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= Ashwini Kakkar = Ashwini Kakkar (born 04 January 1954) is widely regarded as a business and thought leader for the travel and tourism industry, an entrepreneur, and a philanthropist. He served as an executive director on the global board of Thomas Cook, was co-founder and Chairman of Via.com, and also turned around the fortunes of Mercury Travels Ltd. before accomplishing its sale to Nasdaq listed EBix Corp in 2018.

In 2006, President Jacques Chirac of France, decorated Ashwini Kakkar with the Chevalier De L’Ordre Merite.

Early Life
Ashwini Kakkar was born on 04 January 1954, a Birthday that he shared with his mother.

After schooling at St. Xavier's at Delhi, St. Stanislaus and Elphinstone College at Mumbai, he went on to get his Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology at Kurukshetra in 1977. There he was adjudged the 'Best All-rounder' and subsequently received the 'Distinguished Alumni Award'. At Kurukshetra University, he spent two years as a part-time student of French and was the gold medalist in the Diploma course. He followed that up with a Certificate course in French from Tours, France.

He then got an MBA from INSEAD, France, and a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management Kolkata in 1980, where he was the General Secretary of the student council. He also studied law at Government Law College, Mumbai as a part-time student and has completed the IRDA regulatory Insurance exams.

Philanthropy
He has been actively involved with Philanthropy for over a decade as the Founder Chairman of the Fight Hunger Foundation, which is now part of global 'Action Against Hunger'. He continues to support Entrepreneurship, as an Angel investor and mentor for multiple start-ups and has seven 'Exits' to his credit.

Board memberships and affiliations
An active contributor to industry, he served as President of the 'Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chairman of the World Travel and Tourism Council (India Initiative), President of Travel Agents Association of India, and Director of UFTAA. Subsequently, he was elected as a global board member of the Nasdaq listed, pharmaceutical CDMO major, Recipharm, headquartered in Stockholm and continues on the Board of The Travel Partnership Corporation based in Washington DC.

He has been on the boards of various French organizations including the Global board of the INSEAD Alumni Association, Atout France, Europassistance, and is currently on the Global Board of Action Against Hunger (Action Contre La Faim), which operates in about 50 countries and has an annual beneficiary budget of around US$ One Billion.

In India, he has served as a director on many boards, including Deposit Insurance & Credit Guarantee Corporation (Reserve Bank of India), Alliance Capital, Prudential Capital, General Electric, Fanuc, Nitin Lifesciences, Jai Medica, Mercury Travels, Himalayan Exploration, Indo -USA Travel Association, Mumbai First,  etc. and continues as the Chairman of Ambit Private Limited, Ambit Capital and Director / Partner at IndVenture Partners, Indiva Marketing, Indo Italian Chamber, Infiiloom etc.

Personal Life
He is married to a francophile, German national Beate Mauder,  who runs her own companies in Mumbai and has a daughter Kritika, who is a British National and lives in London.