Sanawar Alumni Host a National Forum on Leadership and Institution Building

The Sanawar Success Summit 2026 in New Delhi brings policymakers, business leaders, diplomats, defence veterans, and educators onto one platform

The Sanawar Success Summit 2026 convened a wide cross section of India’s leadership at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, Janpath, for a day of discussions focused on leadership, education, governance, and institution building. The summit was organised by The Old Sanawarian Society, the alumni association of The Lawrence School, Sanawar, and was sponsored by DKG Landcorp, Mohali, under the leadership of its Directors Mohit Gupta and Lakshay Gupta.
The proceedings opened with a traditional Chhota Hazari, followed by the ceremonial lighting of the lamp by members of the Board of Governors of the Sanawar Society. The formal programme began with a welcome address by Pankaj Sapru, Immediate Past President of The Old Sanawarian Society. This was followed by the keynote address delivered by Vipin Sondhi, Former Managing Director and CEO of Ashok Leyland and former Chairman of JCB India and TAFE.

The Chief Guest, Sanjay Kumar, IAS, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, and Chairman of the Board of Governors, addressed the gathering and spoke about the role of institutions in shaping leadership, continuity, and public service across generations.
The summit was anchored by Gaurav Bhagat, Founder and Managing Director of Consortium Gifts, who also participated as a distinguished alumnus of Sanawar. His role as emcee helped set the tone for a day of structured dialogue and reflection across sectors.

The opening panel featured speakers from diverse professional backgrounds, including Vandana Mohan, Founder and Director of The Wedding Design Company; Armeet Sandhu, Managing Partner at MSB Docs and former CEO of Stoneware Systems Inc.; Ajeet Bajaj, Padma Shri awardee, mountaineer, and Managing Director of Snow Leopard Adventures; agripreneur Jang Bahadur Singh Sangha, known for leading one of India’s largest potato and maize farming enterprises; and Dushyant Chautala, Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana from 2019 to 2024.

Subsequent sessions through the day featured speakers from defence, diplomacy, policy, business, academia, healthcare, technology, sustainability, and the arts. These included Lt Gen Ajai Singh, Former Commander in Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command; Yashish Dahiya, Founder and Group CEO of Policybazaar; National Film Award winning costume designer Niharika Bhasin; Dr Tarun Batra, Cancer Surgeon and Associate Professor at Banaras Hindu University; Rajeev Ahal, Director of Natural Resource Management and Agroecology at GIZ India; diplomat Taranjit Sandhu, Former Ambassador of India to the United States and High Commissioner to Sri Lanka; Shaila Brijnath, Founder and Chairperson of Aasraa Trust; Arun Maira, Former Member of the Planning Commission of India; Akshay Dalal, Head of Regional Risk, Compliance and Ethics at Google for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa; Gaurav Raina, Professor at IIT Madras and Research Fellow at Cambridge University; Ruby Garg, Director at Indus Group; Surbhi Garg, Joint Commissioner of Income Tax; Vivek Mehra, Senior Partner at PwC (Retired) and Director on multiple corporate boards; and Dr Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson and Managing Director of The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group.

The summit concluded with a closing address by Brigadier Adarsh Butail, President of The Old Sanawarian Society, bringing the day to a close and reaffirming Sanawar’s long standing commitment to leadership and institution building.

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