbai, London and Los Angeles. She has been the Head of Creative Management for DreamWorks Animation in Shanghai and as the Executive Director of Rhythm & Hues Asia (a multiple Academy Award-winning Animation and VFX studio).

For 10 years, she was the president of ASIFA India and Women in Animation India. She is currently based out of LA and is working on preschool and Animated feature film content. She offers her consultancy services to creatives and investors. Her goal is to collaborate - create - celebrate content. She is walking closer to fulfilling her fathers Animation Dreams.

Aashish has worked as a Director, Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Animator on numerous projects. His animated short films Saraswati, Common Story, Travel to Moon and Channel V Shorts were screened at festivals around the world and won awards including UNICEF Short Film Award at Bangkok and Channel V Best Promo Award at Singapore. His work has also been awarded at ANIFEST, FICCI, BAF and others.

Before co-founding Paperboat Design Studios in 2011, Aashish worked at various creative positions in organizations such as Jadooworks, Anirights, Hurix Systems, Tata Elxsi and UTV Motion Pictures.

He directed Bandbudh Aur Budbak (Zee TV), one of the most popular TV series in India in recent times. He was the Creative Producer of numerous episodes of Pakdam Pakdai (Nickelodeon) and Sab Jholmaal Hai (Sony Yay). He is the Creative Director and Exec. Producer of Fukrey Boyzz(Discovery Kids).

Tim Westcott leads research on TV and video programming and channel distribution at Omdia, the London-headquartered TMT research company. His areas of focus include investments in programming by channels and online video platforms, availability of linear channels and on-demand services, and sports and movie rights. Tim joined Omdia’s predecessor company Screen Digest in 2004, and before that, worked at the European Audiovisual Observatory in Strasbourg, France, and in a variety of journalism roles.

Part of Indian Television Group Anil Wanvari, is the founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of the Indiantelevision.com group. He has spent more than 37 years in the media industry and is considered India's foremost analyst, consultant and catalyst for the media sector. It achieves this through its various B2B and B2C portals: indiantelevision.com (for the cable, satellite, OTT, production, advertising, marketing, media industries), tellychakkar.com (TV show and actor news for TV fans), AnimationXpress.com (for the VFX, comics, gaming, and animation segments) and radionandmusic.com (for the FM radio, digital music and music industry). He is also a well known Television/Digital Producer known for producing The Indian Telly Awards for the last 16 years and oodles of digital content. It engages with industry by organizing thought leadership forums under its various verticals: Video and Broadband Summit, RadioConnex Awards, News Television Awards ,BrandVid, The Content Hub, Kids Animation & More, etc.

Milind is the Founder and CEO of 88 Pictures, the animation studio behind the success of Trollhunters Trilogy created by Guillermo Del Toro for Dreamworks and Netflix. In a short span of four years, 88 Pictures have created a niche for being part of some of the best animation work from India including the likes of Fast n Furious Tv Show, Scoob, Tom n Jerry, Spirit to name a few.

Before starting 88 Pictures, Milind was one of the core members instrumental for building the India unit of Dreamworks(DDU) and China unit of Dreamworks(ODW). In his robust body of work, Milind has been a part of many Oscar nominated movies such as Kung Fu Panda, How to Train your Dragon, Madagascar and many more.

Prasad Ajgaonkar is the Founder and Managing Director of iRealities Group, an independent technology and animation studio. iRealities Group is one of the pioneers in producing indigenous animation films and the only studio committed to bringing to forefront Indian stories encompassing history, mythology and fantasy; and telling them to the audience in a contemporary format.

Under Prasad Ajgaonkar's strong leadership, iRealities Studio has delivered several successful projects in the entertainment industry. Amongst the landmark projects are India’s first sci-fi Television series 'Antariksh,' Bird Idol – first animation film in collaboration with Hollywood Studio, ‘Chaar Sahibzaade’ - highest grossing Indian animation movie and 'Super V' – most viewed television series with over 250 million views. iRealities has recently released the movie ‘Motherhood – The Journey of Mata Sahib Kaur’, the first Indian film to be screened in UK parliament.

Currently, iRealities is working on India’s first immersive virtual reality 3D film, global television series and films.

Russell Tracy Jr

Manoj A Menon is an Emmy Award Nominated Designer with 20+ years of experience in animation, theme park design, visual development/concept art, graphic novel, gaming and AR/VR experience. He is currently working with Mikros Animation (Feature Division) as the Creative Director of Bengaluru Studio. In his new role, Manoj handles end to end of all creative aspects and client communication for feature and long format episodic production, working with world renowned animation production houses and networks.

Some of his past projects include working with EA sports, Ubisoft, Walt Disney Television, Wild Canary Studios, DreamWorks TV, Nickelodeon and Amazon to name a few.

Manoj's passion lies in creating worlds and designing characters that tell compelling stories.