DESIGN LEADERSHIP WEEK 2026 · TRACK 02

Rising Leaders
Forum 2026

For emerging design leaders, mid-career designers, design students, and professionals transitioning into leadership roles who are ready to grow their influence, sharpen their strategic thinking, and scale their impact across teams, products, and organisations.

WHEN

26–27 September
2026

WHERE

Srishti Manipal Institute,
Bengaluru, India

WHO

Design Engineers, UX Designers, Product Designers, Students etc.

Overview

The Rising Leaders Forum is designed for emerging design leaders and mid-career professionals ready to step into leadership roles.

DAY 1

26 September

Deep Dive Talks, Panel Discussions with seasoned design leaders, foundational talks on transitioning into leadership, and hands-on workshops on team building and strategy.

DAY 2

27 September

Deep Dive Talks, Spark Sessions, Panel Discussions and an evening of structured networking with fellow emerging leaders and industry experts.

Why Attend

Built for leaders at the threshold.

This is where your next chapter begins. Step into rooms with peers navigating the same leap learn directly from seasoned design leaders in intimate mentor sessions, pressure-test your thinking in hands on workshops, and build the network and confidence to grow into the leader you're becoming.

Speakers

Anna Gerasimchuk

AnnaGerasimchuk

Head of UIUX Engineering, McKesson, Ontada

Workshop

Anna Gerasimchuk

Head of UIUX Engineering, McKesson, Ontada

Anya Gerasimchuk is design and product leader with deep experience across product management, UX and digital innovation in highly complex, regulated industries. As Senior Director of Product Design and UI/UX Engineering at Ontada, McKesson's oncology technology division, she shapes product vision through customer insight, evidence-based user research, and an empathetic understanding of clinical workflows. Her work focuses on elevating product quality in mission-critical healthcare environments while maturing design practices across the organisation.Across McKesson, GE Digital, EY, and GE Aviation, Anya has built and scaled UX organisations, driven cross-functional collaboration and delivered digital solutions for domains ranging from oncology to aviation, energy and industrial systems. She has led teams through strategy formation, design execution and delivery of human-centred experiences that support safety, operational efficiency and measurable business outcomes.

Deepashree Kale

DeepashreeKale

Head of Design, Apptware

Deep Dive

Deepashree Kale

Head of Design, Apptware

Deepashree has a straightforward belief: the future of design won't be shaped by people waiting for a seat at Google. It'll be shaped by people bold enough to build that culture wherever they already are.She works at the crossroads of AI, product strategy, and innovation and has done so across some very different environments. From global organizations like Cisco and Globant to building a design team from scratch, she's seen what it takes to make design matter at scale and from the ground up. At Apptware Design Studio, she grew the team from 1 to 12 and helped define what AI-first product thinking actually looks like in practice, not just in theory.Outside of industry work, she runs DesignHive a community asking harder questions about AI after the hype dies down: what collaboration really looks like now, and what designers are actually supposed to do in a world moving this fast. She also guest lectures and sits on juries at MIT World Peace University, staying close to the next generation of designers, technologists, and builders.She's not just thinking about where design is going. She's been helping push it there.

Vineet Gupta

VineetGupta

Assistant Vice President, Design & Branding

Spark Session

Vineet Gupta

Assistant Vice President, Design & Branding

Vineet Gupta is a Product Designer and Head of Design & Branding at Gemini Solutions, where he built design teams and products from the ground up. He has led AI-driven projects across fintech, insurance, sports, and healthcare for clients in the US, India, and UAE. A TEDx speaker, marathon runner, and YouTuber, Vineet is passionate about human-centered design and loves sharing knowledge to empower the next generation through technology and storytelling.

Sujit Kumar Pradhan

SujitKumar Pradhan

UX Designer, Google

Deep Dive

Sujit Kumar Pradhan

UX Designer, Google

Sujit is a UX Designer at Google with over nine years of experience architecting complex digital ecosystems and agentic AI experiences. Before Google, he led key design initiatives at Microsoft, where he shaped the extensions ecosystem for the Edge browser and contributed to the vision for Copilot Vision as Lumi Camera project. His career also includes a significant tenure at Amazon, where he drove the UX strategy for Advertising and Brand Stores, deepening his expertise in large scale e-commerce experiences. His professional journey began as a full stack developer, a technical foundation that now fuels his expertise in designing living systems that move beyond static interfaces.A prominent voice in the design community, Sujit is a Design Mentor on ADPList and an active content creator on Instagram, where he shares insights on product design and the future of human AI collaboration. He has been a featured speaker at events like GDG Noida DevFest and dFrost at NID Bangalore, focusing on the era of AI co-creation. Driven by a philosophy of clean, logic driven aesthetics, Sujit focuses on intentionality over visual fluff, helping early career designers and tech leaders navigate the shift from being users of automation to architects of intelligent, human centered systems.

Jose Coronado

JoseCoronado

Advisor, Interim Head, Product & Design, Digital Impulsum

Workshop

Jose Coronado

Advisor, Interim Head, Product & Design, Digital Impulsum

Jose Coronado is a bilingual Product and Design Executive specializing in enterprise operating model transformation across global markets. He partners with executive teams to scale product and design organizations, align strategy with execution, and drive measurable performance inside complex, regulated institutions. His work sits at the intersection of strategy, operations, and organizational design. He leads large-scale transformation efforts that modernize operating models, strengthen governance, elevate talent systems, and translate design investment into sustained business impact. Jose advises major financial services institutions across Latin America on enterprise transformation, operating model redesign, and scaling design impact. Fluent in English and Spanish, he helps align executives across regions, accelerate decision-making, and navigate the cultural and regulatory complexity of multinational banking. At Target, Jose built the Strategic Planning & Operations practice from the ground up, hiring and developing senior leaders and establishing the business infrastructure required to support growth at scale. Before that, he served as Executive Director of Experience Design at JPMorgan's Corporate & Investment Bank, where he built and scaled the global Design organization as a strategic capability within a highly complex financial environment. Earlier in his career, Jose partnered with organizations including McKinsey, Accenture, Bain Capital, Aquent, and AIG, advising Fortune 10, 50, and 500 companies such as ADP, Oracle, and AT&T on strategy, transformation, and organizational effectiveness. He also serves as a board advisor and speaks internationally on leadership, operating model evolution, and scaling design for business performance, with more than 100 engagements across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

Kaladhar Bapu

KaladharBapu

Design Executive, Founder, UMO Design Foundation & Curator, UXINDIA

Opening Remarks

Kaladhar Bapu

Design Executive, Founder, UMO Design Foundation & Curator, UXINDIA

Kaladhar Bapu is an award-winning design leader, entrepreneur, and strategist with over 25 years of experience helping organizations harness design as a driver of innovation, business growth, and organizational transformation. He is the recipient of the Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award 2026 for 1 Million Women in Design and AI, an initiative that aims to equip one million women with design and AI literacy by 2030.Throughout his career, Kaladhar has led product design and digital transformation initiatives for global organizations including BNY Mellon, Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Microsoft, working at the intersection of design, technology, and business strategy.He is the Founder of the UMO Design Foundation and Curator of UXINDIA, one of Asia's longest-running and most influential design leadership platforms. Over the past 25 years, UXINDIA has connected and inspired more than 90,000 designers, researchers, product leaders, educators, and innovators, helping shape the evolution of the design profession across India and beyond.An alumnus of IIT Bombay, Pratt Institute, New York, and The Wharton School, Kaladhar advises organizations on building design-led cultures and preparing teams for the opportunities and challenges created by AI. His work focuses on helping designers evolve from execution to leadership, creating professionals who influence strategy, drive business outcomes, and lead meaningful change.Kaladhar believes the future belongs to Designpreneurs, leaders who take ownership of outcomes, not just outputs.

Varedh Nigam

VaredhNigam

Associate Director, Nagarro Software Pvt. Ltd.

Workshop

Varedh Nigam

Associate Director, Nagarro Software Pvt. Ltd.

Varedh Nigam is a design and CX leader with 15+ years of experience helping organizations navigate digital transformation at the intersection of customer experience, business strategy, and emerging technologies. As Associate Director, Product Experience & Design at Nagarro, she has led global initiatives across banking, aviation, telecommunications, and enterprise ecosystems, partnering with executives, product teams, and technology leaders to turn complex challenges into measurable outcomes.Her work spans CX consulting, service design, innovation programs, large-scale design thinking workshops, and Human-Centered AI initiatives. Known for connecting systems thinking with practical execution, she focuses on designing trust, aligning stakeholders, and ensuring that AI-enabled experiences create value for both people and businesses. Varedh is passionate about advancing the role of design from a delivery function to a strategic driver of transformation, helping organizations shape what could possibly go right when design leads.

Amber Krishan

AmberKrishan

CEO, Futurris Digital Pvt Ltd

Workshop

Amber Krishan

CEO, Futurris Digital Pvt Ltd

Amber Krishan is the Founder & CEO of Futurris, a company built for the future-edge of digital transformation where product, experience, AI, and customer value converge. Over the last two decades, he has built award-winning creative and delivery organizations focused on product transformation, intelligent CX, omni-channel ecosystems, and metrics-led execution across fintech, SaaS, and enterprise ecosystems. Previously, Amber co-founded and led THEM Consulting, a BFSI-focused design firm with offices in Gurgaon and Mumbai. At PayU, he set up and scaled a global digital product experience center, establishing methods, metrics, and infrastructure to support agile delivery across teams. Earlier, he led technical and training teams at Human Factors International (HFI). Amber has delivered 250+ programs on innovation, product strategy, and digital transformation across America, South Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He continues to teach at Parsons School of Design, CEPT, Chitkara University, Avantika University, Masters Union, and AND Academy, and has spoken at forums including NASSCOM, IAMAI, UXINDIA, and IIM Ahmedabad.

Monali Samarth

MonaliSamarth

Product Design Engineer, RIB Software

Workshop

Monali Samarth

Product Design Engineer, RIB Software

Monali Samarth is a UX Lead and Design Systems Architect with 22+ years bridging product strategy, design, and front-end engineering across enterprise SaaS, edtech, fintech, and healthcare. At RIB Software, she architected a tokenized component library that reduced UI inconsistencies by 80% and directly enabled AI-assisted design-to-code pipelines across five products. She has personally shipped the systems this talk is about and lived through the failures that inspired it. Monali mentors designers and developers on design systems, accessibility, and scalable UX ops, and brings rare dual fluency in Figma and Angular to every handoff conversation.

Thejashwini

Thejashwini

Ex - Experience Design Strategist

Workshop

Thejashwini

Ex - Experience Design Strategist

Tej is a systems thinker, UX strategist, and design researcher exploring the intersection of AI, strategy orchestration, and enterprise transformation. With a background spanning UX research, strategy visualization, and collaborative problem framing, Tej works on translating complexity into human-centered systems and experiences. Their work focuses on how organizations can move from static decision-making structures toward adaptive, intelligence-driven ecosystems where strategy, execution, and human collaboration continuously evolve together. Deeply interested in conversational intelligence, organizational memory, and AI-augmented decision systems, Tej brings a multidisciplinary perspective that bridges design, systems thinking, and emerging technology. Known for facilitating nuanced conversations around ambiguity, transformation, and human behavior, Tej is passionate about building futures where technology enhances clarity, alignment, and collective intelligence rather than replacing human judgment.

Dushyant Kanungo

DushyantKanungo

Director, User Experience, Galaxy Weblinks Inc.

Workshop

Dushyant Kanungo

Director, User Experience, Galaxy Weblinks Inc.

Dushyant Kanungo is a UX leader, author, and public speaker based in Indore, India, with over 20 years of experience in digital product design, UX strategy, and user-centered innovation across web and enterprise platforms. As Director of UX at Galaxy UX Studio / Galaxy Weblinks, he leads UX strategy, research, and design delivery for global, cross-domain products and services. He is the author of 'UX Decoded' and host of the UX Banter podcast. Dushyant is an active mentor on ADPList, recognized as a Top 1% Mentor in Design (February 2025), and has delivered 100+ mentorship sessions to designers worldwide. His speaking engagements span UX India, AI for Developing Nations Forum, IIM Indore, and international conferences, focusing on topics including high-stakes UX, AI ethics, inclusive design, and enterprise UX strategy.

Pratik Joglekar

PratikJoglekar

Senior Product Designer, Coursera

Deep Dive

Pratik Joglekar

Senior Product Designer, Coursera

Pratik is a senior product designer with over 8 years of experience across enterprise SaaS, financial services, and consumer products. He has shaped design at Coursera, HubSpot, and MassMutual, working at the intersection of growth, activation, and platform thinking. His work tends to live in the messy, consequential parts of a product: the flows that determine whether a user activates or churns, the systems that make complex products feel coherent, the decisions that sit somewhere between design and product strategy. Inclusion is central to how he designs, with a particular focus on building experiences that work for neurodiverse users from the start, not as an afterthought. Beyond his day job, Pratik mentors designers through various platforms and is active in the broader design community as a writer, speaker, and design judge. He believes the most important design decisions happen before any pixels are placed, which is the thinking he brings to his work, his mentoring, and his public writing.

Anika Shrivastava

AnikaShrivastava

Senior UX Designer, LTIMindtree

Spark Session

Anika Shrivastava

Senior UX Designer, LTIMindtree

A Senior UX Designer with 9+ years of experience designing complex digital products across enterprise, fintech, and data-driven platforms. I specialise in systems thinking, decision-centric UX, and scaling design practices that align user needs with business strategy. My work focuses on simplifying complexity, improving product adoption, and enabling cross-functional collaboration through research-backed design approaches. Alongside product design, I actively explore organisational change, AI-enabled workflows, and the evolving role of design leadership in modern teams.I am passionate about creating thoughtful, human centered experiences and contribute to conversations that push UX beyond interfaces into strategy, culture, and meaningful impact.

Saurabh S. Nimsarkar

SaurabhS. Nimsarkar

Staff UI/UX Designer / Design Research Lead, Wisk Aero LLC

Spark Session

Saurabh S. Nimsarkar

Staff UI/UX Designer / Design Research Lead, Wisk Aero LLC

Saurabh S. Nimsarkar is a respected voice in the design community, bringing valuable insights and experience to UXINDIA.

Anil Reddy

AnilReddy

Founder & Designer, Happy Pet

Spark Session

Anil Reddy

Founder & Designer, Happy Pet

Artist by heart. Designer by soul. Entrepreneur by choice. I'm the Founder and Design Director of Lollypop.Design, a research-driven studio that reimagined digital experiences. What began in a garage with two people grew into a 240-member global team, creating work that impacted millions and earned international recognition. After my exit, my love for pets led me back to entrepreneurship. I founded Happy Pet, India's first pet-tech company, bringing technology, data, empathy, and AI together to build better pet care in India and beyond.

More speakers

announced soon.

Venue

Rising Leaders Forum institutional courtyard

Modern colorful building facade

Outdoor plaza with MARC letters

Modern auditorium interior

Outdoor sculpture installation

Circular building with MAHE'RU letters

Modern auditorium with stage and lighting

Rising Leaders Forum

MAHE Bengaluru Campus, Govindapura, BSF Campus, Yelahanka, Bengaluru 560064

A world-class venue designed to inspire and nurture the next generation of design leaders. With state-of-the-art facilities, collaborative spaces, and modern amenities, it provides the perfect environment for learning, networking, and innovation.

By Air

Kempegowda International Airport is the nearest major airport with convenient taxi and ride-share options available to reach the venue.

By Train

Bengaluru City Railway Station is well-connected to major cities. The venue is easily accessible via metro and local transportation.

By Bus

Kempegowda Bus Station and other major bus terminals provide extensive intercity and local connectivity, with taxis and ride-shares available to the venue.

Directions

Located in Bengaluru, our venue is easily accessible by all major modes of transportation. Use the map to get directions or click the button to open full directions in Google Maps.