Mehnaz Ansari
United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)
Senior Regional Representative - South Asia, Indo-Pacific Region
Ms. Mehnaz Ansari is the Senior Regional Representative - South Asia for United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), based at the US Embassy in New Delhi. She is responsible for managing USTDA's South Asia office and supports USTDA activities in advancing US government's development priorities, US industry trade interest and US government foreign policy objectives. Mehnaz is responsible for expanding the USTDA portfolio for South Asia including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Besides advancing agencies priority projects in Civil Aviation and Clean Energy, Mehnaz has been instrumental in introducing new sectors in the region with projects in Rail, Ports, Inland Waterways, Smart Cities, Oil and Gas, Healthcare, Digital, Executive Education, Financial Services, and Public Procurement training through agency's Global Procurement Initiative by collaborating with South Asian countries. She leads the agency's discussion on Global Partnership on Climate Change launched by President Biden in 2021 with India and recently helped launch US-India Climate Technology Action Group working with India's Private Sector. She works with various multilaterals such as the World Bank to ensure implementation of the projects is defines. She leads US Mission in India's activities on Smart Cities in collaboration with Government of India. She leads USTDA's Virtual Business Engagement group and is a member of Global ICT Sector Team. A sought-after speaker on various infrastructure subjects and a mentor to many academic and competitive sessions organized globally at various platforms, Mehnaz has been a recipient of multiple USG Mission and Industry awards. She is a member of US Mission's Gender Empowerment Committee and life member of Women in Aviation-India Chapter and The Rotary Wing Society of India. Mehnaz's expertise and experience goes beyond her work at the USTDA and translates into her work with the community. She is the managing trustee of a charitable foundation for support of deprived sections of society. She was appreciated by UN Women in New York in 2017 for her pioneering work in including Women safety in Indian Smart Cities. Most recently, she was the member of US Ambassador's Mission India's Response to Disaster relief while working with US Private Sector to gather assistance for Covid Impacted Indians. Mehnaz holds an MBA in International Business and a Bachelors of Zoology (Honors) from the Delhi University. She has has an Advanced Management Development Training from The Wharton School and a Post Graduate Diploma in Leadership from Emeritus (MIT's Sloan School of Management, Columbia Business School, and the Tuck School of Business).
Sessions With Mehnaz Ansari
Friday, 22 October
Innovation Agora
Supply Chains for Low-carbon Deployment in India
The Covid-19 pandemic showed the weakness of geographically concentrated supply chains. The post-pandemic recovery offers an opportunity for India to build capacity to deliver the clean energy supply chains of the future. Future growth in deployment of renewables, CCUS, storage, and hydrogen bring together the domestic ambition of Make in India with the global quest for sustainable, resilient, and clean energy. What are the critical elements needed to establish supply chains for low-carbon deployment in India? What are India's natural advantages to build resilient low-carbon supply chains? What are the barriers that need to be addressed to attract investment into low-carbon supply chains in India? What best practices, in India and globally, can be applied to build the future clean energy supply chains?
Gauri Jauhar
Chris Shelton
Mike Train