Vanita Viswanath is a board member of Jagriti Yatra (a unique 2 week annual dedicated train journey for 500 young professionals that combines instruction on inclusive entrepreneurship on the train and exposure to social entrepreneurs on the ground in north, south, east and west India). She is co-founder and ex-CEO of Udyogini, an NGO based in Delhi that empowers women through skill and entrepreneurship training and enterprise value chains in rural areas of several central and north Indian states. She is Chairperson of Aajeevika Bureau, a 15-year old pioneering migration-support organization in Rajasthan that provides services, advocacy and research for dignified migration of the poor across India. Vanita was earlier employed at the World Bank, Washington D.C headquarters in various positions. Vanita was a member of the Working Group on Clustering and Aggregation for the the Govt. of India�s 12th Five Year Plan. Vanita was recognized as one of three finalists of the World Economic Forum Schwab Foundation India Social Entrepreneur of the Year award 2012 and is a recipient of The International Alliance of Women, Washington D.C, World of Difference Award 2013. In 2011 she was selected (among 11 NGO leaders worldwide) Senior Fellow, Synergos Institute, New York, to be part of a global senior fellows group that works on solutions to poverty.<br><br>Vanita received her PhD from the University of Texas, Austin, USA. She has published widely (including on social media), lectured in leading US universities such as Yale and Columbia (on social business and employment) and presented papers in conferences worldwide.
