Our Team - CCDT

Our Trustees

Sara D’mello - Founder and Trustee

Sara D’Mello, a visionary and dynamic person, founded CCDT in 1990 and started working in a self-settled leprosy colony in Borivali, a suburb of Mumbai, and in Kamathipura, India’s largest red-light district.

Under her guidance, CCDT became one of the first NGOs in India to develop Home-Based Care Program, a comprehensive care and support community initiative for families impacted by HIV/AIDS. She conceptualized and implemented a comprehensive Residential Care Program that serves as a safety net for orphaned or vulnerable children; enabling and empowering them to convert crises into opportunities.

Over three decades, Sara, through her innovative programs at CCDT, has directly impacted the lives of over 2 million individuals across Mumbai, always keeping the focus on children.

David Cardoz - Chairman

David Cardoz, a founder Trustee is an architect, actively involved in the planning and development of the Mahabaleshwar – Panchgani Eco – Sensitive Zone, Maharashtra, India, as a member of the Land Use Committee constituted by the Regional Board for the Regional Development Plan of this Hill station region. He is presently a Member of the Monitoring Committee appointed in 2012 by the Central Ministry of Environment & Forests for the Matheran Eco-Sensitive Zone in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India. He continues to be a member of the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee appointed by the Govt. of Maharashtra. Two of the conservation projects where he was the architect – St. Peter’s Church at Bandra, Mumbai and the Conservatory at the Bombay Zoo at Byculla, Mumbai have received Heritage Awards.

Sukanya Poddar - Managing Trustee

Sukanya Poddar, Managing Trustee of CCDT has extensive experience of working in the social development sector for the past 24 years across most major states of India and South-East Asia. Specialising in strategic thinking along with a range of other skill sets, she has consulted for agencies and corporates of international/national repute. Evaluating over 80 projects in India and having published papers in journal of ‘Institute of Directors’ on CSR issues, she has also worked on the team of consultants for BMGF – FHI Avahan in Maharashtra and headed Avert USAID project as technical head. She is also founder partner of “Partners in Progress Consulting LLP”.

Anuradha Maheshwari - Hon. Secretary

Anuradha Maheshwari is the Founder of Lex Mantis, a legal service firm founded in 2012, specializing in Corporate, Intellectual Property, Transactional, Real Estate, Constitutional and Human Rights Laws. In January, 2019 she was awarded the prestigious “IP Star Woman of the Year” at the Legal Era Intellectual Property Awards. In 2016, Lex Mantis received an award for ‘Best Practices in Patents & IP Excellence in India’ from Questel de Science Infoware, a global patent analytic data provider. Her firm was also declared one of the “20 Most Promising Legal Consultants of India”, especially for start-ups by Silicon India, a reputed technology magazine in 2015.

Dr. Prakash Mirchandani - Trustee

Dr. Prakash Mirchandani, gave up his medical practice to devote his services to the weaker sections of the society. His focus is on Public Health interventions and he has spent the last 30 years guiding organizations in India and Nigeria. He is one of the architects of the Community Ophthalmology Program in its present avatar. He has been the prime mover in the establishment of Mission for Vision, a leading, not for profit Organisation, based in Mumbai, and working, since 2000, for the eradication of avoidable blindness. He is also on the Board of several other Trusts in India and overseas

Francis Rozario - Trustee

Francis Rozario is an accomplished banker with a specialized and diverse 35-year experience in Banking and Finance across the world. Working with reputed financial institutions like Asia Capital and Advisors Pte. Ltd., Singapore (which he founded in 2011), Citi Bank and Fullerton Financial Holdings, his efforts have been recognised for the leadership and service to the community both by the Government and the public at large. The focus of his work has largely been to provide financial institutions with People, Knowledge and Capital; to serve customer segments with creative and sustainable business models to achieve unique value for all stakeholders: Customers, Employees, Shareholders and the local Communities.

Our Technical Advisor

Dr. Shubash R. Salunke - Public Health and Social Impact Specialist

Dr. Shubash Salunke holds an M.D. (Preventive and Social Medicine) and a Diploma in Industrial Health as well as Public Health. Dr. Salunke’s extensive experience in the Public Health space, spanning across three decades, has seen him chair responsible positions as Deputy Director and eventually the Director General of Health Services of the state of Maharashtra. He was also the Assistant Regional Director at WHO-SEARO. Presently, he is serving as Director of the Indian Institute of Public Health, Bhubaneswar.

Pankaj Baliga - Strategic Direction and Resource Mobilization Specialist

Pankaj Baliga, has a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from NIT, Durgapur, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from IIM, Ahmedabad and is a SPURS Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A. He has more than 40 years of experience in Management, including 35 years with the Tata Group, of which, he’s spent the last 14 years at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd, during which he has had a stint of 5 years as Global Head of TCS’s CSR.

Sonalini Mirchandani - Communication and Advocacy Specialist

Sonalini has several decades of experience in Communications Research, Design, Capacity Building and Implementation spanning sectors. Starting out as a diplomat, she subsequently joined the social sector, to become the Vice President, Operations Research Group, and Country Director, Johns Hopkins University – Centre for Communication Programmes. She founded The Communication Hub and continues to be on the Board of several advisory bodies. She is an active founder member of the Mumbai Network of Palliative Care.

Virupax Ranebennur - Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Specialist

Virupax has more than 28 years of experience in public health, including in Program Planning, Developing Monitoring & Evaluation Systems, and conducting Needs Assessment. His work pans across organisations like IPPF, Ford Foundation, USAID, BMGF, Global Fund and other international, national and local donors. Currently he is working as a Sr. Technical Advisor, Strategic Information, LINKAGES FHI360/Global supporting 30 countries in implementing HIV prevention, care and support program for key population.

Dr. Ruta Vyas - Capacity Building, Training & Development

Dr. Ruta Vyas has a total experience of over 16 years, with over 11 years in training and development, and over 5 years in executive coaching, working with Senior leaders; both Indian Nationals and Expatriates. She holds a PhD from NMIMS in leadership behaviours. Currently, she is a Director with Amadeus Consulting engaged in leadership and communication training, executive coaching and leadership assessment.

Dr. Sudeshna Ray - Technical Support, Health & Nutrition

Dr. Sudeshna Ray MD MRCOG (London) holds a respectable reputation amongst her patients both as an Obstetrician & Gynecologists. Besides guiding the pregnant women with her expert advice, she offers a full range of gynaecological services. Currently, she is a practicing doctor at Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai and is the head of the team of LIGHTHOUSE – the 360-degree care program for adolescents and young adults. She is a strong believer of holistic care of women where nutrition and lifestyle plays the major role.

Dr. Raj Shankar Ghosh - Public Health Specialist

Over the past 30 years Dr. Ghosh has been involved in a wide range of public health activities from planning and implementation of public health programs at grassroot level to advocating for effective policy decisions at National and regional levels on infectious diseases, vaccines and drugs. Currently, he is involved in advocating for vaccines coverage and equity, forging partnerships and managing Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s support to the COVID vaccination program in India.

Our Management Team

Krishna Kant Pandey - Lead Program and Monitoring & Evaluation

Krishna Kant holds master’s degrees in social work and public health. He has over 22 years of rich experience in the development sector at state and national level. He has successfully managed several programs in various states of India on health and children related issues.

Program development and management, advocacy, stakeholder management, capacity building and monitoring and evaluation are his major areas of interest. He has curated several knowledge products and capacitated city officials and young professionals across India on making Indian cities young children and caregivers-friendly.

Pallavi Sawardekar - Head - Finance, HR and Administration

Pallavi Sawardekar heads the Finance, HR and Administration function at CCDT and has more than 25 years of professional experience in senior management roles. She holds a Masters degree in Financial Management and has worked with reputed organizations in the development sector.

Deepak A. Tripathi - Program Lead - Child Protection (Adolescent & HIV)

Deepak Tripathi holds an MBA degree in Training and Program Development from NIBS. He brings in a total 12 years of professional experience in the areas of HIV/AIDS Health, Livelihood, Education, Gender Equality and WaSH.

Zaid Dilawar Kapdi - Lead CSR and Sustainability

Zaid Kapdi is Lead CSR and Sustainability in CCDT, and has 9 years of experience implementing the entire life cycle of CSR initiatives. He holds great knowledge in Fund Management and has expertise in Skilling and Adolescent projects. He holds an MBA degree in Human Resource from ITM Business School.

Lavina Fernandes - Manager- Health and Nutrition

Lavina Fernandes holds a Master Degree in Nutrition and a Master Degree in Public Health. She has over 12 years of experience in the areas of Maternal and Child Nutrition, Clinical Nutrition, Public Health and Research.

Ramchandra Adsule - Senior Operations Manager

Ramchandra has a Master of Social Work from Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai and has spent 17 years working across various CCDT programs, including in the Community Development Program, Health and Nutrition Programs and Child Protection.

CCDT is proud to be India’s Best Place To Work 2024-25, which is recognised by Great Place To Work (India)