Senior Management:

Asif M. Shaikh, President and Chief Executive Officer. Asif Shaikh has twenty-eight years of experience – all of it international – in economic development, natural resources, environment, energy, finance and trade. During this time, he has made widely recognized contributions to environmental policy and macro-economic linkages; natural resources and environmental economics methodology; analysis of incentives systems and pricing policies; and quantitative analysis techniques. Mr. Shaikh has proven experience in managing multidisciplinary teams for development projects. As President and CEO of International Resources Group (IRG), an international consulting firm in natural resources, environment and energy, he manages a company of 200 professionals in the United States, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Throughout his career, he has participated in major short- and long-term programs for USAID, the World Bank, and other clients. With professional experience in over 35 developing countries, he is an internationally respected lecturer on topics such as sustainable development, environmental policy, economics, and natural resources. With four years of university teaching experience; has taught numerous workshops, seminars and short courses, and lectured extensively throughout the world.

Since 1972, Mr. Shaikh has regularly and continuously worked – in both technical and advisory capacities – with international institutions and donor organizations on policy, economics and environment in developing countries. He has extensive experience with USAID, the World Bank, OECD, UNDP, CILSS, SADC; substantial work with ADB (Asian), AFDB (African), FAO, ECOWAS, WMO, French Cooperation, GTZ, CIDA, Dutch Ministry of Cooperation and other bilateral donors. Mr. Shaikh is thoroughly familiar with both the field and head office operations of these organizations.

Benjamin S. Farrah, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Benjamin S. Farrah has 20 years of experience working in a government contractor environment.  He worked several years as an auditor with the Defense Contract Audit Agency, where he received the agency’s 1985 Special Service Award for exceptional and innovative reviews at Litton Amecom.  He served as Chief Financial Officer and Treasure at Northrop Grumman PRB Systems (NG-PRB) from 1986 to 1998.  NG-PRB is a developer of systems and software for battle management decision aids as well as platform and weapon mission support systems. He served as Chief Financial Office of Management Technology Inc, an information technology services firm before joining IRG in 2001.  He has also served on or advised numerous Boards of Directors, both domestic and international.  He is a certified public accountant and member of the AICPA and MACPA and received a BS, Accounting from Christopher Newport University and a MS, Taxation from The George Washington University.

Cynthia Pflugh, Corporate Vice President and Director, Business Development Division. Ms. Pflugh has worked for more than 18 years in various fields of international development, including design and implementation of business and marketing information systems for tracking clients, consultants, projects, and business opportunities. She has field experience in Asia and Africa. BA, International Relations, U.S. International University (USIU); graduate coursework in Political Science, USIU, and Organizational Development and Information Systems, The George Washington University.

Mr. Amit Jain, Managing Director. (India Operations) Mr. Jain, Managing Director of IRG Systems South  Asia Ltd. has more than thirteen years of national and international experience in the area of energy, environment and natural resources.  Mr. Jain has worked in the area of environmental & energy planning, financing, capacity building & institutional strengthening. He has experience in environmental, and liability assessment (phase 1 & phase 2), hazardous and solid waste assessment and management, HAZAN and HAZOP studies, offsite emergency planning and disaster management projects. He has worked on projects funded by developmental agencies, bilateral and multilateral institutions, Indian financial institutions and various governments. He has conducted more than fifty environmental assessment, liability and safety audits and eleven environmental impact assessment studies (EIA). He has worked in fifteen industry sectors including fertilizer, LPG bottling & storage, specialty & fine chemicals, sugar, textile, pharmaceutical, pulp & paper, electronics, glass, electrical, dairy, rubber, cement, petroleum and infrastructure projects like roads & expressways, bridges, power plants, oil & gas and urban development. Mr. Jain has worked on sector studies including sector analysis, supply and demand, hazard and risks analysis, privatization and financing. Mr. Jain has completed M.B.A., International Business (specialization in Finance) from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, M.Tech., Biotechnology & Biochemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India, B.Tech., Chemical Technology, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur, India. He is proficient in English and Hindi and has fair understanding of Thai and Japanese.

Other IRG-SSA Staff

Mr. Sanjeev Satyanarayan, Manager - Information Technology & Business Development. Mr. Sanjeev has over 12 years of experience of Software Design and Development, Database Administration, System Administration, Technical Document Control and Web Designing, Development & Hosting. He is adept in systems assembly, trouble shooting and repairs of Electronic and Electrical equipments. He also has excellent soft skills namely Interpersonal Relation, Presentation & Communication, Project Management, Time Management, People Management, Cross Cultural Dynamics, Teamwork & Coaching among other skills. His technical skills includes X-WINDOWS, MS-Office (including programming in MS-Excel, MS-Word), C, C++, Clipper, VB, VBA, VC, X-base, Oracle, MS-Access, SQL, JAVA, J-Script, VB Script, HTML / DHTML, Documentum Workspace among other technical skills. He also has been trained on Total Quality Management and Six Sigma & Lean Manufacturing.

Mr. Sanjeev, as a part of the team of WEEE Delhi study, carried out fieldwork to establish higher end of WEEE supply chain mostly in the formal sector. He carried out analysis of dismantling of computer hardware in the formal sector. He also developed the database formats for the WEEE.

Mr. Sanjeev has Bachelor degrees in Statistics and Electronics & Power Engineering and has postgraduate qualifications in Computer Applications, Hardware Engineering, Network Engineering, Unix Engineering, Database Administration, CORBA, Documentum WorkSpace (Server Administration).

Mr. Damanjit Singh Minhas, Environment & Geoinformatics. Mr. Minhas has wide-ranging experience of more than 5 years in field of environmental planning / assessment related studies while working on various road sector and water sector projects funded by World Bank, also using advanced spatial analysis tools of GIS and Remote Sensing. The tasks handled as team member in above-mentioned sector projects helped build experience in formulation of concepts, spatial database management and environmental assessment including analysis with the help of GIS customized software.

During this short span of time he has developed capability on GIS and remote sensing based spatial analysis for watershed projects, road sector applications and urban environmental planning projects like solid waste management. While working on various water sector projects he has gained experience on resource mapping for basin and sub basin using GIS and remote sensing for environmental and social assessment. During this span he has also published two scientific papers on environmental application using GIS techniques.

He has been trained in Urban and Regional Planning at Bachelors level and done Masters in Environmental Planning. In addition to the above he has also acquired a Post Graduate Diploma in Application of Remote Sensing and GIS in Human Settlement Analysis from Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun. He is also working as visiting faculty on GIS and remote sensing at School of Planning and Architecture, a deemed University at New Delhi .

Dr. Ramakant, Consultant - EIA and Water Technology. Mr. Ramakant by profession is an environmental engineer working in the field of water and wastewater management & water resources management practices with interest in modeling of ground as well as surface water behavior, designing of water and wastewater treatment plants, non conventional energy sources, air pollution control technology, solid waste management and design of land fill areas. His work experience in the field of environmental research and consultancy services has provided the necessary exposure of various industries and management practices of industrial waste. He has a number of research publications in International and National Journals of repute along with a few presented in conferences speaks of his research ability and analytical skills. As a part of European Union-India Economic Cross Culture Programme, he was an active member of the research team and studied the “Clogging Behavior of Sand Filter” at University of Applied Sciences, Dresden, Germany further enhanced with site visits for “Riverbank Filtration System” to Austria and Czech Republic.

Mr. Debasis Sarangi, Executive - Finance and Admin. Mr. Sarangi offers more than 6 years of experience in  financial analysis  of environmental projects including cost benefit analysis. Mr. Sarangi has completed cost accounting from Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India in December 2000. He completed Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Finance) from Utkal University, Orissa in August 1996.  

Dr. Shanta Satyanarayan, Sr. Consultant - Water and Wastewater Technology. Dr. Shanta has a vast and rich experience of 35 plus years in the fields of Environmental Impact Assessment, Industrial wastewater management and treatment technologies; Advance oxidation process for wastewater treatment; Environmental Impact Assessment studies; Energy recovery from different organic wastes viz; Night soil, Cattle dung, Water hyacinth, Slaughter house waste, Distillery spent broth; Evaluation of environmental audit reports, submitted by different industries; Evaluation of feasibility reports on Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs); Toxicity evaluation through fish bioassay and algal bioassay. 

Dr. Shanta is presently working at IRGSSA as team leader and EIA Expert for IL & FS Ecosmart Ltd. sponsored Detailed Survey of Municipal Solid Waste Collection, Characterization and Transportation for Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi. She has also been team leader and EIA Expert for other projects of IRGSSA namely - EIA Study (Rapid) of Proposed Channelization of Large Drains / Rivers under UP Sodic Land Reclamation Project, Uttar Pradesh; EIA Study for Proposed Landfill site at Narela - Bawana Road, Delhi; Monitoring Study for Existing Landfill Site at Okhla Phase – I, Delhi; Monitoring Study for Existing Landfill Site at Gazipur, Delhi; Tamil Nadu Empowerment and Poverty Reduction project with World Bank – Technical Environmental Guidelines

Dr. Shanta has done more than 35 EIA projects (water and wastewater component). She is a Supervisor for Ph.D., M.Tech. and M.Sc. students, Coordinator (Waste Management in refineries, at IOCL, Karnal and at RPL, Jamnagar) as well as faculty  for various training courses (sponsored by the CPCB). Dr. Shanta has more than 70 research papers, 27 technical reports, 4 chapters in various books, a book (as co-author) “Wastewater Management in Tanneries” under publication, and 3 patents to her credit. 

Dr. Shanta has various honors and awards bestowed on her namely - Consultancy Development Center's National Award for Excellence in Consultancy Services-2002 awarded by Consultancy Development Centre, New Delhi for the project “Design and Construction of Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) for Small Scale Industrial Clusters at Pali and Balotra in Rajasthan” as one of the team members; Technical Excellence Award to NEERI, Nagpur by The South Indian Sugar Mills Association, Tamil Nadu for providing integrated technological solutions for Environmental Aspects of Distilleries in Tamil Nadu and the effective utilization of Distillery Spent Wash as a Resource material for Agro sector (thereby integrating the concept of “Recycle - Reuse - Reduce” leading to “Waste to Wealth” programmes) as team leader for Bannari Amman Sugars Ltd. - July 2002; Letter of Appreciation for the work carried out at Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Venice, Venice, Italy in 1999 by Prof. Lidia Szpyrkowicz, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Venice, Venice, Italy; Special Technology Award of CSIR to NEERI, Nagpur and CLRI, Chennai for providing critical and integrated technological solutions to tanneries in Tamil Nadu. As team leader for carrying out studies at three tanneries – September 1998; Best Paper Awards for two research papers.  

Dr. Shanta had been deputized to the university of Venice on CNR - CSIR Scientific Exchange Program & was also awarded WHO Fellowship to UK (Thames Water International). 

Mr. Ritesh Rajput. Mr. Ritesh is an Environmental professional with social and developmental background, having experience both at the policy and field implementation level in broad areas of Sustainable Urban Planning, Institutional Strengthening, Social Planning (Health Care) & Environmental Planning Projects specially in the field of Environmental Reporting (as per ISO 14001 guidelines), Solid Waste Management, Decentralized Sanitation and Water Conservation. In the field of urban environmental management, his focus has been on introduction of ‘Change Management’ process of Real Time Strategic Change in the local community through implementation of Solid Waste Management and River Conservation projects.

Apart from this, he has worked internationally in Siemens Energy Services Ltd. U.K. as an EMS Coordinator for implementing the Environment Management Systems under ISO 14001 certification.

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Siddiq Ashraf. Prof. Ashraf  has over 37 years of experience as social scientist. He has worked extensively on various socio- economic projects at Giri Institute mainly funded by Govt. of India, World Bank etc. He also extensively worked on social status of vulnerable group specially women mainly in Uttar Pradesh. He started his carrier from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He has published several papers on nearly all the social issues. He  is also the author of  several books. 

Dr. Abhilasha Srivastava, Consultant. Dr. Abhilasha has done Ph.D. in Sociology from Lucknow University. She has about 5 years experience in research fields in various projects (provided by World Bank, town and country planning, university grant commission and other reputed organizations) Her thrust area of study has been social development. She has authored the book "Multiplicity of roles among lower middle class working women". She has presented research papers in various seminars and conferences, she also has various articles published in newspapers, reputed journals, periodicals and various magazines. She has been an active participant in various academic activities as conferences, workshops, lectures etc. She has qualified NET (National eligibility test for lectureship) and she has experience as a lecturer in Lucknow University and PG College for Sociology.

Mr. Asit Kumar Mahanty. Mr. Mahanty has nearly 5 years of experience in Agriculture related water management works, covering Strategic Social and Environmental Assessment, Environmental Impact Assessment, Watershed Management, Participatory Irrigation Management, multi purpose water resources management, Water resources problems, Operations and Water Sharing, Assessment of the role of WUA members and other stakeholders in rehabilitating the irrigation systems, community involvement including stakeholders participation in decision making, community contracting and consultation of all key stakeholders, including women and other vulnerable groups, in all aspects of project implementation and farmers perceptions about Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM), Effectiveness of WUAs in achieving their objectives & Impact of training programs and other capacity building of WUAs through NGOs and other government institutions, Evaluation of the progress of implementation of the project and assessment of its impact on the water management equity in the distribution of water particularly to the tail- enders, changes in cropping pattern, changes in irrigation and farming intensities.