KEYNOTE SPEAKERS AT OUR LEADERSHIP FORUM

Daniel McQuade is a seasoned marketing and business development executive, a serial entrepreneur, and an advocate for sustainable growth through innovative strategies. With expertise in branding, social and digital marketing, and emerging technologies, he has consistently driven transformative success across industries, particularly in perishables. As the founder of four disruptive companies, Daniel focuses on empowering, engaging, and embracing the future of business.

Daniel’s career highlights include leading Corporate Social Responsibility programs and non-profit initiatives, delivering over $7 million in grants to education, health, and wellness projects. He has also played pivotal roles as an Adjunct Lecturer at Columbia Business School, a Director of the award-winning NYC “Good Neighbor” Program, and the Co-Founder and CEO of KnowSeafood, a blockchain-based DTC seafood platform fostering transparency and trust.

Widely regarded as a thought leader, visionary, and innovator, Daniel inspires the next generation of entrepreneurs through his teaching and initiatives like Columbia’s "Venture for All" program. At the core of his work is a commitment to innovation, sustainability, and creating lasting positive change in business and society.

Mahima Poddar is the Founder of The Kindness Foundation, a social entrepreneur, and a certified Expressive Arts Therapy practitioner with specialised training in Child Abuse Identification and Prevention. She is deeply committed to fostering personal and social change through innovative programmes and heartfelt initiatives.

Mahima has conceptualised, curated, and pioneered groundbreaking projects, including:

• The International Kindness Festival: The first-of-its-kind global symposium celebrating kindness in all its forms.
• Kindness Week: A vibrant, community-driven initiative encouraging people to share joyful experiences with the less privileged.
• The Kind Campus Programme: An empathy education curriculum transforming schools into hubs of compassion and care.

Her work spans schools, corporates, and community spaces, where she builds and delivers workshops that help children, parents, and caregivers navigate challenges with empathy and resilience. She has worked extensively with schools in Chennai to support children facing difficulties due to abusive or neglectful parenting. Her workshops focus on safe parenting practices, child abuse awareness, and prevention, using tools like Non-Violent Communication and Psychodrama to foster compassionate dialogue.

At the heart of Mahima’s work is an unshakable belief in humanity’s infinite capacity for kindness and deep compassion. Through The Kindness Foundation, she has pioneered initiatives that redefine charity as extending beyond donations to encompass empathy, connection, and mutual upliftment.

A perpetual optimist, Mahima dreams of a world where people smile more often, embrace in bear hugs, and extend their arms wide to catch anyone they see falling. As Shakespeare’s Ophelia says, "We know what we are, but not what we may be!" Mahima believes in creating opportunities and platforms that unleash the boundless kindness within us all.