Pradeep Murthy is the founder of MuddyBoots, one of India’s best experiential tourism companies and a consultant with several government bodies. With a B.Tech in Electronics from NIT, Calicut and MBA from IIM Bangalore, he has served in senior positions with global consultancies like Deloitte, Accenture and Wipro, before giving in to the love for places and tourism.

Pradeep is a member of the state advisory body for adventure tourism (State of Kerala), consultant to the Forest department on Eco Tourism (Kerala), a member of the BIS Sectoral Committee on Tourism (Govt of India), member of the National Executive of ATOAI and an empanelled expert (one of only two in India) with the Bureau of Indian Standards for auditing adventure tourism operators under ISO 21101.

He speaks and moderates at various fora in India and abroad. He has been a rock climber, long distance cyclist and an Advanced Open Water Scuba Diver.

With more than 25 years of experience in high-end experiential and sustainable travel, Philippa is passionate about taking destinations beyond boxes and templates. She is a destination development specialist, consultant, author of Escape to India, columnist, creator & curator of experiences.

Shuttling between Yorkshire and India, while not travelling the world, she runs “Indian Experiences”, a boutique firm that brings niche operators to the fore as well as consulting for DMCs, hospitality and tourism players. This includes UK based travel companies such as Experience Travel Group, Selective Asia and Bespoke India Travel, India DMC’s including Creative Travel, Royal Expeditions & Beyond The Taj.

Her adventures are literally a novel – skiing, trekking, white-water rafting, riding priceless Marwari horses, fine-dining with Maharajas, sleeping under the stars, driving vintage cars and discovering & curating a world of experiences that remain un-boxed. Conventional is definitely not the name of her game. Think Lara Croft, out of the box.

Co-founder of the venture design firm NYUCT Design Labs, Manojeet’s love for places and place branding goes back nearly 18 years in design thinking and globally marketing destinations in India and abroad. He has held and led several business and brand leadership positions, including, Head of Marketing for key brands & SBUs at the Taj (Tata Group) and Chief Marketing Officer at the Phoenix Group, before turning to entrepreneurship in 2016.

With experience in strategy, branding, experience design, innovations and product development, his assignments have seen him walk a line between strategy and imagination. An alumnus of XIMB (MBA’ 97), a certified Tata Business Excellence Leader, Balanced Score Card practitioner and a lifelong student of Economics & Sociology, Manojeet loves joining the dots.

Some dots joined to design think, innovate and make Vivanta by Taj, the world’s 3rd best global hospitality brand in 2014 (Conde Nast US) and it being hailed as a stroke of genius by Wallpaper UK. Not to mention several industry leading initiatives and awards.

Founding partner at NYUCT Design Labs, Pranali, an alumnus of the prestigious Sir J. J. School of Arts, is a design expert, art consultant, creative art director and curator of cultural experiences. She has been the curator for prestigious art + design projects like Art Chennai & Hope for Haiti.

An avid traveller, and a keen student of culture, her place adventures have included interpreting local culture and design to create extremely innovative customer & visitor experiences. She collaborates with diverse design exponents and disciplines which is evident in projects that have ranged from building a museum in Coorg, to two ceramic galleries, a folk studio with national award-winning artisans and several immersive spatial design projects.

She was a core member of the founding team at Saffron Art, the global platform for art in India and which revolutionized art e-commerce. She also has years of experience in building up institutional and private art collections. Her formative years were dedicated to the making of some of the finest handmade rugs and Kelims in India in her family run export business.

Apoorva is a conservation architect and consultant based out of Mumbai. She is an Associate Director at the FORT, and works as a conservation architect consultant with organisations in the city. She was earlier an Asst. Stone Conservator at the prestigious CSMVS Museum Art Conservation Centre and served as a a research associate at the Urban Design Research Institute. FORT has taken up issues related to the UNESCO-inscribed World Heritage Site and aims to work at meeting the compliance requirements of the heritage area in South Mumbai, where 94 ensembles are located. The project helps craft planning policies and other measures to ensure that the World Heritage inscription is upheld in the future.

Apart from teaching and writing on heritage, museology and urban conservation, she is a decorated professional with a Chevening scholarship (UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office) in 2017-2018. She did her Master of Arts in Conservation of Historic Buildings from the University of York. She trained as an architect with a bachelor’s degree from Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies, Mumbai.

As a professional she has also been a regular published author in architectural and city magazines. Extremely level headed and passionate in what she does, Apoorva is a delight to converse with because of the many different perspectives she brings to the table and her innate ability to connect the dots. She believes that our heritage and past narratives define the identity that we are.

Turnstone is a leading, full-suite consulting house in the hospitality and tourism space headed by industry veterans who have led global mandates as CXOs and CEOs and having built a stellar reputation as 360 degree total solution specialists. Led by Mr. P.K. Mohankumar, Mr. Shishir Mathur, Mr. Manish Jain and Mr. Shivdas it is a consulting caucus of professionals who have been industry experts in hospitality management, operations, finance and technology.

Turnstone prides itself on its expertise in cutting edge solutions, strategic planning and advisory services for hotels, builders, and the tourism sector. It can can help formulate entry strategies, project budgeting, planning, Investment options, design, development and Project execution for both greenfield and brownfield projects. Hotel and hospitality projects are sophisticated high-value and long-term strategic investments and need business acumen, hands on experience, in-depth analyses, and precise execution. All of which are cultivated with years of hands-on experience.

The Lokall Collective views place-making and place-brand development as an integrated exercise that demands high quality professional skills. Its strategic partnership with Turnstone helps it offer financial and hotel investment advisory services to its clients both from the industry and those desirous to start hospitality ventures.

Founder of Anvayins, one of the prominent upcoming community home stay & cultural tourism brand in North East India, Nishikant is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and Xavier Institute of Management. Prior to taking the plunge in travel, culture and communities, this ex Investment banker spent more than 21 years in the financial markets having served as the Executive Vice President at HDFC Bank, Head & Director Capital Market Solutions at Standard Chartered Bank and senior positions at CRISIL, the country’s premier ratings & research firm.

In less than a year of launching the initiative in 2019, Anvayins has been successful in making investments in community home-stay and cultural experiences in Arunachal Pradesh through a unique partnership model with the local communities and provincial councils. This, together with a pipeline of projects in Meghalaya and Nagaland are a testimony to the trust and confidence that Nishikant has been able to build with the local communities.

His hands-on experience in building this venture from scratch, generating local employment, community engagement and livelihood models in the emergent districts of India give him a unique perspective and lens into the truly local and how the local can be a game changer.

An Adventure Hall of Fame awardee Akshay was a founding member of Lokall. While he passed away too young and too soon in 2020, he leaves behind a formidable body of work and a team that is committed to the cherished collective vision.

He was the CEO of Mercury Himalayan Explorations Ltd. (a two times National Tourism award winning company) and Vice Chairman of FAITH (the nodal industry body for tourism in India). Akshay’s 3 decades of experience, included consulting with the Skill Development Ministry (Govt of India), founding Outward Bound – Himalaya (an outdoor training organisation), being a President of The Adventure Tour Operators Association of India and Director of the Ice Hockey Association of India.

A pioneer of white-water rafting, Akshay had led path-breaking treks into the Nanda Devi Inner Sanctuary, the Siachen Glacier and the Rupshu Valley and pioneered commercial 4x4 off roading trips in India having conceptualized and handled prestigious international off roading events like the Isuzu Challenge, Queen of the Desert, Nissan XTreme Trails and the Himalayan Quad Expedition. Many of his adventures have been featured on BBC and the National Geographic Channel. He will be deeply missed, always.

A founding member of NYUCT Design Labs, Arpito brings more than 2 decades of experience, blending strategy, activations, media and community building. He is also the chief consultant to the Ministry of Music & Arts (TaFMA), Govt. of Nagaland where he is helping the state of Nagaland design think and build enterprise and intellectual properties around music & culture.

Arpito is also a consultant with Drishti a professional organization that has been serving mainstream schools as well as the special education needs population since 1994. He has led several initiatives with government bodies and social organisations. We call him our IP man. Having worked on building brand platforms for iconic global brands like Harley Davidson, Ray Ban, Jack Daniel’s, Hard Rock Cafe, Raymond & Taj, Arpito’s body of work has been versatile and at scale.

With a long foundational strategy stint, early in his career, with the Times Group in the President’s office, Arpito went on to become the Group Director at Rolling Stone and Man’s World India, launching and giving the global brand legs in the brand activations and IP space. A Times School of Marketing alumnus, he is a avid travel lover, music connoisseur and possesses an uncanny knack for creative brand solutions.

This award-winning alumnus of Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art, Ronak Naik, invariably called Rinny is a human studio.

His place making and civic adventures have seen him work on the Mumbai Street Lab project (World Resource Institute) which dwelt on the transformation of key streets in Mumbai through innovative and creative street design solutions. This was a collective collaboration of urban designers, architects and the MCGM. He was also a part of the Wikipedia SWASTHA (Special Wikipedia Awareness Scheme for The Healthcare Affiliates) initiative, a special project to promote healthcare awareness amongst local communities with the help of existing healthcare affiliates. His experience with Pratham – an empowerment program for women in Madhya Pradesh, illustrates his desire to leverage design and content to impact for a better civic life. Apart from this he has been a part of place branding, content and design projects across several addresses and regions.

An expert at design communication, branding, advanced post- production effects & film editing, he's the man behind numerous films, brand and design adventures. This cherub faced young man has also been a visiting faculty at Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art and at the ripe young age of 24 was doling out lessons in design communication to computer graphics students.

Swamy as he is fondly called, understands grassroots enterprise through two lenses – first as an advanced diploma recipient in molecular diagnostics further to an Msc. in biotechnology and second as the founder of a social enterprise called Kaskom, a farm to fabric collective that is revitalising India’s native cotton value chain. His passion for social enterprise and agro-ecology that weaves in local communities & practices runs deep. As does his understanding of the circular economy.

He is also the Vice President at the Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI). He is involved in developing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for all activities from seed to fabric, for the Indian short stapled indigenous cotton, along with Gandhigram Khadi Dindigul & Gram Seva Mandal, Wardha.

Swamy has conducted numerous workshops around the revival of organic practices and indigenous cotton, held several lectures apart from being a core participant in impactful programs. These include “Reviving community based indigenous seed systems” funded by SWISS-AID India, exploring linkages between weather parameters, paddy cultivation and adaptation activities in collaboration with Earthnet Foundation, Thailand, state coordination of “Save our rice campaign” in Karnataka and the “Community biodiversity management and conservation programme” funded by GGF.

Aakanksha believes that places are about stories first. An alumna from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts - Singapore, specialised in design, media and animation, Aakanksha is first and foremost a storyteller, with 7 years of experience developing brands across industries through consumer insights, advertising, marketing, branding, and content strategy.

Conscientious and driven, Aakanksha prefers to use her creativity and understanding of human behaviour to craft impactful deliverables that do good. This has proven particularly beneficial for impact projects like Domex’s #ToiletForBabli and India’s Darwaza Band (Swachh Bharat campaign). She has worked with Lowe Lintas and The Glitch, and built a diverse portfolio.

Creative. Honest. Relevant. Be it a place-making exercise, a campaign, a product design, or a whitepaper, Aakanksha’s mantra has never failed her. A 24 by 7 explorer, she is constantly looking for new things to learn, new places to make.

Entrepreneur, content creator, producer, editor, social media marketing specialist and the occasional pancake maker, Rayyan is an EFFIE MENA award winner whose experience spans content development, place branding and social marketing projects across India and the Middle East. Before turning to founding his own firm, Rayyan has had stints with Ogilvy and The Glitch.

Currently he is helping the Vanvadi Forest Collective, a non-profit establish their forest farm brand near Neral, Maharastra at the foothills of the Sahayadris and establish a eco-versity. Being social comes utterly naturally to him as does community brand building. He has led many an incisive campaign and influenced conversations for pro change, pro community with his in-depth understanding of influencer marketing and blogger management. And this is an art he has been cultivating since his student days.

He has done some exceptional work with place brands and destinations along with NYUCT Design Labs helping building content and influence for these brands. Some of his other key projects include the world's first ever digital climate March held along with COP21 UN Paris Climate Summit and leading the branding and storytelling for the Lil Flea IP event for the last 3 years, that includes live event content creation, influencer collaboration, creative direction and documenting the events. This has seen the brand grow 10X on digital and social media platforms.

A Bachelor’s in multimedia and mass communication from the University of Delhi, plenty of adventures with brands across destinations and a zesty attitude makes Dhruvi a polymath.

She takes to content and content marketing like a fish to water, especially when it comes to place branding and place making. Her professional stints at Times of India, Publicis, Upside Story and Fatsmeagol Collective have been a mix of project management, writing, reportage, strategy, content development, research, place branding and social marketing. All of which have collectively made her a master of content and a keen storyteller.

Her brand adventures have included working on Nestle, Subway, luxury place brands like the Taj, Magic FM, building Lil Flea an event IP, Myngle and more. Place brand adventures have included presenting destinations and destination stories on social platforms and making them the centres of conversation for communities.

Her love for travel, ability to read audiences and the sharp evolution of digital engagement, gives her the edge in making her place brand stories stick right.