Board of Directors
Ruchi Raman
Venture Partner
Elevar Equity
Ruby Thapar
Director
Global Government & Corporate Affairs
India Caterpillar
Malini Thadani
Visiting Faculty
Indian School of Development Management
Sandhya Venkateswaran
Senior Fellow
Centre for Social Policy and Economic Research
Sanjeev Asthana
MD, I- FARM (Chairman)
Sanjeev Asthana currently the Chairman of ACCESS Development Services, is a recognized leader in Food & Agriculture sector with over 25 years of experience in India and internationally. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of I-Farm Venture Advisors; Chairman of Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI) and National Skills Foundation of India (NSFI), and serves on the Board of Directors of NCDEX Spot Exchange Ltd.
Sanjeev serves on the national committees of all leading industry and trade chambers CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and PHDCCI. His international affiliations are with IIED UK, Mainumby Bolivia and Columbia University, USA.
He regularly speaks at leading conferences in India and overseas viz. Harvard University Boston, World Bank Beijing and Singapore, ADB Manila, European Parliament Brussels, G-20 Consultation Istanbul, IIM Ahmedabad, Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy Mussorie etc.
Contact Info
EMAIL : info@accessdev.org
PHONE : 91 11 45697039 | 11 45761146
Vipin Sharma
CEO, ACCESS Development Services
Vipin Sharma is the founding CEO of ACCESS, set up in 2006. Starting his career with the Reserve Bank of India, Vipin has forty two years of experience in banking, agriculture and rural development, micro-enterprise development and microfinance in varied institutions including NABARD, Rural Non-Farm Development Agency (RUDA), Govt of Rajasthan and CARE India. As Executive Director of RUDA, Vipin helped the Govt of Rajasthan to develop strategies for promoting non-farm sector in the state through a sub-sector approach. At CARE, Vipin was the Programme Director of the Microfinance Unit and a part of the Regional Leadership Team.
In the last eighteen years, Vipin has also helped to setup two specialized affiliates of ACCESS viz. ACCESS-ASSIST to support and advance financial inclusion in India and Ode to Earth to help primary producers sell their products in mainstream markets.
Vipin is a member of the Smart Campaign Steering Committee, working on issues relating to client protection. Vipin also represents India on the IFAD initiative styled as SAFIN to promote Agro-Ecology enterprises.
Contact Info
EMAIL : vipin@accessdev.org
PHONE : 91 11 45697039 | 11 45761146
Puja Gour
Vice President – Livelihoods India
Puja is a rural management professional with over 15 years of expertise spanning project management, social research and knowledge management & policy advocacy.
Within ACCESS, Puja leads on the organisation’s flagship initiative besides handling other organizational responsibilities. Prior to ACCESS, she has worked with livelihoods consulting firms like STADD providing expert technical advice on execution and management of complex livelihoods programs. She has also worked on integrated natural resource management programs with the Indo-German Bilateral Project on Watershed Management besides being involved in the preparation of the pioneering “Madhya Pradesh Human Development Report.”
Puja holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Forestry Management from the India Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal and B.Sc. in Botany from Miranda House, Delhi University.
Contact Info
EMAIL : puja@accessdev.org
PHONE : 91 11 45697039 | 11 45761146
Subir Ghosh
Head Finance
Subir Ghosh leads ACCESS’s financial strategy and operations including grant and contract management. Prior to joining ACCESS, Subir has worked with Oxfam, Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT), Gramin Vikas Trust (GVT) and ABC India Ltd.
He has over 18 years of experience of which 16 years have been in the development Sector. Subir specialises in financial planning, fund management, budgeting, donor financial contract management, audits, and taxation, implementation of systems & processes and general administration.
He has extensive experience in administering large budgets funded by donors like USAID, European Union, UNICEF, UNDP, Dell Foundation, DFID and CIDA. Subir has completed his CWA (Final Group I) and MBA in Finance.
Contact Info
EMAIL : subir@accessdev.org
PHONE : 91 11 45697039 | 11 45761146
Dr. Aditi Banerjee
Vice President- HR
Dr. Aditi Banerjee is a seasoned psychologist and HR leader with 20+ yrs of experience in human resource management and human psychology across Education, SaaS, and Manufacturing sectors. She specializes in assessments, performance management, policy development, conflict resolution, and people management, driving impactful talent strategies and workplace transformation.
She holds a Ph.D. in Psychology, a B.Ed from MLSU Udaipur, Rajasthan, and management qualifications from Leaders Excellence at Harvard Square and IBMI, Germany. Passionate about leadership development, DEI, and organizational behavior, Dr. Banerjee is committed to creating inclusive, high-performing work environments that foster both employee growth and business success with modern HR practices.
Contact Info
EMAIL : aditi@accessdev.org
PHONE : +91 9313478863
Suvendu Rout
Vice President – Non-Farm
With an MA in Economics and Post-Graduate Diploma in Management of NGOs (PGDMN), Suvendu has more than 14 years of varied experience.
He has had the advantage of working on the areas of policy, research and management from the perspective of a private consultancy, the Government and NGOs. Before coming on board at ACCESS, Suvendu was with the CSR wing of Ambuja Cement.
He has also worked at MART and the Gujarat State Watershed Management Agency.
Contact Info
EMAIL : suvendu@accessdev.org
PHONE : +91 11 45697039 | 11 45761146
Meenakshi Rathore
Gender and Diversity Specialist
Meenakshi leads the Gender and Diversity vertical in ACCESS to ensure inclusiveness at both institutional and operations/programme levels. Prior to joining ACCESS, she has been with the UN-Women to provide technical support to Department of Women and Child Development, Delhi Government on gender equality and mainstreaming with special focus on strengthening Women’s Economic Empowerment.
She is a development professional with over 14 years of progressively responsible work experience, of which more than 8 years have been with the Government, both at the Centre and State, on wide range of issues related to gender, gender mainstreaming, women’s socio-economic empowerment, child protection, education & governance; developing M&E systems, strengthening mechanisms of convergence and coordination for effective service delivery of social policies/ large scale programmes to reach out to the vulnerable and marginalized women/girls.
She holds a masters in Business Administration from Women’s Institute for Development Oriented Management (WISDOM), Banasthali Vidyapeeth, with specialization in Human Resource Development.
Contact Info
EMAIL : meenakshi@accessdev.org
PHONE : +91 11 45697039 | 11 45761146
Shubhendu Dash
Senior Vice President – Agriculture
Shubhendu comes with 22 years of overall experience out of which, he has spent almost 16 years in agri value chain development, Organic agriculture development, FPO ecosystem development and promoting value addition in agri/ horti and allied commodities. He is B.Sc in life sciences and MBA in Marketing and has a PG Diploma in Data Science from IIIT, Bangalore. He also holds a certification from International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) Philippines on “Pro-poor value chain and actor empowerment”.
He has worked with almost 150 FPOs and has experience of implementing large scale agriculture value chain development projects in states like Assam, Sikkim, West Bengal, Odisha, AP, Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh & Maharashtra. Shubhendu has led the teams for prestigious FPO/agri value chain development projects under SFAC; NABARD; NAFED RKVY; CSS 10000 FPO Program; World Bank supported Rajasthan Agribusiness Competitiveness Project; BMGF and Department of Agriculture (Odisha) supported MANDI project; BMGF, Department of Agriculture & Mission Shakti Odisha supported AMAZE Project. He has to his credit multiple successful FPO models engaged in agri inputs, output, custom hire, value addition, branding/packaging & market linkages.
Convergence with Government departments and schemes is one of his major strengths and all the programs handled by him have great levels of convergence with local, state and central government.
Another area of his core strength is facilitating access to markets for small-holder farmers. He has linked FPOs with numerous prestigious buyers like ITC, ADM, Adani, Cargill, Ruchi Soy, Godrej Agrovet, ABIS, UDAAN, Reliance Fresh, Big Bazar, Spencer’s, AoV Agro, Licious etc. and various online/technology platforms like NCDEX, eNAM, NCML, Kisan Yard, DeHaat etc. and facilitate procurement of agri commodities to the tune of Rs 50 crores.
Shubhendu also has good international exposure. He has promoted organic agriculture techniques in Malaysia with support from Malaysia Biotechnology Corporation and in Saudi Arabia in coordination with GTZ and Saudi Agriculture Department.
Contact Info
EMAIL : shubhendu@accessdev.org
PHONE : +91 11 45697039 | 11 45761146
Sudipto Saha
Vice President – Inclusive Finance India
Sudipto Saha has over 20 years of experience in the development sector including Financial Inclusion and Agri-based Livelihoods Solutions. He has (a) hands-on experience in developing plans and proposals and implementing the same as per the deliverables and outputs and outcomes of the project; (b) fund raising and business development skills including developing and implementing of projects / programmes, assignments & studies across India and global; (c) Strong management skills including reporting, monitoring of project progress and quality control; (d) Very knowledgeable in conducting surveys at the individual, household & community levels and data analysis & report writing and (e) Capable of working & co-ordination with teams across locations to conduct project & other activities.
He has completed his Post Graduation Diploma in Rural Management (PGDRM) from Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), post completion of his Bachelor in Engineering (B. E.) from Malviya Regional Engineering College (MREC), Jaipur. He has also successfully completed the Boulder Microfinance Training Programme from International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization in the year 2008 and ESG readiness course from Swiss Learning Exchange in the year 2023, among other trainings and workshops
Contact Info
EMAIL : sudipto@accessdev.org
PHONE : +91 11 45697039 | 11 45761146
Vivek Sinha
Team Lead-Fund Manager (SVP)
Vivek leads the Fund Manager team for the Grant in Agroecology Programme (GAP) that is implementing the IFAD assisted Investments in Agroecological Value Chain Project. He is a development professional with a rich and varied experience of more than 35 years. Prior to joining Access, he worked for NABARD and retired as the Chief General Manager (CGM) in charge of the Department of Refinance, the largest business vertical of NABARD.
His areas of expertise include development finance, climate finance, credit planning, institutional development, microfinance, policy planning and credit appraisal. He has also served as a Faculty at the Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD) and headed the Zonal Office of the NABARD Consultancy Services.
He has served on the Board of the MCX, Uttaranchal Gramin Bank, Bhagirathi Gramin Bank and the NBCFDC. Vivek holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), New Delhi and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Delhi University.