Our Mentors
Our mentors are distinguished leaders across defence, government, industry, academia, and space who guide CDF's strategic direction and initiatives.
Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik PVSM, VSM (Retd.)
Board of Advisor, IIMUN | Former Chief of the Air Staff
Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria PVSM, AVSM, VM (Retd.)
Former Chief of the Air Staff
Admiral Karambir Singh, PVSM, AVSM (Retd.)
Former Chief of the Naval Staff
Air Chief Marshal V K Chaudhari, PVSM, AVSM, VM (Retd.)
Former Chief of the Air Staff
Dr Arvind Gupta
Director, Vivekananda International Foundation | Former Dy NSA & Secretary NSCS | Former DG, MPIDSA
Mr A S Kiran Kumar
Member Space Commission | Former Chairman, ISRO | Former Chairman, Space Commission | Former Secretary, Department of Space (DoS)
Lt Gen (Dr) AKS Chandele PVSM, AVSM (Retd.)
Chairman, Geospatial World Chamber of Commerce | President, Def. Internal Security & Public Safety, GW | Director, Electronics Sector Skill Council of India | Advisor, Electronics Industry Association
Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia PVSM, AVSM, SM (Retd.)
Former DG Military Operations (DGMO) | Former DG, CENJOWS | Council Member, USI | Board Member, CIEU
Lt Gen V G Khandare PVSM, AVSM, SM (Retd.)
Chairman, CDF | Former Principal Adviser, Ministry of Defence (MoD) | Former Military Advisor, NSCS | Former DG DIA & DC IDS(Int), HQ IDS | Member - National Adv Committee, ISpA
Lt Gen S L Narasimhan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd.)
Former Member, National Security Advisory Board | Former DG, CCCS | Distinguished Fellow, CAPS
Air Marshal Daljit Singh PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd)
Former DG, Air Operations | Air Officer Commanding Operational Fighter Base | Former Defence Attaché – Thailand
Air Marshal A S Bhonsle AVSM, VSM (Retd.)
Former Member of UPSC | Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Operations), HQ IDS
Lt Gen A B Shivane PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd.)
Former, DG Mechanized Forces Chief | Security Advisor, Economic Council of India | Advisor, Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS)
Air Marshal Sukh Chain Singh VSM (Retd)
Former Defence Attaché – Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos | Independent Director, KONKAN Railway | Former Advisor, Israel Aerospace Industries
Lt Gen Satish Dua PVSM, UYSM, SM, VSM (Retd)
Former Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman COSC (CISC) | Former GOC, XV Corps
Air Marshal Anil Khosla PVSM, AVSM, VM (Retd)
Former Vice Chief of Air Staff, IAF | Fellow - USI & CAPS | Strategic Advisor – Synergia Foundation
Rear Admiral Sudarshan Y. Shrikhande , AVSM (Retd.)
Former, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (FCNI) | Former Flag Officer, Doctrines & Concepts
Air Marshal (Dr) Rajeev Sachdeva AVSM (Retd.)
Former Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Ops) | Former Commandant - College of Def. Management | Former Member Secretary, Defence Acquisition Council | Former Chairman, SCAPCC (MoD)
Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd.)
Former FOC-in-C, Western Naval Command
Maj Gen (Dr) Pawan Anand AVSM (Retd)
Director – USI Centre for Atma Nirbhar Bharat & Technologies | Honorary Adjunct Fellow – National Maritime Foundation
Air Marshal B R Krishna PVSM, AVSM, SC (Retd.)
Former CISC, HQ IDS | Former AOC-in-C, Western Air Command
Air Marshal D Choudhury PVSM, AVSM, VM, VSM (Retd.)
Distinguished Fellow, VIF | Former Commandant, National Defence College
Vice Admiral S N Ghormade PVSM, AVSM, NM (Retd.)
Former Vice Chief of the Naval Staff | Member - National Advisory Committee,Indian Space Association (ISpA) | Former Member, DRDO Review Committee
Lt Gen Ajai Kumar Singh PVSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM (Retd.)
Former GOC-in-C, Southern Command
Maj Gen (Dr) R Siva Kumar (Retd.)
Dr Muralikrishna V Iyyanki
Prof (Dr.) Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi IAS (Retd.)
Former Chairman, NCVET | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Punjab | Distinguished Visiting Professor, IIT Ropar
Nagendra Nath Sinha
Former Secretary, MoRD & Ministry of Steel | Former Chairman, NHAI | Former Secretary (Border Management), MHA
Mr Vikas Khitha
Vice President & Head, L&T Precision Engineering & Systems
Dr Subba Rao Pavuluri
President, SIA-India | Chairman & MD, Ananth Technologies Ltd
Prof. Dipankar Banerjee
Director, IIST | Former Director, ARIES | Co-chair, Science Working Group of ISRO’s Aditya Mission
Mr Baliada Erappa Poonacha
Assistant Director (Retd.), Intelligence Bureau | Founding Team, SPG
Mr Sanjay Sahay, IPS (Retd)
Former ADGP, Karnataka | Founder & Director, TechConPro Pvt Ltd
Sanjay Beniwal, IPS (Retd.)
Former DG Prisons (Tihar Jail)
AVM Rajiva Ranjan VM (Retd)
Former ACIDS (ICT), HQ IDS | Former ACAS OPS (SPACE), IAF | Former ACIDS (PP&FS), HQ IDS
Rear Admiral Mohit Gupta VSM
Former DG – Defence Cyber Agency | Former ACNS (Submarines)
AVM (Dr) Devesh Vatsa VSM (Retd)
Advisor, Cyber Security & Critical Technologies, DSCI Nasscom
AVM Ajay Shukla VM (Retd)
Former ACIDS (ICT), HQ IDS | Former Air Advisor – DRDO | Senior Fellow, Vivekananda International Foundation
AVM Aketi Suresh Kumar VSM (Retd)
Former ACAS (Org & Cer)
AVM Pawan Kumar (Retd)
Former DG Defence Space Agency
Prof Vijaykrishnan Narayanan
Associate Dean for Innovation, Penn State Univ Robert Noll Chair Professor of Comp Sc & Engg and Electrical Engg Dir, Penn State Center for AI Foundations and Engg Systems.
Prof Maruthi Akella
Prof, Dept of Aerospace Engg & Engg Mechanics, University of Texas at Austin | Cockrell Family Endowed Chair in Engineering | "Asteroid 5376" named as "Maruthiakella".
Dr G Shreekumar Menon, IRS (Retd)
Former DG, National Academy of Customs Indirect Taxes & Narcotics, & Multi-Disciplinary School of Economic Intelligence India PhD (Narcotics)
Dr J S Sahambi
Prof, Electrical Engg, IIT Ropar
Air Cmde D Vedajna (Retd)
KMA with Airbus
Capt (IN) Anurag Bisen (Retd.)
Senior Fellow, Vivekananda International Foundation | Former Senior Defence Specialist, NSCS
Cmde (Dr) A P Golaya, VSM (Retd.)
Founder, GOGI Innovations | Former Oi/C TDAC | Indian Navy Former Senior Defence Specialist, NSCS
Dr Siddharth Shekhar Singh
Associate Professor of Marketing, ISB Independent Dir, NCDEX eMarkets Ltd Dir, DLabs (ISBs Incubation, Acceleration, and Investment arm)| Member, National Advisory Committee of ISpA
Dr Ranjana Kaul
Partner, Dua Associates VP, International Institute of Space Law (IISL) | Founding member of Spaceport SARABHAI (S2)
Brig Ranvir Singh (Retd)
Former Senior Vice President JP Hydro Vishnuprayag Hydel Project, Joshimath
Dr Krishnalata Singh
PhD | Sanskrit Educationist | Social Impact Author
Dr Ravinder Pal Singh
Investor: Deep Tech & Science Professor: Innovation & Entrepreneurship C-Level Leader: Tech & Engg | Member, National Advisory Committee of ISpA
Mr Atul Tripathi
Honorary Adjunct Fellow - National Maritime Foundation | Ex Prime Minister’s Office (NSCS)
Prof Dr Naveen Coomar
Founder and Managing Partner, Naveen & Naveen | President, RIPA India | Vice President, Impetus Infotech | Former Senior VP, JP Hydro Vishnuprayag Hydel Project
Dr Sudhir Kumar N
Former Director, CBPO at ISRO HQ | Former Assistant Manager, Tata Steel
Lata Singh
GIS Strategic Partner, IBM | Former Director, CA Technologies (Cloud and Managed Services)
Dr Shanuja Beri
Assistant Professor at Kalindi University
Prof (Dr) Bhavna Agarwal
Professor & Director, KCC Institutes, Gr Noida
Lt Col V S Velan
Founder, Elena Geo Tech | Former Key Contributor – MoD Integrated Space Cell
Dr PVGS Jayaram
CEO, NextStrat TechVision LLP | Director, Indian Security System Secretariat | Joint Director, Space Operations – Space Control Center
Prof. Shveta Singh
PFS Chair Professor & Finance Area Chair, DMS, IIT Delhi | Coordinator, NFCG | Associate Editor, JAMR
Dr N R Nappinnai Seran
Senior Advocate - Supreme Court | Cyber Law Author & Speaker | Former Advisor – Maharashtra Cyber Policy & Investigation
Mahesh C. Sharma
Chairman & Managing Director, GDX Group | Chairman, AAP International (NGO) | Former Director, World Association of Detectives (WAD)
Dr Dipak Kumar Giri
Assistant Professor, Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur | Former Postdoctoral Researcher, Singapore-MIT Alliance
Prof Pabitra Mitra
Head, Centre for Computational and Data Sciences, IIT Kharagpur
Shailendra Singh Bisht
Associate Dean, Centre of Excellence for Digital Transformation | Associate Professor, IBS Hyderabad
Major Amit Bansal (Retd)
CEO & Chief Mentor, Essel Group | Former Business Head – Adventz Group | National Head – FIITJEE Operations
Adv Puneet Bhasin
Honorary Advisor to UN Digital Public Goods Privacy Standard | Founder, Cyberjure Legal Consulting | Board Advisor, Centre for National Security Studies
Mrs Uma Sudhindra
Advisor & Adjunct Faculty, Rashtriya Raksha University | Member, Board of Governors, IIM Visakhapatnam
Dr Satarupa Bhattacharjee Kapoor
Regional Head of Business Development, AutoDesk | Founder & CEO, PristDel Pvt Ltd | Former Manager, RMSI Pvt Ltd
Prof Manan Suri
Founder, Cryan AI Solutions | Associate Professor, IIIT Delhi | Research Advisor, TCS
Prof Mayank Shrivastava
Professor, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) | Co-Founder, AGNIT Semiconductors Pvt Ltd | Former Senior Engineer - R&D, Intel Mobile Communications, USA
Advisors and Subject Matter Experts
Dr Rajesh Kumar
SPYM, Partner
Cdr Anupam Prasad (Retd.)
Cdr V K Rai (Retd.)
Dr Surpreet Chopra
Chairperson at S C Heart Foundation
Dr Kuldeep Raizada
Founder and Chairman at Akriti Group
Dr Nithiyanandam PhD
GEOINT Veteran, Professor @Takshashila Institution
Mr. Sameep Aggarwal
Information Security
Sqn Ldr Sameer Joshi (Retd)
CEO & Director, NewSpace Research & Technologies Pvt Ltd | Head of Aviation, McLeod Russel India | VP - Aerospace & Defence, Threye Interactive Pvt Ltd
Ms Rachana Lanewala
Diana Yohannan
Director-Spatial Labs AccionLAND Private Limited