Dr. R. Sreedher

Director, Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia

Dr. R. Sreedher jorined COL as Director of the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) on 1 February 2007. Most recently, Dr. Sreedher was as a Project Director, Local Voices Project of Internews in Chennai,India. Prior to that he was Director of the Educational Multimedia Research Centre, IIT campus Roorkee and also at Anna University Chennai. Previously he was Director of theElectronic Media Production Centre at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, India. And before joining IGNOU, Dr. Sreedher worked in various capacities with India's national broadcasters, All India Radio and Doordarshan.

Dr. Sreedher's interest in distance education began when he was heading the science unit of All India Radio Chennai in 1980 where he planned and produced the AIR School of Continuing Science Education. While serving as the chief of the educational broadcast wing of the All India Radio Network, he planned and executed mega radio science serials for children simultaneously in all the 18 recognized languages of India. The project involved the use of text materials, audio programmes and do-it-yourself activity kits. These serials had a strong component of 'live' interactivity. Dr.Sreedher was the one who introduced Interactive Radio Counselling for IGNOU in 1998. He later extended it to more than 180 Radio stations in the country. He was the architect of India's 24 hour educational TV and Radio channels which were named Gyan Darshan and Gyan Vani. He also pioneered campus community radio in the country in India.

Dr. Sreedher is a recipient of many national and international awards. He was a finalist in the World Technology Network Awards in the category of education for the year 2002. He received the National Award for Science Popularization through Electronic Media from Government of India in 1991. He was also awarded the Akashvani Radio award for Innovative radio programmes four times by All India Radio. Dr. Sreedher has also written popular science books in Tamil. His work involving World Space satellite radio, entitled 'Radio Vision', has been published by UNESCO. He has also worked as a consultant in Afghanistan helping to revive its Educational Radio and Television Centre and has been a UNICEF consultant in community radio. Dr. Sreedher brings his experience and expertise to CEMCA and hopes to take it forward to newer heights. He hopes to rope in more like minded partners.

Dr. Kalinga Seneviratne

Head of Research, AMIC

Dr Kalinga Seneviratne is a Sri Lankan born journalist, radio broadcaster and international communication specialist who learned his media skills in the Australian community radio sector. He broadcast with Radio 2SER-FM – a community / educational radio owned by the University of Technology Sydney - from 1980 to 1995. In 1987 he won a UN Media Peace Award for a series of radio documentaries broadcast on 17 Australian community radio stations exploring the relationship between rich and poor countries. In 1992 he was awarded the Inaugural Singapore Airlines Educational Award by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia for his services to the Australian community radio sector. He has also worked for Inter Press Service news agency as its Australian and South Pacific correspondent for 7 years and was a member of IPS’s ‘Terra Viva’ reporting team at a number of major international conferences in the 1990s. He has written many papers on community radio and also done a Masters thesis on the subject - a comparative study of community radio in Australia and Asia as a human rights issue. He holds a Phd in International Communication from Macquarie University in Australia and has taught international communications, journalism and radio production in Australia and Singapore. Currently he is the Head of Research at the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) in Singapore.

Dr. Ali Salman

School of Media and Communication Studies at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Ali Salman graduated from the International Islamic University, Malaysia in 1996 with Bachelor degree in Communication. He obtained his Masters in the same university two years later. In 2008, Ali Salman completed his PhD in Communication. He has written articles on the new media (Internet) and has taught and conducted training in several educational Institutions in Malaysia. He is currently attached to the School of Media and Communication Studies at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (National University of Malaysia). His current research interest is in the new media (Internet) and its impact on society, digital divide and development communication.

Mr. M J R David

BBC world service

MJR David started as a community broadcaster in Sri Lanka and later moved on to be a senior lecturer of Journalism at the University of Colombo. He is currently a PHD candidate of the University of Pradeniya and has successfully implemented several Development communication projects in Sri Lanka and has been involved with community Radio movements in South Asia. Recently he chaired the Radio Asia Conference on Community Radio hosted by AMIC. He has been a consultant to the Ministry of Media in Sri Lanka and was appointed chairman of the ministerial committee to restructure the state broadcaster. He has been Board member of the Sri Lanka press council and acting head Department of Media studies, Sri Pali campus, University of Colombo. MJR Davis is a recently working for the BBC world service .

Mr. Narendra Rana

USA

Narendra has a proven track record of profit creation and experience in developing and driving business development plans from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. He has also mentored CEOs and Chairmen to move them from operating as managers to become effective leaders. An IIT graduate with an MBA in Finance and Quantitative Analysis, Narendra has worked in multiple industries and disciplines. Narendra has a talent for developing new businesses and spotting future trends and economic shifts. He has a deep understanding of the working of global financial systems, including the World Bank and IMF. His prediction of economic downturn well in advance of Lehman Brother failure was invaluable to companies he advises. Narendra is currently Managing Partner at Amitayus Investments, LLC, a private equity firm.

During his career, Narendra has established joint ventures, negotiated mergers and acquisitions, managed international integration, developed new businesses and distribution channels in over 30 Countries worldwide, managed global licensing, commercialized technologies, created products and services, directed offshore software development, directed brand and PR strategies, developed models for risk management, and established quality assurance processes. He has experience in virtually all industrial sectors, ranging from Internet and media to renewable energy and infrastructure.

Narendra founded 2Know, Inc., a cross-cultural, multimedia communication company. He managed international operations for Knight Ridder Information, Inc., a billion dollar company, as Managing Director of the International Division. He also headed Worldwide Marketing, which included responsibility for all corporate-wide projects. Narendra conceived and developed GlobalReach—a multilingual Internet information service funded by a grant from the Japanese government's Ministry of International Technology and Industry (MITI). Under his direction, GlobalReach pioneered a new way of efficiently and cost-effectively developing information services for the Internet to meet the needs of business customers worldwide. The company was sold for over $300 million.

Narendra’s broad business experience and acumen translates from industry to industry globally. Narendra managed several business areas including both legal and non-legal markets, strategy and corporate development of Mead Data Central (LEXIS.NEXIS) during its hypergrowth years. He launched LEXIS.NEXIS’ entry into several new businesses that are currently the company’s main growth engines. The company was sold for over $1 billion. He was Vice President of Professional services at Infoseek during its successful IPO. He provided executive level consulting to companies in several industries including, Thomson, a company with over $10 billion in sales, to an enterprise software company, and a retail company with revenue over $1 billion. Narendra has also been an advisor and mentor to CEOs and Chairman of companies in the oil, renewable energy, hospitality, textile, food, and green development sectors.

Narendra also gained experience managing manufacturing operations, solving complex design issues, and establishing quality assurance processes for Kenner Products (then a division of General Mills) in Hong Kong. He has served on the board of the United Nations Resource Center, and the International Diplomacy Council, a Noble Prize nominee. He co-founded a 501(c)(3) organization for delivering sustainable and affordable solutions to environmental problems, and has served as an advisor to Asia Evolution, an Asian investment banking company. He was also a key member in the launch of Global Philanthropy Forum, which had participation from CEOs of the largest US companies and major foundations such as Rockefeller and Hewlett.