• Ms S. Manjubhashini, Social Worker & Founder, BMKT
• Mr Govind Swaminathan – Eminent Jurist
• Mr T.T. Vasu – Businessman & Philanthropist

• Dr S. Anandalakshmy - Ex-President, BMKT
• Dr S. Jayam, Founder, Sahishnatha Trust
• Dr S.P. Koppikar – Homeopathic Physician
• Dr Kanchana Srinivas
• Dr V. Narayanaswamy – Ayurvedic Physician
• Dr Pappakumari
• Dr B. Ramamurthi – Neurosurgeon
• Dr Sarada Menon, (Retired) Supt. IMH, Tamil Nadu & Director, SCARF
• Dr B. Vaidyanathan – Ayurvedic Physician
• Dr Valsa Koshy, Psychiatrist, SCARF
• Ms Lata Kumaraswamy
• Ms Prabha Sridevan - Ex. Judge, Madras High Court
• Ms Premila Rajan
• Ms Rama Narayanan
• Ms Usha Ramakrishnan
• Ms K. Vedam

Dr Balachandra, now retired, held the post of Reader, Department of Psychology, at J.B.A.S. College for Women. She has a wide range of experience in the field of teaching and research. Her areas of specialisation and interest are Counselling, Developmental Psychology, Health Psychology and Assessment. Her research work has focused on enhancing the concept of self among early adolescents, and analysing the psychosocial correlates of shyness among female college students. She has attended training programmes in Life Skills and Counselling, as well as short-term training courses in Mental Retardation and Behaviour Modification. She has been a supervisor for PhD, M Phil and postgraduate students. She served as the Honorary Project Officer of the Children Assessment Centre, S.I.E.T., from 2004 to 2009. She was part of the Expert Committee for drafting the curriculum for MSc Health Psychology (Distance Mode), Sri Ramachandra University, and served as a member of the Board of Studies for Psychology, University of Madras, Ethiraj College for Women, and Women’s Christian College. She is currently on the BMRF Council of Management, and a senior consulting psychologist at the Chennai Institute for Learning and Development.

Aruna Rathnam has worked as a teacher in Rishi Valley School, Andhrapradesh and Olcott Memorial School, Chennai. Her work with Tamil Nadu Science Forum included serving as state coordinator of  Makkal Palli Iyakkam, an after-school programme in 1000 villages. She served as Education Specialist for Tamil Nadu and Kerala with UNICEF for 14 years. Her Ph.D. in Cultural Foundations of Curriculum from Syracuse University, NY, USA examines the intersections of educational provisions by the state and parental aspirations through field work in Sivakasi and South Chennai. She has translated many articles and a book by Kancha Ilaiah from ENglish to Tamil and published a few original articles on school education in Tamil.

Ms Anumolu completed her BSc degree in Economics from the University of Warwick, UK in 1997, following, which she worked in the trade and finance industry in Singapore for many years.

She moved to Chennai with her husband in 2006 and joined the Singapore Tourism Board as head of their Education Services division in India.

She joined Bala Mandir Research Foundation in 2009, contributing in all aspects of its work in the field of Early Childhood Care and Development.

Dr Balagopal has studied in the field of medical sciences, and has worked for more than three decades with health and education programmes for underprivileged children. As Secretary of Mobile Crèches, Mumbai, she administered a day care programme for twenty years for over 3000 children from migrant labour families. She presently holds various posts, including being an advisory member of the Child-to-Child Trust in London, advisory member on Child-to-Child programmes in Chetna, Ahmedabad, consultant to Health Promotion International, Sydney, and advisory member of Arab Resource Centre, Lebanon.

Dr Janaki Balakrishnan is the Managing Trustee of Vijay Human Services, Chennai, an organisation that provide educational services to intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). She is also a Trustee-member of Navajyothi Trust, An Institute of Mental Retardation, Ambattur, Chennai, which provides vocational training for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Additionally, she is the vice-chairperson of Andhra Mahila Sabha Mitra Mandir – A Home for Male Persons with Intellectual Disabilities- run under the auspices of Andhra Mahila Sabha, Chennai.

Her educational credentials include both psychology and special education. She has worked in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities for nearly 20 years in various roles that include three years of international teaching in USA as a special educator. Previously, she worked as a subject matter expert in psychology and at present, she is engaged as a “Working Committee Member” to help the CSR activities and Athmaprasara (Mental Health) programs at Shri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Seva Trust, Rajapalayam.

Her doctoral research work involved developing a scale to assess challenging behaviours in IDD and her future interest includes working with families to deal with problem behaviours in such individuals. Her interests involve applied behaviour analysis, educational technology, writing and research.

Ms Krishnaswamy is presently the Director of Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children. She is responsible for the implementation of the early intervention programme, “Upanayan,” to children at the Centre aged 0-6 with mental retardation and associated disabilities, and its dissemination to other early intervention centres across the country. She has also been responsible for the creation of a complete parent development programme to involve parents of the children with disabilities and empower them to become the co-teachers of their children. The programme includes parental counselling, parental guidance, and preparation of parents for taking on responsibilities as carry over agents at home, and regular training courses for parents on disability management in their children. She has also overseen preparing and placing children in mainstream settings after their successful completion of the programme at the Centre. She has also had an active role in making the “Right to Education” Act a reality in India.

Ms Gopal has been associated with Bala Mandir for over a decade, and has been fully involved with its Parenting programme. She is deeply committed to the spread of its positive parenting messages everywhere, and has successfully interacted with parents, crèche workers, teachers, and supervisors, through many training courses using effective communication skills. She has composed songs in Tamil on parenting, basic hygiene, and social awareness, which have been very effective in conveying important messages to unlettered, rural folk. She has translated and developed valuable resource materials, based on her research into ancient Tamil literature in the field of parenting and child development. She has also developed a number of games and activities, which have been very useful in training programmes.

Ms Gaitonde is the Honorary General Secretary of Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust, and Bala Mandir Research Foundation since 1997. She is also the coordinator of the Network for Information on Parenting, and the Learning Through Play Programme in India. She has also been involved with the formulation of the curriculum and teaching programmes on Value Education for children, teachers and parents.

P. Natarajan is the Honorary Treasurer and Trustee of Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust since 2013.  He has 40 years of experience in the Corporate Sector with 20 years as the Managing Director of various companies within the Saint-Gobain and Sanmar groups.

Ms Amirapu completed her Ph.D in English from the University of Madras in 2007. She currently works as a freelance book editor. Her family has been involved with the Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust since its inception and inspired by this long association, has volunteered her services to the Bala Mandir Research Foundation. She is presently its Treasurer.