Team

Founder & CEO

Swapan Mehra

Swapan is the Founder & CEO of IORA and a World Economic Forum (WEF) Young Global Leader 2020. He established IORA in 2009. As an environmental finance and policy expert, he excels in designing and implementing projects and policy interventions in the forestry, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation sectors. After completing an Advanced Diploma in Forest Management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, he worked with some of the largest carbon finance firms in the world. Recipient of the prestigious FICCI Young Business Leader Award, Swapan contributes extensively towards conservation and policy intervention issues, especially in the forestry sector (grassroots, national and international levels). This multi-level exposure allows him to envisage and develop solutions that are holistic and multi-faceted. 

A LEAD International Fellow (2011) and a holder of Donella Meadows Fellowship (Balaton Group), Swapan is an active member of the FICCI – Young Business Leaders of India, the Technology Selection Commission for Jal Jeevan Mission, the Governing Board: Assam Chief Minister Climate Change Society, Country’s Premier Tiger Task Force, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) and the VCS Advisory Committee. He is also an Expert Committee Member on Invasive Alien Species and the lab principal in the India Innovation Lab for Green Finance. 

He was a technical reviewer of UNEP’s Green Economy Initiatives, a major UN project demonstrating how REDD+ can support a green economy, and is a key jury member for the UNDP Equator Prize. 

Director

Anil Kumar Mehra

A self-motivated visionary, Maj Gen A K Mehra, AVSM, VSM (Veteran) has served in the Indian Army for 37 years. He has a Master’s Degree in Defence Studies from Madras University and has done M Phil in Defence Studies from Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore. Since 2014, Maj Gen A K Mehra is one of the Director’s in IORA Board of Directors and oversees Human Resources, Administrative and Financial activities for the organization. 

Co-founder

Chhaya Bhanti

Chhaya is a sustainability strategist with expertise in catalyzing climate action through multi-disciplinary approaches and holds an MBA in Sustainability and an M.A in Communications and Film from the U.S. After working as a media strategist in New York with some of the world’s largest brands, she joined the renewable energy sector and worked extensively in the areas of clean tech finance, government & multi-lateral partnerships and technology innovation. She started her journey with One Sun Solar in San Francisco and later worked at Lumisolair in New York. 

Bringing this broad-spectrum of international experience with her, Chhaya moved back to India to establish Vertiver, a strategic consultancy for climate action and dissemination. She also joined Swapan to co-found IORA. Chhaya is also a co-founder of Sanjhi, a Rajasthan based NGO that works on media-based storytelling for environmental action.

Head – Carbon Market & VP - Corporate Partnerships

Digvijay Chauhan

Digvijay is a carbon-market expert with over 11 years of industry experience in the identification and commercialization of carbon offsets and CDM projects. He holds a postgraduate degree in Business Management and Finance from Pune University. He is credited with developing innovative new products like carbon offset backed pre-payment and debt financing. Digvijay has also been involved in originating the transaction of more than 6 million carbon offsets from India. 

At IORA, Digvijay heads the development of carbon financing strategy for various climate change mitigation projects; with a mission to enable sustainable development by promoting ecosystem conservation, low-carbon technologies and climate change adaptation through customized financing and distribution models. 

Advisor

Emily Nyrop

Emily is a climate change leader with a track record of identifying and enabling initiatives to reach scale, shepherding high value opportunities through strategy development and implementation, and leading teams of 10+ people. She has served as a facilitator of long-term relationships and partnerships, with specialty in driving effective executive decision making. Over the years, she has mobilized over $1B in philanthropic and investor capital, and propelled climate adaptation and resilience efforts in the Global South.

At IORA, Emily supports initiatives for nature-based solutions, resource conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Senior Advisor - Climate Change

Dr. Sumana Bhattacharya

Dr. Sumana Bhattacharya supports IORA’s key initiatives on climate change mitigation and adaptation. Dr. Bhattacharya has over 25 years of experience in review, development, management and implementation of programmes and projects in the areas of Climate Change, Ecosystem Assessment, and Low Carbon Development. She is a key member for engagements on climate change policy development, finance and governance issues at a national and state level. 

Assistant Vice-President - Climate Change

Sriya Mohanti

Sriya Mohanti leads the design and execution of projects in the areas of climate change policies and finance at IORA. Over the last decade, she supported climate change solutions at national and sub-national levels in India. Sriya facilitates the development of decision support systems, policies, institutional frameworks and investment strategies by engaging with various stakeholders, both public and private, for a coordinated approach towards climate mitigation and adaptation. 

Manager - Climate Change

Pradnya Mathur

Pradnya Mathur has been facilitating IORA’s efforts for development and implementation of climate policy solutions towards climate change adaptation and mitigation at national and sub-national levels. She is also involved in climate vulnerability studies conducted at community level. She has a rich experience of almost 11 years in the domains of Agricultural Water Management, Sustainability, Climate Change and capacity building in different ecosystems across India. 

Assistant Manager - Climate Change

Shweta Pandey

Shweta Pandey facilitates IORA’s efforts in development of GHG Inventory for various sectors and devising Carbon Neutral Strategies. Her areas of expertise include- Carbon Estimation and Quantification, Natural Resource Assessment and Climate Risk Assessment. 

Research Associate - Climate Change

Garima Jasuja

Garima Jasuja is a key researcher under Climate Change portfolio of IORA, and has been supporting initiatives on climate finance and policy solutions. She is also proficient in Environmental Economics, Biodiversity Finance as well as Climate Policy, Finance and Governance.

Research Associate - Climate Change

Rhea Malhotra

Rhea Malhotra is a key researcher under Climate Change portfolio of IORA, and supports initiatives on climate finance and policy solutions. Her areas of expertise include remote sensing, data analysis, climate change adaptation and environmental modelling. 

Research Associate - Climate Change

Guntoju Sujith Sourab

Guntoju Sujith Sourab is a key researcher under the Climate Change portfolio of IORA, supports initiatives on Climate Adaptation, Climate Finance, and other innovative policy solutions. He specializes in Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Technologies, National and Sub-National Climate Action, Urban Resilience, Water Resource Planning, Ecosystem Valuation. 

Research Associate- Climate Change

Gopalika Arora

Gopalika is a key researcher under the Climate Change portfolio, supporting initiatives on climate finance and policy solutions. Her areas of expertise include Climate Change Adaptation and Data Analytics. She is also associated with projects related to Payment of Ecosystem Services and Natural Resource Management. Her research interests’ lies at the intersection of environmental justice, sustainability and climate resilience.

Manager - Climate Change

Swati Pillai

Swati Pillai facilitates IORA’s efforts for development and implementation of climate finance and policy solutions towards climate change mitigation and adaptation at national and sub-national levels. She has over 5 years of experience in the area of Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience and has worked collaboratively with a diverse set of stakeholders spanning sub-national, national and international level. 

Senior Advisor - Forestry

Dr. P.P Bhojvaid

Dr. Bhojvaid supports IORA’s key initiatives on Forestry and Biodiversity Conservation. He has worked extensively with the national and state government and brings forth a substantial and demonstrable experience of over 34 years in Project Management, Training and Capacity Building, Research, Consultancy, Planning, Monitoring, Implementation and Evaluation in the areas related to Sustainable Forest Management and Socio-Economic Development. Apart from that, Dr. Bhojvaid has creditable experience in, research, documentation, conducting studies, appraisals, evaluations and assessments and has published journals, books and chapters on Forest Management, Natural Resource Management, Medicinal Plants, Agro-forestry, Climate Change Mitigation, Soil and Water Conservation.

Vice President - Forestry

Dr. Saurindra Goswami

Dr. Goswami has been leading IORA’s flagship programmes on Forestry and Biodiversity Conservation. He owns an extensive experience in Forest Management; Community Forestry, Monitoring and Evaluation; Local Forestry Issues; Agro-forestry, Watershed Management; and Eco-restoration.  

Senior Manager - Forestry

Dr. Satvant Kaur Saini

Dr. Saini has been providing technical support to IORA for Forest Ecology and Management projects. She has an extensive experience of working in medicinal plant and NTFPs, evaluation and assessment of various plantation activities under various government plans and private plantations. Her areas of expertise include Forest Resource Assessment, Floral and Faunal Studies of Protected Areas, Development of Sustainable Harvesting Techniques with Active Community Engagement, Resource Assessment EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) and EMP (Environment Management Plan).  

Senior Manager - Forestry

Prabhakar Panda

With 7+ years of research and consulting experience in Environment and Forestry, Prabhakar has been facilitating IORA’s efforts in developing projects in Carbon Forestry, Sustainable Land Management Practices, Payment for Ecosystem Services Mechanisms, Natural Resources Management, Environmental Economics, Forest Certification Standards and Sustainable Supply Chain Management. Additionally, he has experience in forest certification, environmental impact assessment, and auditing projects.

He is a member of Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE) and contributing author of “Economic Valuation and Accounting for the Forest and Protected Areas of Rajasthan”, “Economic Valuation of Tiger Reserves in India Phase-II” (Report launched by Prime Minister of India on 29th July 2019) and “Recommendations to 15th Finance Commission of India for Enriching Current Tax Devolution Formula for Increased Allocations of Funds towards Forest, Environment & Climate Change” Report.

He is currently working on developing ARR, REDD+, IFM, and other Nature-based Carbon projects throughout South Asia.

Field Coordinator - Forestry

Shrinivas Hegde

Shrinivas Hegde has been supporting field operations under IORA’s flagship programmes for Forestry and Biodiversity Conservation, with a focus on developing innovative models for reducing pressures on India’s forests through alternative livelihood creation and alternate technology deployment for fuel wood abatement. 

Research Associate - Forestry

Sreeja Dutta

Sreeja Dutta is a key researcher under the Forestry Portfolio and supports IORA’s flagship programmes and capacity building initiatives for Forest Management, Carbon Forestry and Natural Resource Management. She has an extensive experience in facilitating the intersectional development of communities living around forested areas.

Senior Manager- RS-GIS

Dr. Shuvankar Ghosh

Dr. Shuvankar Ghosh facilitates IORAs RS-GIS initiatives and assists with image processing and data analysis. He has an extensive global experience of 14 years and expertise in the spheres of Remote Sensing, Forest and Wetland Ecology, Land-surface phenology, Invasive Species Ecology, Carbon dynamics and Big Data Analysis. 

Manager- RS-GIS

Sanjay Bisht

Sanjay Bisht facilitates IORA’S efforts for providing solutions for Forestry, Water, Agriculture, and Climate Change using moderate to high-resolution data. He also works towards automation of algorithms to provide solutions in a quick turnaround time. He owns expertise in GIS Software and is also familiar with Surveying Instrumentation like DGPS, Hand-Held GPS, Ground Penetrating Radar and Terrestrial Laser Scanner. 

Assistant Manager- RS-GIS

Rohit Kumar

Rohit Kumar supports IORA’s GIS initiatives for Geo-spatial Database Creation and Management, Satellite Image Preprocessing, Digital Terrain Analysis, Land Use modelling, Vegetation Mapping, Use of Active and Passive sensors for Forest Biomass Estimation and Forest Surveying Techniques for REDD+. He specializes in automation of various image processing algorithms on big data cloud platforms for development of customized client-based solutions. 

Assistant Manager- RS-GIS

Neeraj Agrawal

Neeraj supports IORA’s GIS initiatives in the field of remote sensing and GIS application in Natural Resource Management, Forestry and Environment. He owns expertise in SAR and optical remote sensing data for vegetation studies. 

Research Associate - RS - GIS

Dipanwita Dutta

Dipanwita Dutta is a key researcher under the RS-GIS Portfolio and supports with image processing, data analysis, stakeholder engagement, and report and peer-reviewed manuscript generation. Her broader areas of interests include Remote Sensing and GIS, Land–use Land–cover Change Dynamics, Urban Transport GIS, Invasive Species Dynamics, Climate Change.

Senior Vice President-Projects & Partnerships

Abhay Kumar Johari

Mr Johari facilitates strategic project planning and implementation of IORA’s initiatives on Forestry, Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change adaptation across India. Mr. Johari is a (retd.) IFS Professional, who has extensively served in the Indian government for over 34 years. He brings forth a rich knowledge and expertise in the domain of forest, wildlife and biodiversity conservation. 

Assistant Vice-President- Projects & Partnerships

Dr. Supriya Bhatla

Dr. Supriya Bhatla facilitates the management of projects as well as development of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for IORA’s flagship programmes in Forestry, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Clean Technology, along with providing training support for cross-sectoral programmes. She holds a PhD in Political Ecology and has conducted research on motivations for water and land policy formulation, and implications of these policies on the ground as well as interactions between environmental governance (structures and process) and general population. Working at the interface of social and natural systems, she is well versed in social and environmental monitoring, development of incentive based mechanisms and evaluation of projects. She is extensively involved as a socio-economic and gender expert for multiple projects and leads the work on decentralised renewable energy and socio-economic valuation. Dr. Bhatla has over 15 years of experience in policy advocacy for NRM and climate change adaptation with related experience in working with communities across rural and urban settings. Her work also spans management of effective dissemination of research outputs, digital and print collaterals for IORA, along with other outreach activities. 

Manager- Projects & Partnerships

Arunava Gupta

At IORA, Arunava primarily supports Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) for IORA’s flagship programmes in Forestry, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Clean Technology. He owns a valuable experience in project monitoring & evaluation, project coordination, stakeholder engagement, financial planning & budgeting and project communication. 

Manager- Proposals

Manju Kaur Khurana

Manju Khurana owns a rich experience in proposal writing, fundraising and advocacy. She facilitates IORA’s Business Development process in the area of Forestry, Biodiversity, Climate change adaptation & mitigation, Renewable energy and New Market Mechanisms for Conservation. 

Associate - Communications

Kamakshi Luthra

Kamakshi Luthra supports communication activities at IORA and is responsible for development of strategic and creative content towards building brand awareness and boosting community engagement. Her areas of expertise include media and policy advocacy, digital media and development communications. 

Associate - Business Development and Forestry

Samriddha Ghosh

Samriddha Ghosh facilitates the Business Development process and also supports IORA’s initiatives for Forestry and Biodiversity Conservation . Her areas of expertise include avian ecology, landscape ecology, population genonmics and phylogenetics focusing on answering ecological and evolutionary questions; and as well as project management and liaising between agencies.

Manager - Finance and Accounts

Bhuwan Tiwari

Bhuvan Tiwari oversees daily operations of the accounting and finance department for IORA. He has a proficiency in monitoring and analyses of accounting data, production of financial reports and statements for the organization and supports with taxation, project accounting and invoicing, fund management, budgeting and cash flow. 

Accounts Executive

Firdous Siddiqui

Firdous Siddiqui is responsible for managing finance and accounting functions, and closure of books at IORA. She is also engaged in verification of vouchers and recording of daily accounting transactions, cash and bank payments/receipts, journal vouchers, TDS, GST, Salary and SAP. 

Senior Manager - Administration

Rabi Narayan Sahu

Mr. Sahu is instrumental in handling administrative affairs at IORA and is responsible for overall office management, including vendor management, handling procurement and invoice management.  

Manager – Information Technology

Santosh Kumar Gupta

Santosh Kumar assists IORA with all IT related functions. He is a highly competent and organized systems administrator with years of experience in software procurement, installation, administration, data compatibility and data security. 

Executive Assistant to CEO

Revathi Anand Babu

Revathi Babu oversees multiple administrative tasks at IORA. She maintains and manages CEO’s calendars, assists for business correspondence, manages both national and international travel bookings for all team members. She is responsible for organizing workshops and conferences for IORA at a National and International level. 

Front Desk Executive & Administration

K M Preeti

K M Preeti works as Front Office Executive and Administration at IORA and is skilled in data entry, filing and paperwork management. She has completed her Master’s in Public Administration from IGNOU and is well versed with MS Office applications.