Governance
Shyam Benegal (Chairman)
Mr Benegal is one of the leading film makers in India. He has directed over 1,000 advertising commercials, 65 documentaries, 25 motion pictures and three major television series, including a 53-hour series entitled ‘The History of India’. His films have won a number of national and international awards. Two of his films were nominated for Best Foreign Film Oscars. He was the chairman of Film Television Institute of India between 1980 and 1983 and between 1989 and 1992, and was part of the National Integration Council between 1986 and 1989 and the National Council of Art between 1980 and 1984. Mr Benegal was awarded the Padma Shri in 1976, and the Padma Bhushan in 1991. Both awards were bestowed by the Indian government in recognition of his contribution to Indian public life. He is currently a member of the Upper House of the Indian parliament. He was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1985, the Sovietland Nehru Award in 1989, the Indira Gandhi National Integration Award in 2004 and was awarded the most prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award by the Indian government in 2007 for his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema.
Raghav Bahl
Mr Bahl has over 24 years’ experience in entertainment, media and journalism. He began his career in media in 1985 as a correspondent and anchorperson for Doordarshan, the Indian state owned national broadcaster. He was the anchorperson and production consultant for India’s first monthly video news magazine, Newstrack, produced by the India Today group. From 1991 to 1993 he was executive director of Business India Television and produced the Business India Show and Business A.M. on Doordarshan. He was the winner of the Sanskriti Award for Journalism in 1994 and has written articles for The Times of India, The Statesman and The Pioneer. Mr Bahl is a member of the World Economic Forum and is the founder and majority shareholder of Network 18, a highly respected media conglomerate. Network 18 Group has strategic relationships with media giants NBC Universal, CNN, Viacom, Time Warner and Forbes and currently broadcasts four 24-hour news channels in India and employs more than 6,000 media professionals across India. In 2007, Mr Bahl was ranked by one of India’s leading magazines, as the 15th most powerful man in India and more recently in 2008 as one of the top 50 influential Indians by a leading English newspaper in India. Mr Bahl was also named the Business Transformation Entrepreneur for the Year 2007 by Ernst & Young.
Lord Meghnad Desai
Lord Desai, who holds a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, started his professional career in the Department of Agricultural Economics, University of California, in 1963. In 1965, he was appointed as a lecturer of economics at the London School of Economics and became a professor in 1983, a post he held until 2003. During this time he founded the Centre for the Study of Global Governance. Lord Desai is a recipient of several Honorary Degrees from universities such as Kingston, Middlesex, East London, London Guildhall and Monash University, Australia. He was created Lord Desai of St Clement Danes in 1991 and was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2007, Pravasi Bharatiya Puraskar (Distinguished Overseas Indian Award) in January 2004 and Bharat Gaurav by the Indian Merchants Chambers in 2002. Lord Desai was made an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics in July 2005. He has also published a book on the Bollywood film industry.
Alok Verma
Mr Verma is a Senior Partner of Sedley Richards Laurence Voulters and is a Chartered Accountant by profession. He was previously with Casson Beckman (now BakerTilly) where he worked mainly in audit and corporate finance. Mr Verma is a specialist in finance and corporate advisory work, including pre- and post-acquisition investigations, management buyouts, business start-ups, share valuation, transaction support and national and international group re-structuring. His specialist corporate finance knowledge also includes extensive experience in public company transactions on the AIM and PLUS markets, including attendance at UK publicly listed companies’ audit committee meetings. These focus particularly on their accounting policies and review management procedures in order to monitor the effectiveness of accounting and internal controls. He advises on corporate governance with particular emphasis on accountability, integrity, and risk management, not only to listed companies but to many other organisations outside the corporate sector. He has assisted companies to list on AIM and PLUS in addition to being the lead partner on those clients and other listed clients. He is also a trustee of a foundation for Climate Change.
Peter Radford
Mr Radford was appointed managing director of Bordeaux Services Limited on its incorporation in 1997. Mr Radford started his career with BDO Reads in 1978 and subsequently worked for Executive Management Trust in Amsterdam between 1981 and 1983 and Fisher Hoffman Stride in Johannesburg between 1983 and 1986. From 1986 to 1991 Mr Radford was Managing Director of the Abroad Spectrum Group based in Durban, South Africa. In 1991 he returned to Guernsey to develop the fund administration and asset management business of the Havelet Trust Group. Mr Radford holds a number of directorships within a range of Guernsey-based mutual fund companies and investment companies. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Securities and Investment Institute and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. He is a resident of Guernsey.
