Sundeep Waslekar is President of Strategic Foresight Group, a think-tank based in India that advises governments and institutions around the world on managing future challenges. He has presented new policy concepts at committees of the Indian Parliament, the European Parliament, UK Houses of Commons and Lords, United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, League of Arab States, World Economic Forum (Davos meetings), among others. He has travelled to 50 countries for consultations with senior leaders.
Sundeep Waslekar was born on 3 April 1959 in Mumbai, India. He obtained his Master of Commerce degree from Mumbai University in 1981. He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, obtaining Bachelor of Arts in 1983. He was conferred D. Litt. (Honoris Causa) of Symbiosis International University, at hands of President of India, in December 2011.
Sundeep has been involved in parallel diplomatic exercises to find common ground in times of crisis. Since the mid-1990s, he has facilitated dialogue between Indian and Pakistani decision makers and Kashmiri leaders, heads of Nepalese political parties, and post 9/11 between the leaders of Western and Islamic countries.
He authored three books on governance in the 1990s – The New World Order, South Asian Drama, and Dharma-Rajya: Path-breaking Reforms for India’s Governance. Since 2002, he has authored several research reports on global future under the auspices of the Strategic Foresight Group, including The Blue Peace, Cost of Conflict in the Middle East, and An Inclusive World. In 2011, he co-authored a book of essays on global governance, Big Questions of Our Time.
He has been quoted, reviewed, interviewed and published in more than 1,500 newspapers, websites and television channels including the BBC World Television, CNN, Newsweek, International Herald Tribune, Financial Times and The Guardian, most of the major newspapers in India, Pakistan and the Middle East, and national media in some 60-70 countries.
Sundeep has authored a best-seller book in his native Marathi language, Eka Dishecha Shodh (on new directions for India’s future) which had six editions and an Urdu translation within the first year.