External Advisory Board

Sunil Kumar took office as the 15th provost of Johns Hopkins University on September 1, 2016. In this role, Kumar is the chief academic officer and second-ranking member of the senior administration, responsible for promoting and coordinating the University’s teaching and research mission. He oversees the university’s nine schools as well as several interdisciplinary programs and academic centers. As Provost, Kumar has focused on increasing inter-divisional research and education collaborations across the University; recruiting exceptional faculty to Johns Hopkins through the Bloomberg Distinguished Professorship program and the Faculty Diversity Initiative; enhancing the student experience by leading the Student Services Excellence Initiative, strengthening the career services function at the University for undergraduate and graduate students; and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the divisions. Kumar also chairs the University’s inaugural Tenure Advisory Committee (TAC). Prior to his current role, Kumar served as Dean of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, as well as the George Pratt Shultz Professor of Operations Management. Before joining the Booth School of Business, he spent 14 years on the faculty of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he was the Fred H. Merrill Professor of Operations, Information and Technology. He also served as senior associate dean for academic affairs, overseeing the school’s MBA program and leading faculty groups in marketing and organizational behavior. Kumar’s research includes performance evaluation and control of manufacturing systems, service operations, and communications networks. In particular, he studies systems affected by stochastic variability via mathematical models. He also studies application of optimization methods and control theory to managerial problems. Born in India, Kumar received a Master of Engineering degree in computer science and automation from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Mangalore University in Surathkal. He earned a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Ashok Agarwal BSPH MPH’84 has a background in both general medicine and public health initiatives. Over the last 25 years, he has been the driving force behind the creation of several unique public health and rural development institutions throughout India. After graduating from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (formerly the School of Hygiene and Public Health) with a Master of Public Health degree in 1983, he set up the Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) in Jaipur, the first such institution in Asia. The Institute today has expanded to include centers in Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Kabul. In addition, he is the founder of a blood bank and hematology research center in Kolkata, which was designed to provide the city’s impoverished residents with the most modern hematological services in eastern India. He is the managing trustee of Bhoruka Charitable Trust, which provides education, water, sanitation, rural health and economic development in 800 villages in Rajasthan alone. He is also involved in the world’s largest user fee-based rural drinking water supply, Aapni Yojana, supplying water to 350 villages, or about half a million people. Dr. Agarwal serves on several government boards and committees in India – focusing primarily on water, health and rural development issues. Presently, he is an active member of the boards of Sobhasaria Engineering College, BRCM College of Engineering & Technology and the Environmental Sanitation Institute.

Gitanjli (Tanya) Arora, MD, DTMH, received her undergraduate degree and Masters in Health Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, and received her medical degree from the USC Keck School of Medicine. Tanya is a physician in Pediatric Palliative Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and professor in Global Medicine at the USC Keck School of Medicine. She also leads efforts to improve health equity for patients and their families. She has worked extensively in international health settings including with Doctors Without Borders in South Sudan and Guatemala, as the Director of the UCLA Pediatric Residency Global Health Program, and Co-Director of the Global Health Education Programs at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Center for World Health.

An unbridled passion to touch lives, an unwavering commitment to make a meaningful difference in the lives of the less-privileged people in our society and an extremely sensitive mind are the driving forces behind Ritu Prakash Chhabria, Co-Founder and Managing Trustee, Mukul Madhav Foundation. She grew up with strong values that were imbibed by her parents and greatly influenced by her grandparents. These values were sown at an early age and carried on to formulate her path towards philanthropy. Mukul Madhav Foundation (MMF) is an India-based charitable trust that has been spreading hope and happiness since 1999, with an overseas office in London, UK (CIO: 1182723), started in 2018. They are primarily engaged at the grassroots level with vulnerable, marginalised communities and individuals. Working dedicatedly to give access to the resources they need to flourish, to feel empowered and cherished. The work encompasses healthcare, education, social welfare, water and environmental conservation, sanitation, women’s empowerment, disaster relief, promotion of sports and skill development. This accounts for 16 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and 14 of the 16 CSR Mandates put forward by the Indian Government in 2014. Helping under-served individuals across the length and breadth of India build stronger foundations for themselves so that they can reach their true potential and take their communities along with them. They have continued to do this, and more, year after year, thanks to the support of our like-minded collaborators, on-ground partners and teams. Together, we let hope and happiness flourish. Finding global support for MMF, with the establishment of MMF UK in 2018, and collaborations with organizations in the UK, Prince’s Trust International, BAPIO (British Association of Physicians in India) , (RCPCH) Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, Caudwell Children, British Asian Trust, Action Aid, Concern for Mental Health, Healing Little Hearts, Royal Free Hospital, UCL among others has enabled MMF to spread its wings. A collaboration was also created with the Government Health Centre of Israel and trainings have been conducted in Pune. Both Indian and International collaboration helps the Foundation to enhance and enrich the learning of both the markets. With the association of MMF with Finolex Industries Limited (FIL) in 2014 as their official CSR partner, today Mrs. Chhabria sits on the Board of Directors at FIL as the Chairperson for CSR activities.

Raj Gupta was born in Uttar Pradesh and built a 39-year career at the Fortune 500 specialty materials company Rohm and Haas, retiring as Chairman and CEO in 2009. He has served as a director at 15 public companies including Hewlett Packard, DuPont, Tyco, Delphi/Aptiv, and Avantor and at 6 private companies including Vanguard group. He and Kamla Gupta, his wife of 54 years, founded Ujala Foundation with a focus on education and healthcare. Mr. Gupta has degrees from IIT Mumbai, Cornell, and Drexel. Mrs. Gupta received her B.A. in Music and Liberal Arts from Agra University. They have two daughters and three grandsons.

Steve Klinsky is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder and CEO of New Mountain Capital ($35 billion AUM). He is married to novelist and screenwriter Maureen Sherry. Mr. Klinsky and Ms. Sherry’s non-profit leadership focuses on education, environment, and children’s health. Most recently, Mr. Klinsky founded the Modern States Education Alliance, America’s largest “free college for credit” charity, with over 300,000 users. Mr. Klinsky earned a B.S. from the University of Michigan and an MBA and J.D. from Harvard University, and Ms. Sherry earned an MFA from Columbia University. They have four children and live in New York City.

Deepak Raj is the founder and managing director of the New Jersey-based private investment firm Raj Associates with investments in real estate and public and private securities. He has extensive experience in the investment business. Deepak’s leadership positions during his 24 years with Merrill Lynch include senior analyst in research (and member of the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team); head of their Global Consumer Products Investment Banking practice; and senior vice president and member of the firm’s executive management committee. As director of Global Equity Research, he managed a staff of approximately 700 investment professionals located throughout the world. He was elected chairman of the New Jersey State Investment Council in 2019. The Council formulates policies governing the investment of funds and supervises the $80 billion NJ Pension Fund. Deepak has wide-ranging philanthropic interests. He serves as chairman of Pratham USA and of the Indian Philanthropy Alliance. He is the founder of the Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies at Columbia University (with his wife Neera) and is a co-founder of Indian American IMPACT. A chartered financial analyst, Deepak graduated from IIT Kanpur with a BTech in electrical engineering and earned an MBA from Northeastern University. He and his wife, Neera, have two grown children and live in Princeton, New Jersey.

Sunil Wadhwani is the Founder-Donor of WISH Foundation, which runs over 300 technology-enabled health clinics in some of the poorest areas in India. He was the Co-Founder and CEO of iGate Corporation, an IT services firm which grew to over 34,000 employees and was sold for $4.5 billion in 2015. He has served on the boards of several institutions including Carnegie-Mellon University, George Washington University and United Way Worldwide. Sunil is a Distinguished Alumnus of IIT Madras and has a Master’s degree from Carnegie-Mellon University.