Kalpana Desai

Director, India

Kalpana Desai joined Global Heritage Fund in 2005, and her primary responsibilities include overseeing Global Heritage Fund initiatives in India. In particular, she has been very actively involved in leading the Indus-Saraswati Heritage Centre project in Vadodara, India, in collaboration with the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in Gujarat, and the Indus Heritage Trust in a first international attempt to showcase the glory of the Indus Civilization. Conservation at the site of Hampi is another Global Heritage Fund initiative in India with Jindal Steel Foundation as its partnering organization. Kalpana combines professional expertise in finance and economic research with museum arts and culture. For the past 17 years she has been a San Francisco-based museum educator involved in innovative public programming and community outreach. She is a founding member and past President of a Bay Area community-based organization called SACHI, the Society for Art & Cultural Heritage of India. Kalpana has been a financial consultant with SRI International in Menlo Park, Ca., and served as an economist with the Chicago Board of Trade Economic Research and Planning Department in Chicago, Illinois, making her debut in professional life with the Tata Economic Consultancy Services in Mumbai, India. She received her M.A. in Economics from the Department of Economics, University of Bombay, and a B.A. in Economics from Miranda House, Delhi University, India.