Ajay Khanna
Ajay was founding the Chief Executive Officer of India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) (2002-2006). This was a unique Public Private Partnership initiative to Promote, Project & Position India’s growth story globally. The IBEF, under Ajay’s leadership, together with Confederation of Indian Industry led the “India Everywhere” campaign at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2006. A number of high profile initiatives were taken during Ajay’s four year stint as the CEO of IBEF, a joint initiative of Ministry of Commerce, Government of India & Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Earlier, Ajay was Deputy Director General (1999-2008) with the Confederation of Indian Industry, an apex industry association, for over 27 years & held several leadership positions. Ajay led several key functions at international, national & regional levels. One of the key function was the relationship with the World Economic Forum, which Ajay handled for over 20 years. This included participation at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos & arranging its annual India Economic Summit.
Ajay also worked with Accenture India as a Partner (2008-2009) responsible for managing relationships with the Governments & Corporates before joining Jubilant Bhartia Group. He has been member of several high level government delegations, committees and task forces of the World Economic Forum. He was the Vice Chair of South Asia Regional Strategy Group (RSG) of World Economic Forum & is closely involved with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneur of the Year- India Award.
In 2008, Ajay Co-Founded Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI). Since its inception in 2008 , PAFI has been actively promoting public affairs as a profession and providing regular interactions and opportunities to exchange views and share experiences. It is the belief of PAFI that public affairs plays a significant role in organizations as well as the development of India’s economy.
PAFI serves as a professional resource for the Public Affairs professionals and provides members with a platform and opportunity to exchange information, share knowledge and experiences in engaging with external stakeholders like the government, media, industry associations, multilateral agencies and think tanks. It enables them to advance and develop the field of public affairs and provides tools and resources that enable members to achieve their business and professional goals in an ethical manner.
Ajay teaches government and public advocacy at Takshashila.
