A veteran visionary, the founder and patriarch of The Lexicon Group, Mr. S.D Sharma, armed with his outstanding and extensive corporate experience, is the pioneering pillar of devoted business excellence, hardwork, unstinting commitment, uncompromising values, and simplicity. Mr. Sharma laid the foundations of The Lexicon Group in 2006, with the humble beginnings of a single school and just 19 students which has now become a safe and inclusive space for 16000+ students.

As Mr. S. D. Sharma says, "We still have many more miles to go and many more lives to nurture." Today, Lexicon Institute of Media & Advertising continues carrying on his legacy by offering incredible opportunities to students - the future board, to learn, grow, excel and innovate by encouraging and empowering them to believe in themselves, fulfil their dreams and achieve sustainable success.

An eminent educationist, entrepreneur, institution- builder, and philanthropist, Mr. Pankaj Sharma’s journey is inspiring

Over the years, he has consistently grown both professionally and personally. His zealous and ardent outlook has led him to establish and acquire various entrepreneurial ventures and companies in the sector like media, FMCG, ed-tech, online law aggregation, fitness and more. He has set up nine preschools, three high schools affiliated with CBSE, an AICTE approved postgraduate management institute, Lexicon Rainbow- Centre for children with special needs, a hotel management institute, Educrack, an ed-tech company and now Lexicon Institute of Media & Advertising. A visionary par excellence Mr. Pankaj Sharma strongly adheres to the motto of The Lexicon Group, "Believe in Yourself".

Under Mr. Sharma's able leadership, The Lexicon Group has received recognition from various national and international bodies such as Forbes, the British Council, BBC Knowledge Group, and the Times of India. Among his many honours, Mr. Pankaj Sharma is the recipient of Singapore’s AsiaOne, ‘Asia’s Greatest Emerging Leader’ Award, and also the Times’ ‘Pune Visionary Award’.

Mr. Neeraj Sharma, Vice Chairman - The Lexicon Group and Director - Pune Times Mirror, is a transformational leader, successful corporate trainer, consultant and self-made entrepreneur. He believes in the three-word success mantra of “Believe in Yourself”. An exemplary individual, he believes the genuine smile and success of the students is an invaluable return on investment in education. This sentiment is reflected in his leadership at The Lexicon Schools, Lexicon Rainbow Schools, Lexicon MILE, Lexicon IHM, and now, Lexicon Institute of Media & Animation, where the focus is on student-centric education.

Mr. Sharma believes that innovation is the need of the hour, and it is time for budding professionals with the skills to engage, understand, and design visionary solutions using their unique skill sets to evolve into responsible future citizens.

A leader in the field of education, fitness and hospitality with 20+ years of experience, Mr. Nasir Shaikh, Group CEO - The Lexicon Group of Institutes, EduCrack & EasyRecruit+, Associate Editor - Pune Times Mirror & Civic Mirror, is a Leadership Life Coach with a PCC accreditation certified by the ICF, a WMO delegate, TEDx speaker, passion catalyst, and trainer.

Mr. Shaikh's efforts are guided by the principle of The Lexicon Group of Institutes - 'Believe in Yourself'. Mr. Shaikh employs the perfect balance of experience, leadership and innovative spirit to encourage and inspire young future leaders, fostering a stimulating environment for holistic education and individual well-being while addressing the leadership challenges of an evolving world.

Ms. Dipta Joshi, principal, Lexicon Institute of Media and Advertising brings with her over 20 years of experience in the field of Media and Journalism. Her expertise extends to in the education, finance and general news domains. She has worked across various media spectrums like print, television, online as well as mobile news. Starting her career as a television journalist she has taken up the role of a writer, correspondent and producer for the renowned general news channel, Aaj Tak (TV Today Network). In the print media, as the Assistant Editor at Business Standard, she handled the ‘personal Finance’ pages as well as the Sunday special, ‘The Smart Investor’. She has also contributed to other print media publications such as the Khaleej Times, Indian Express, Times of India and the Free Press Journal. As an independent contributor, she has written extensively for industry-related magazines for Reliance Life, HDFC Life and the Confederation of Indian Industries. She has also written for Air India’s in-flight magazine, ‘Corporate’ that catered exclusively to the airline’s first and business class passengers. She was involved as Editorial Co-ordinator for Essar Steel & E-18’s commemorative coffee table book showcasing Indian Infrastructure.

As a correspondent for EducationWorld Magazine, she has covered the Indian and global education sector for over seven years. She has also served as an Expert Educator-Journalism facilitator at various educational institutes since 2007.

With a career in journalism spanning 40+ years, Mr. Sarosh Bana has addressed a wide range of issues through his writing, including but not limited to defence & security, international relations, strategy, policy, environment, wildlife & conservation, politics, and economics. Mr. Bana has been a member of the Board of the East-West Centre (EWC) Association, a Hawaii-based think tank. He is one of the first environmental journalists in mainstream media in India, having started writing about Environment and conservation at the beginning of his career in 1980. He is also the founder of Forum for People-Oriented Water Utilisation, the NGO that centre-staged the Narmada Dam issue and led to the coalescence of the largest conglomeration of NGOs and organisations worldwide against a single issue.

Currently, Mr. Sarosh Bana serves as the Executive Editor of Business India, fortnightly published out of Mumbai. He also serves as the Regional Editor of the Indo-Pacific Naval Forces, published from Germany, and is the India Correspondent of Sydney-based cyber security publication Asia Pacific Security Magazine (APSM).

Vinita Deshmukh is an award-winning senior journalist. The longest span in her illustrious career of 36 years has been with The Indian Express, where she worked in several editorial positions for 20 years. Some of her distinguished accomplishments include the prestigious ‘Chameli Devi Award’ for her investigations into the Dow Chemicals story, The ‘Ladlee Media Award’ for her RTI story on a woman constable, and ‘The Statesman Award’ for Rural Reporting. In 2019 she won the ‘Web Wonder Woman award for journalism’ from Government of India and Twitter India. She recently won the ‘FICCI FLO Women Achiever Award’ for journalism and media.

Ms. Deshmukh has written six books. Her first book ' To the Last Bullet' which she co-authored for Vinita Kamate, was a best seller. She has recently signed an MoU with a Bollywood film director for making a movie based on her book, ‘The Mighty Fall’, which also won her the ‘Acharya Atre’ Award for her Marathi translations. Vinita believes that everyone should contribute to society in their own little way.

Summiya Yasmeen is the co-founder and managing editor of EducationWorld – The Human Development Magazine – India’s #1 education news magazine. Promoted in 1999 with the mission to “build the pressure of public opinion to make education the #1 item on the national agenda”, EducationWorld has a readership of over 1 million countrywide. Summiya is also co-founder and managing editor of ParentsWorld – India’s #1 parenting magazine – launched in 2016 to offer parents aid and advice to enable them to nurture and prepare children for the complex challenges of the 21st century.

An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism, Summiya believes that human capital development is the prerequisite for India achieving developed nation status. Over the past 23 years, she has written extensively on challenges confronting the Indian education system. She has also curated and moderated several seminars, symposiums and panel discussions on education issues of national significance. She serves on the Advisory Council of the Association of Indian Principals. Summiya is also the author of the bestsellers such as ‘101 Great Universities of the World’, ‘17 Great Legacy Schools’ of India and ‘21 Leaders Transforming Indian Education’.

Dr. Pradeep Panigrahi is an ESG and Sustainability professional with over 27 years of industry experience working with reputed organisations like Tata Group and Mahindra Group. He has obtained a Ph. D. in Ecology, supported by an international fellowship from IRD LEST, Université Paris VI, France. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards, like the “Mahindra Innovation Awards” and was also recognized as ‘Environment+Energy Leader 100 (2021) by environmentalleader.com, a global leader on the subject. He is a life member of several reputed organizations and national-level committees, including the Bombay Natural History Society and Niti Aayog Working Group on Water Neutrality/ Positivity.

Dr. Panigrahi has participated in several national and international conferences, including COP-19 in Warsaw, Poland and as a panellist at Harvard Business School, Boston. He has also been a guest faculty and speaker at various top B-schools in India and Corpstage, Singapore. His work on Zero Waste to Landfill (ZWL) through a circular approach has been published by Ivy Cases, Ivy Business School, Canada and HBS, Boston. Currently, Dr. Panigrahi is working as Head–Corporate Sustainability with the 20 billion+ USD conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Limited, Mumbai.

Mr. Neeraj Jha is a financial journalist turned communications professional turned reputation evangelist. In his career spanning over two and a half decades, he has straddled multiple roles, with 17 years in leadership positions at Bajaj Group, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank and Reliance, spearheading their communications, media, advocacy and reputation building efforts. Currently, he serves as the Group President & Chief Communication Officer at Bajaj Group. Armed with degrees from Columbia Business School and Mumbai University for his LLB coruse, Mr Jha considers his knowledge of social media and the ability to integrate, digital, social and traditional media as one of his key strengths. As a journalist, Mr. Jha was associated with some of India's leading publication groups like the Times of India, The Asian Age, The Financial Express, and CRISIL Market Wire, where he reported on a range of sectors and industries. He loves to read, travel, and meet people and is a passionate singer who dedicates his free time to riyaaz of Hindustani Classical Music.

Mr. Rajesh R. Turakhia has made a significant impact in the field of Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) training across India by creating and successfully executing two leading educational institution brands, Frameboxx 2.0 and MAAC over the last 25 years. His visionary mindset saw him founding MAAC in 2001. As CEO and Executive Director of the state-of-the-art production studio, Maya Entertainment Limited (MEL), his initiatives made MEL one of the top five studios in India. Under his mentorship, MEL worked with some of the country’s most prolific brands like BBC, Electronic Arts, MTV, Activision and Coke.

Mr. Turakhia launched Frameboxx in 2008 and in 2019 refashioned it in a new avatar - ‘Frameboxx 2.0’. The company has since broadened its gamut of creative design and visual art by curating verticals of new media technologies in the fields of Gaming, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and more.

Mr. Rajesh Turakhia is proactive in several industry bodies and regularly participates as a key speaker at national and international events. He is a part of the Sub-Task Force (Skilling) for formulating and suggesting the policy for the AVGC ecosystem. He is also a member of the CII Sub Committee on AVGC and Immersive Media.

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan is the Executive Chairman and Founder of 5F World, a platform for digital start-ups, skills and social ventures in the country. He is also the co-founder of Global Talent Track, Skills Alpha and Lighthouse Communities Foundation and two Indo-US joint ventures – Kalzoom Advisors and the Center for AI and Advanced Analytics. Dr Natarajan has a Master’s in Industrial Engineering from NITIE Mumbai, a PhD from IIT Bombay and Advanced Management from Harvard Business School. He has received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT Bombay and NITIE and has been recognised by EY and the Asia Pacific HR Forum for excellence in technology entrepreneurship and people-centric leadership.

Dr. Natarajan serves as a member of the Central Board of Directors of the State Bank of India, Chairman of the Board of Honeywell Automation India Limited. He has been Chairman of prestigious industry associations such as NASSCOM and NASSCOM Foundation, and various national committees of the Confederation of Indian Industry and the All India Management Association. He serves on the Boards of Principal Asset Management, Hinduja Global Solutions, Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Singapore, Systech Inc., and Social Venture Partners (SVP) International, USA. He has authored several books and is a regular writer and speaker at national and international forums. Among his many honours, Dr. Natarajan received the ‘Asia HRD Congress Award’ for contributions to the organisation through HR in 2005 and was a finalist at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year Award in the same year. He is also a Gold Medallist in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering from IIT Bombay.

Dr. D. R . Sharma is currently working as Sr. Regional Director in IGNOU Reginal Centre, Pune. He completed his PhD in Telugu Literature from Hyderabad Central University in 1993. In 1990, he started his professional journey as a Third Language Teacher in Navodaya Vidyalaya, Bihar. Later he joined IGNOU as the Assistant Regional Director in the year 1997 in Ahmedabad, and since has worked for IGNOU in various Indian states. Dr. Sharma has also coordinated the translation work of IGNOU course materials into regional languages for different courses and submitted research articles in the area of Distance Education.

Passionate about languages, he is also a translator and writer. He has translated 8 Sanskrit Dramas into Telugu, including three famous dramas by Maha Kavi Kalidas, three by the Great Sanskrit Poet Bhavabhooti, and two more by the contemporary poet Sri. Ambatipoodi Venkata Ratnam, namely Akrutagno Naraha and Indira Vijayam. He has also written nine devotional books in Telugu, the latest being ‘Sai Geeta’, which explains how the entire Bhagavad-Gita is illustrated in the teachings of Sri Shiridi Sai Baba.

Mr. Nitin Vaidya comes with 35 years of media experience and has been a journalist before venturing out as an entrepreneur. He has played a vital role in setting up and running general entertainment channels networks like Zee and Star and taking them to new heights through innovative content. He was instrumental in launching the Marathi language movie production business for Zee Studios. Today, he is the head of a successful entertainment business venture, Dashami Creations LLP and Dashami Studioz LLP.

Starting his journey as a journalist in the prestigious Marathi language daily, Sakal in Mumbai in 1985, he went on to cover various beats such as education, civic affairs, courts and politics for the Maharashtra Times of The Times Group. He has also served as the Chief of the News Bureau for Zee News in Mumbai. After a long and successful stint at Zee Network, including the launch of Zee Marathi, Mr. Vaidya joined Star India Pvt. Ltd., as Head of its Hindi channels. He was responsible for the flagship channel, Star Plus channel, and closely worked on the path-breaking show Satyamev Jayate, anchored by Aamir Khan. In August 2012, he launched his own venture Dashami Creations LLP, a Mumbai based media house that specializes in creating original and commercially viable films, television shows, web series and advertisements for the Indian and global marketplace. Dashami has created 21 Hindi and Marathi language television shows of various genres in the last ten years.

MR.Bibhor Srivastava, has over two decades of work experience with a record of achievement and demonstrated success in Senior Management roles of publishing, events and exhibitions, marketing and sales management, business development.

Currently as the Managing Director, ITP Media India, Bibhor manages seven B-2-B premier magazine brands. He also manages the event portfolio covering knowledge-based conferences, seminars, round tables & branded awards.

As a leader with extensive experience in the industry, Bibhor was instrumental in launching ‘Hotelier India’ in 2008 which has now become the most respected publication in the hospitality space. The ‘Hotelier India’ Awards is now the most aspired for awards in the hospitality sector. As the leader of the Indian team, he works to improve the organisation’s market position and achieve financial growth through the development of new business and retention of customer accounts.

MR.Umang Uthappa, a professional with over 13 years of experience in media and advertising, currently serves as the Managing Director-India at Engage Digital Partners. He started his professional journey in 2009 at Repucom, a part of Nielsen Global Media, where he successfully set up the core analysis team for Europe and contributed to a significant increase in revenue. He was also a part of the core management team responsible for setting up policies and procedures.

Umang has previously worked with renowned Indian media organizations in the sports domain, such as PlayRight, Bangalore and Meraki Sport and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai, in various leadership positions. Umang is passionate about sports and the impact of social media on the sports management business. He is equally passionate about adding value to those looking for careers in creative media and remains supportive of mentoring new professionals.

At age 23 Ms. Akshaara founded Communicate India as a home-grown Indian public relations agency. Today, the agency employs over 120 employees and works with MNCs and Blue-Chip companies, including Reliance, Cipla, and clients in overseas markets. Akshaara has been featured in IMPACT’s top 50 influential women of 2018, while Communicate India ranked among the “Most Promising PR Agencies” in Silicon India’s list of 2018. She also won the title of Social Samosa Super Women in 2019.

Akshaara has done her Digital Marketing course from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and her Masters in Entrepreneurship from Cambridge Judge Business School, UK. Akshaara has taken Communicate India a notch higher during the last couple of years as she moved the company away from a traditional PR firm to a digitally transformed, new-age agency with three new business verticals. Akshaara has also been a speaker at several high-profile events, including AISEC’s Stakeholder’s Dinner and leading media institutes such as Mumbai University and EMDI Institute of Media & Communication. Communicate India opened offices in the UAE last year and UK this year.

Mr. Anurag Bende is a senior journalist who brings along nearly 20 years of experience covering media in the general news domain. Starting his career with the Indian Express group, Mr.Bende has been associated with several reputed news organisations. Armed with in-depth knowledge of Pune city and its happenings, he worked as the Pune-based bureau chief of the Zee Group owned, DNA (Daily News & Analysis) newspaper.

He was also associated with the popular tabloid, Pune Mirror as its Resident Editor. Proficient in Marathi language, he also led the Pune based Marathi language regional paper, Civic Mirror. An accomplished journalist, Mr. Bende has been a journalism facilitator and visiting faculty at reputed media institutions like MIT and VIIT. He firmly believes in the power of the pen and ethical news reporting being fundamental to a more equitable society.

Rajiv Mitra is the CEO & Director, Prabhat Dairy, part of world’s largest dairy company, Lactalis. Mr. Mitra is a commentator on social and economic affairs, member & office bearer at several industry bodies like the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Pune Management Association (PMA), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). He is also on advisory boards of post-graduate institutions, MSMEs and start-up companies and a keen mentor to students and professionals.

Rajiv Mitra is a post-graduate in Economics & MBA – Marketing, an avid reader, prolific blogger(rajivmitra.com), movie–watcher, debater and public speaker.

Mr. Sivakumar Sundaram (Siva) is the Chairman of the Executive Committee of Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd. (BCCL) and a member of the BCCL Board as Executive Director. BCCL is India’s largest media conglomerate, popularly called the Times Group.

A fellow member of Chartered Accountants and the Cost & Management Institute, Mr. Sivakumar is a 32-year veteran of the Times Group, starting as a Management Trainee and working across various corporate functions including Finance, Taxation, M&A, Group Strategy and Innovation, Response (the Group’s sales organization) and Brand Capital, the Group’s investment arm. During this period, he has been closely involved in the setting up of every new business of the Group – from Times Internet to radio to TV and partnerships/joint ventures with international media houses.

In his immediate prior role, Mr. Sivakumar was President – Revenue, responsible for leading Response and Brand Capital, the revenue arm of the Times Group. He was instrumental in setting up Brand Capital in 2005, a significant innovation in the global media industry, which now has assets under management of nearly US$ 2 billion and an ecosystem of 800-plus clients. The Times Group has 6,000 employees and manages relationships with over 50,000 advertisers in India and abroad.

Mr. Sivakumar serves on several boards including Aegon Life Insurance, Times Out of Home, MRUC. He is also INMA Board member and member of board of various companies in India. Siva also heads the CII sub-committee on Print & Publishing.

Mr. Sivakumar is a fitness enthusiast, a long-distance runner, actively participates in marathons, and his other pursuits include spirituality and Yoga.

The Director of Teaching and Learning at CUNY's Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in NYC, Mr. Jeremy Caplan, is a journalist and educator with over 30 years of experience. During his stint as a reporter and contributing writer at Time Magazine, Mr. Caplan has written on diverse subjects such as digital innovation, scents and sensibility, and nuances of low-wage work in the business, technology and culture domains. In his academic accomplishments, Mr. Caplan has earned an MBA from Columbia Business School as a Wiegers Fellow and an MS in Journalism from Columbia University as a Knight-Bagehot Fellow.

He is currently training a new generation of journalists through the new Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program. It is a 100-day online curriculum that has recently helped more than 100 journalists from 37 countries start new niche ventures. Mr. Caplan also writes Wonder Tools, a newsletter highlighting advantageous digital resources for thousands of weekly subscribers.

Ms. Racheal Campbell has over 13 years’ experience delivering both external and internal communication campaigns. After graduating with a Master’s Degree in Art History from the auction house Christie’s, she spent nine years achieving national and international press coverage for leading arts organizations, including the Science Museum in London, Christie’s, the Nelson-Atkins Museum, the ICA in Philadelphia and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. She focused on building brand awareness, securing key pieces in publications like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as TV shows including BBC Breakfast.

She has now shifted to internal communications, and currently manages employee-focused campaigns for Wolters Kluwer, a global provider of professional information and software solutions in tax & accounting, health, compliance, legal and finance. She’s passionate about creating messaging and employee-focused campaigns that inform and excite employees, strengthening their connection to the wider mission and purpose of their organization. Employee award Programs, team-building events, executive presentations and messaging, and employee social media platforms are among the channels and activities she manages.

Hemant Kumar is a journalist, novelist and mentor. He has studied television production and film making at the Film and Television institute of India (FTII), Pune.

He was a wire service reporter with the Press Trust of India in New Delhi before joining Doordarshan News as a correspondent for 10 years. Hemant was also a senior executive at various news channels. In 2012, he published his debut novel – Prey by The Ganges. Based on a man's dogged 48-hour search for the killer of his only friend, ‘Prey by The Ganges’ is a hard-hitting thriller set on the banks of river Ganga in Bihar. He has completed his second novel and is now getting ready to place it with publishers. In 2013, he co-founded Quill Club Writers to work with schoolchildren who love fiction. Quill Club Writers has so far published 120 books of fiction with children from schools all over the country. Nearly a quarter-of-a-million children have either read, or are reading, these books as part of their curriculum at more than 100 schools. Hemant is fond of reading, writing, travelling, cooking, walking and watching meaningful movies.