Executive Profiles

Mr. Rajeev Lakhara, IRS joined as the Managing Director of Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI) on 3^rd February 2005. He is from 1992 batch of Indian Revenue Service. He has done B.E. (Civil Engineer) from REC, Sri Nagar (J&K). During the course of his long and distinguished career spanning 14 years, he served in a wide variety of assignments including the Joint Commissione / Joint Director (Investigation), Income Tax Department that was prior to joining FDDI.

After he took over as the Managing Director of FDDI, under his able & dynamic guidance the institute is constantly moving ahead towards new horizons. Apart from the other courses conducted by the institute, from the current academic session FDDI is going to conduct four new courses to meet the human resource requirements of the footwear & allied industry.

His customer centric focus and leadership has helped drive the rapid growth of the International Testing Center of FDDI which has full-fledged Chemical and Physical testing facilities. ITC is serving not only footwear & leather industry but also automotive, plastic, glass & textile industries in testing various substances, components and goods.

He has grand visions about not only making FDDI a truly world class organization, in terms of technical capability and modern facilities but also to help micro-entrepreneurs and artisans to benefit from emerging opportunities. His efforts in these areas have started showing results.

 Exclusive interview with Rajeev Lakhara, IRS

Mr. Shashi Bhushan Shukla, Secretary, FDDI is an IRS officer of 1999 batch of Indian Revenue Services. He has joined Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI) as secretary on 2^nd June 2005. Prior to his current role as Secretary, FDDI he was serving as Dy. Commissioner of Income Tax. He has varied experience of serving various departments of Govt, of India such as I & B, Department of Telecommunications, Customs & Central Excise Department in various capacities. Mr. Shukla holds B. Tech. Degree in Electronics & Communication Engg. and M. Tech. in Digital Communication from the Regional Engineering College, Bhopal (MACT).

In the fulfillment of the objective of FDDI, Mr. Shukla has been of tremendous significance in terms of overall monitoring and policy implementation in regards of portraying FDDI globally as a leading “Fashion Institute”.

His rich academic background and wide experience in different fields is of great help in leading this institute to new horizons in academia, projects, consultancy and customer services. His dynamic personality and strong commitment are instrumental in all round growth of the institute. He has been a driving force behind updating curricula and adding new courses in FDDI in the area of most demanding field of Retail Management & Fashion Merchandising. He is also playing a vital role in monitoring and speedy implementation of various projects being undertaken by FDDI such as Projects under HRD Mission, Integrated Development of Leather Sector Scheme formulated and other handicraft promotion schemes of Govt. of India.

Under his able guidance, FDDI is set to move to be a world leader in the areas of fashion, technology and management education in a short span of time.