Our Team

We are proud of a team that strives, passionately and vigorously, to live by our values of worker and solution centricity, of focus in our chosen areas of work, and of our independent and non-partisan actions.

Co-Founders

Sandeep Sachdeva

After leading large global banking businesses in three continents, Sandeep retired mid-career to support social causes. Safe in India Foundation is now his main passion. He is also on the boards of social enterprises in the UK/Europe. Sandeep is a graduate of IITR88 and IIMA91.

Ravi Gulati

Ravi Gulati co-founded Manzil – a youth-led non-profit providing a space & learning resources for low-income children & youth. He also facilitates Delhi Government school principals’ leadership learning with SCERT, & enthusiastically mentors many other youth initiatives addressing a diversity of social issues. Not only is all his work pro-bono, but he also contributes financially from his own resources to Manzil and these youth initiatives. He also serves on the Boards of a few NGOs like Pravah that focus on youth learning and leadership. Ravi is a graduate of SRCC and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad

Prabhat Agarwal

Prabhat Agarwal is founder and coach at Aravali Scholars wherein deserving students from low-income neighborhoods are mentored and provided academic resources to achieve their potential. Prabhat personally mentors these students in the two centers at Bijwasan, Delhi and Sikanderpur, Gurgaon in India. Prabhat also is a mentor and/or investor in several start-ups, most of which are in the social enterprise space. Prabhat is a graduate of IIT Delhi and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad

Senior Management Team

Hari Varma Datla

Director of HR & Finance

A senior management professional having over four decades of experience in leadership roles, initially as a Special Forces Officer in the Indian Army for 22 years and subsequently in the Corporate Sector Logistics, ITES, Manufacturing, and Hospitality Sectors.
At SII he is the guiding force behind its culture. He has oversight over team performance and appraisals.
He is a M.Sc. from Madras University 1983 and is also a Certified Life Coach from the International Coaching Federation - USA 2021.

V.N. Saroja

Head of Worker Safety & ESIC
Systemic Change - P2, P3

V N Saroja works to improve worker safety in the Indian manufacturing sector, especially the auto sector, by persuading the government, industry, ESIC, and other stakeholders to improve safety & service standards and improve overall efficiencies using the data available and research carried out by SII. She was previously the CEO of Indian Agribusiness Systems Limited (Agriwatch) and worked closely with GOI and State Governments and the industry on the management of important agricommodities. She is a graduate of Statistics from Delhi University and an MBA from IIMA90.

Ajay Kumar Chhokra

Head of IT Infrastructure &Partnership

Ajay Kumar Chhokra is an accomplished leader with over 35 years of experience in prominent US multinational companies like Optum, Adobe, and HP. Currently serving as a Senior Advisor at Safe-In-India, Ajay focuses on optimizing operations, devising innovative IT strategies, and fostering partnerships with other NGOs. He is a graduate of Delhi College of Engineering and a masters from IIT, Delhi 1993.

Pavan Chandra

Head of
Communication - P4

Pavan is a communication professional specializing in media selection and data analysis. At SII he overseas media delivery for key stakeholders - workers, partners, ESIC and the automotive supply chain. After his professional career of 30 years he now volunteers his time for social sector initiatives in education and workplace safety. Pavan is a graduate in Economics from Delhi University and a masters in Communication from Indian Institute of Mass Communication 1988.

Raja Natrajan

Head of Operations - P1

Raja is responsible for providing leadership and management of the Worker Assistance Centres nationally and anchoring partnerships for synergies. He also leads the funded programmes for implementation and impact. In addition, Raja also leads the enablement functions of Finance, HR and Admin for SII.

Raja has 30 years experience in the Finance and Commercial areas for both Indian corporates and MNCs. As part of the social sector, he has been with Piramal Foundation as its Director Finance and COO; with Make A Difference as its COO and CFO; and, with Shiv Nadar University as its Executive Director – Finance & Operations.

Raja did his B.Com. from Calcutta University 1984, is an Associate member of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India 1987, and has done his Senior Management Programme from IIM Calcutta 2010 and earned his certification in OD practices in 2023.

Director

Sandeep Singh

Sandeep was a practicing architect for 10 years before taking up content writing in the field of architecture and disability. He aims to build environments that are more accessible for persons with disabilities. He has been a consultant with SII since 2017 leading worker support groups. Currently he keeps an eye on team targets and timelines. Sandeep is a graduate in Architecture from IIT Roorkee.

Director