Board of Directors
Sharif D Rangnekar
Sharif D Rangnekar is a writer, curator, author, workplace inclusion consultant, and singer-songwriter. He is the author of the critically acclaimed books, Straight to Normal: My Life as a Gay Man and Queersapien.
With over 30 years of experience in the fields of journalism, communications, public affairs, and event curation, he believes communications through storytelling is a critical way of opening the minds of people to different ideas, ways of living and being.
An award-winning communications consultant, Sharif has led Integral PR as its CEO and Chairman. He was at the helm of affairs of the PRCAI for half a decade and held board positions with PROI and ICCO. He has been the Indian PR Person of the Year (2013), named amongst the most influential PR leaders in Global PR Power List in 2015 and in the top 100 Communications Influencers, 2024.
During his tenure in journalism, he worked at The Pioneer and then in The Economic Times before joining the dotcom, e-indiabiz.com. He reported and commented on various areas such as information and broadcasting, finance, industrial development, aviation, foreign investment policy and intellectual property. He was nominated by the Government of India to be the sole Indian representative at a global conference hosted by WIPO.
Sharif’s interest in music led him to form the band Friends of Linger back in 2013. The band is credited with creating India’s first song dedication to the LGBTQIA+ community, Head Held High. The band has a number of critically acclaimed songs, featuring in publications such as Rolling Stone, HT City, Times of India, The Hindu and the New Indian Express.
It was on leaving the corporate world that he started curating music and poetry events at different places such as The Piano Man, Depot48 and the Gulmohar Park Club. This led to establishment of the Dwijen Dinanath Arts Foundation and the various verticals under it.
Other than being its founder, Sharif is on the advisory board of The Global PR Trust and the Global Advisory Council of the London-based, Diversity Economics Institute. His curation skills led to him being invited to be part of the FICCI Task Force for India’s representation through art, culture and literature at the Dubai Expo, 2021.
Sujay Mehdudia
Sujay is a former journalist, currently working as a Strategic Media Communications, Crisis Issues, Public Affairs, and Corporate Affairs expert at Avian WE and Chase India. He is an observer of Indian politics and a commentator on public policy.
He has close to three decades of experience in journalism and has worked with publications including The Hindu, Amar Ujala, and UNI. As a journalist, he covered the Delhi State Government and multiple key ministries in the Central Government, developing expertise in finance, power, commerce, industry, corporate affairs, international trade, foreign investment, industrial policy, petroleum and natural gas, civil aviation, and defence.
Sujay is best known for breaking reports on the missing coal files in 2013, popularly known as the Coalgate Scam, which led to Parliament being stalled for nine days. He also produced investigative reports on the KG Basin gas dispute involving Reliance Industries, the Central Government, and the CAG.
He has travelled across 27 countries on government affairs, participated in conferences on communications, media, and the petroleum industry, and served on ministerial delegations. Prior to Avian WE, Sujay was associated with Integral PR as its CEO and Chief Media Strategy Officer with Hill + Knowlton.
