Dinesh Balam is currently serving as the Head of Food Systems, AI at the BIPP, ISB. He has over 16 years of strategic experience, with 5 years across Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East at CITI Bank. In social sector, He is most recognized for his pioneering and leading role in the Odisha Millets Mission, Integrated Farming Mission, Forgotten Foods & Neglected Crops Mission. In addition, he has supported National Government and has been involved in various capacities with more than 12 state governments, 5 UN organizations (including FAO, WFP, and UN Women), 10 premier research agencies(Columbia University, Cambridge, IRRI, ICRISAT, etc) and more than 20 government departments.
He is a member of various technical and drafting committees for the Government of Odisha (Revival of Millets, Integrated Farming, Organic Farming Policy, Rainfed Agriculture Mission, Crop diversification Mission, Revival of neglected crops and forgotten foods, women centric ergonomic machinery, revival of traditional seeds, etc) and NITI Aayog where he continues to contribute to agriculture policy development. He was part of the team which developed Global Manifesto on Forgotten Foods. He also serves as External Advisor to Global Forum on Agriculture Innovation Research.
