Vidya Venkatesh

• Worked closely with organizational leadership and board of directors to guide operational strategy
• Human-Wildlife Conflict management through interactions with stakeholders like Forest Department officials and local communities to strategize on ground practical solutions
• Implementing these solutions within the community by way of designing tailor-made programmes for each region
• Conducting detailed research around areas of conflict to understand the actual issue before working on solutions
• Building capacity within the forest department for supporting the park management via trainings, workshops
• Working with different stakeholders like the forest officials, media, police, local administrations to arrive at a holistic approach in a region
• Established alternate livelihood opportunities for the local communities through eco-tourism activities like nature guides, camping, birdwatching, handicrafts etc
• Reformation of a community which is traditionally involved in poaching of tigers in India, by educating their children and providing alternative legal options to use their traditional skills for a sustainable living
• Leading the 2-year long Citizen Science project ‘Mumbaikars for SGNP’, an initiative of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai to reduce the human-leopard conflicts in Mumbai
• Pioneered Projects: Pardhi Reformation Programme, Baiga Jewellery Project, Forest Fire Prevention programme, Community Outreach Programmes
• Responsible Village Tourism projects in Kanha, Panna & Bandhavgarh to engage the communities in alternate livelihoods
• Engaging with volunteers meaningfully for each of the projects
• Donor communication, timely reporting and relationship management.
• Developed project budgets and managed project costs

• Director for National Conservation Initiatives and National co-ordinator for the Kids for Tiger Program
• Managed an outreach programme in 15 cities and over 300 schools to run conservation initiatives across India.
• Led the Green Carbon Program with Deutsche Bank, an initiative with their employees on the topics of environment sustainability, climate change and biodiversity.
• Managing the budgets for the project
• Monitored and coordinated workflows to optimize resources

• Credit Derivatives - managed the confirmation of credit trades on electronic as well as paper confirmations with a team of more than 50 employees
• Planning and organising, team work amongst all the members, consistently achieving the set targets and goals, problem solving
• Motivating the staff and engaging in their career management and team work

• Interacting with corporate clients for various import documentation that are required for commencing/ completing trade transactions (Import and Export)
• Co-ordinating with various departments, concise communication with the clients and managing the internal team
• Customer satisfaction

• TEDx ABBS Women speaker in Dec 2022.

(https://www.ted.com/talks/vidya_venkatesh_role_of_communities_in_wildlife_conservation).

• Received the Vocational Excellence Award from Rotary District 3141
• Received recognition from Panna Tiger Reserve for supporting the Tiger Reintroduction Programme.
• Letters of appreciation from APCCF (Wildlife), Madhya Pradesh & CCF (Field Director), Kanha Tiger Reserve
• Certificate of Appreciation from CCF & Director, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, rewarded by the Environment Minister, for my valuable contribution in ‘Reducing the Human-Leopard Conflict on the Periphery of SGNP’.
• Athreya, V. R. and Venkatesh, V. eds. 2013. 'Living with Leopards', a Mumbaikars for SGNP Project to address the human-leopard conflict in and around Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
• Karthikeyan, S. and V. Venkatesh. 2014. Darpa pteria Hewitson, 1868 – Snowy Angle. Was part of the team to rediscover a butterfly named ‘Snowy Angle (Darpa pteria)’ from Assam, India after a period of about 114 years and also the first photographic record of the species in India (http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/#!/sp/1066/Darpa-pteria). Was part of the team to rediscover a butterfly named ‘Snowy Angle (Darpa pteria)’ from Assam, India after a period of about 114 years and also the first photographic record of the species in India (http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/#!/sp/1066/Darpa-pteria)
• Vidya Venkatesh. Reporting the occurrence of the Variegated Plushblue Flos adriana (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Theclinae) from Garhwal, Uttarakhand extending its known range. Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26, ): 8829–8830 3