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Advisory Committee 2008:
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 Nirj Deva
Member of European Parliament
United Kingdom
Nirj Deva was born in Sri Lanka and holds Sri Lankan and British citizenship. He has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He became in 1981, Chairman of the Bow Group (leading British political think-tank).
He was appointed Chairman of the Department of Transport/National Consumer Council Committee on Deregulation of Air Transport. This resulted in low-fare airlines in Europe.
In 1992, Deva was elected as Member of the House of Commons, and in 1999 as Conservative Member of the European Parliament, where he is vice-chairman of the Delegation for Relations with the Countries of South Asia, and member of the Committee on Overseas Development and Cooperation and the Foreign Affairs Committee.
He is a Fellow of Britain’s Royal Society of Arts, Hon. Life President of the EU-India Chamber of Commerce, and Patron of the International Monarchist League. Deva has backed many important education and health issues. In April 2005, he was Chairman of the European Parliament’s delegation to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in New York, and delivered a paper on the future of the United Nations at the US Council on Foreign Relations.
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 T.R. Doongaji
Managing Director, Tata Services Ltd
T.R. Doongaji has been Managing Director of Tata Services Ltd since July 2000, and has had a long and distinguished career spanning over four decades with the Tata Group, making significant contributions to the various companies he has been associated with.
He has an M.A. in political science, and studied at the University of Jabalpur, where he received the Dr. E. Asirvatham Gold Medal, and at the University of Berkeley, California as a J.N. Tata Endowment Scholar. He holds a Diploma in Business Management.
Mr. Doongaji joined Tata Steel in December 1966. He facilitated the turn around of Tata Metals & Strips Ltd (TMSL) and its creation as an independent company, and was appointed its Managing Director in 1989. Tata was rated Company of the Year in 1991 by “Investment Week”.
Mr. Doongaji was the first recipient of the prestigious Ethics in Business Award, which was instituted by the International Association for Human Values in 2006.
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 Kamal Fabiani
President, Americorp Group
Spain
Mr. Fabiani is President of the Americorp Group, a global player in real estate investment, development and management.
He is actively involved with technology companies, finance and trading, and with businesses in USA, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and Europe. He is the co-founder and first president of the India-Spain Chamber of Commerce, and is currently the Honorary President. He has been the youngest President of the Indian Association in Spain.
Mr. Fabiani is a pioneer and leader in supporting social causes. He is also the coordinator of the new cultural centre of Madrid.
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 Rutger Koopmans
President, Netherlands-India Chamber of Commerce and Trade Former Senior Executive Vice President, ING Bank, The Netherlands
Rutger Koopmans graduated in law, political science and business administration in Leiden, Rotterdam and Rochester (USA).
During his career in the financial sector, he worked in the Netherlands, London and New York, both for Mees Pierson (1982-1995) and for ING Group (1996 to September 2008).
He has considerable experience in corporate banking, for both large and medium sized enterprises. He sees a great importance in including people in the financial system, to empower them and give them a chance to participate in the economy.
He is also Chairman of the Netherlands-India Chamber of Commerce and Trade, and Chairman of the Working Group India of the Dutch Trade Board. Furthermore, he was a board member of the Nationale Nederlanden insurance company in the Netherlands.
In November 2007, he won the Ethics in Business award of the International Association for Human Values, and in June 2008, he received the Leadership Award of the Cruyff Academics International Institute.
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 Ram Lakhina
Executive President, Netherlands-India Chamber of Commerce & Trade
Ram Lakhina is the Founder and Executive President of the Netherlands-India Chamber of Commerce & Trade (NICCT). Earlier he was the President of the Indo Dutch Chamber of Commerce from 1979 to 2001.
He was the first Chairman of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). He drafted the constitution of GOPIO and steered its adoption by the world body.
In 1980 he created the Foundation for Critical Choices for India to mobilize intellectual and material resources of Non-residential Indians/People of Indian Origin for identifying critical problems facing India and for suggesting policy options for the solution of those problems. He was the President of the Foundation from 1983 to 1991 and then again from 1994 to 2003. He is the President Emeritus of this organization at present.
The publishers of “The Indian”, based in Hong Kong, have named Ram Lakhina as one of the ‘100 Global Indians - luminaries, achievers and entrepreneurs’
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 Ruud Lubbers
Former Prime Minister
The Netherlands
Ruud Lubbers was Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1982 to 1994, leading three successive governments, making him the longest-serving post-war premier.
During his terms, he was instrumental in building Europe into what it is today. He was also the key figure in introducing the ‘Dutch Model’, which led to the successful turn-around of the Dutch economy. After that, he was the 9th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, from 2001 until February 2005.
In July 2006, Prof. Lubbers acted as informateur of a new cabinet, after the second Balkenende cabinet handed over its resignation to the Dutch Queen. His last post was as head of the World Wide Fund for Nature.
A graduate of The Netherland’s School of Economics, Ruud Lubbers’ career began by managing the family business. He joined the Dutch Government in 1973 as Minister of Economic Affairs and continued as Senior Deputy Leader of the Christian Democratic Alliance.
After leaving politics, he taught university courses on globalization and sustainable development at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and as a visiting professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the United States. He was instrumental in contributing to the success of The Earth Charter – celebration of life and awe for nature.
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 Erika Mann
Member of European Parliament
Germany
Erika Mann was initially elected to the European Parliament in 1994 for Lower Saxony in Germany. She is currently serving her third term and is a Member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
She is Chairwoman of the Delegation to the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee. She is also a Member of the Committee on International Trade and is spokesperson for trade for her political family.
As a substitute Member she sits on the Budgetary Control Committee and the Industry, Research and Energy Committee. She is also part of the delegation for relations with the United States. Ms. Mann is Senator of the Max Planck Society (MPG), Board Vice-Chair of "Frauen für Technik neue Impulse" (women promoting technology), a German association based in Berlin. She is also the Chair and Co-Founder of the European Internet Foundation (EIF) and European Chairwoman of the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN). Erika Mann is a member of the Board of Directors for the Salzburg Seminar.
Erika Mann qualified as a teacher of further education early in her career and was researcher at the University of Hannover before becoming a business consultant in information technology.
She is patron of a primary school in Berlin, named after the famous Erika Mann, daughter of Thomas Mann, and an academician of the International Informatization Academy of the United Nations.
In 2006 she received an award in Washington for outstanding transatlantic commitment, from the European-American-Business-Council.
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