Thought Leader
In 2012, Mandar influenced Shell’s CEO to start Shell’s GameChanger social innovation program, which would invest in innovative solutions to sustainability challenges (SDG’s) and create both social impact and business returns. Through the portfolio of investments that he made through this impact investment fund, Mandar showcased how global brands, like Shell, can and must play a greater role (beyond just CSR & philanthropy) to enable and scale social impact.
In 2016, Mandar joined George Mason University as a Visiting Scholar at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. He created the Business for Peace Innovation Lab, through which he provided innovation consulting to SDG16 (Peace & Security) and helped organizations to invest in peace.
Leadership & Meditation Coach
While at Shell, in 2012, Mandar also won the League of Intrapreneurs award for his efforts to design and facilitate an innovation learning program to over 2000 colleagues at Shell using meditation techniques.
For nearly two decades, Mandar has volunteered his time for the Art of Living Foundation and the International Association for Human Values to teach leadership development programs using meditation techniques to thousands of people across the world. Mandar is the Founder & Executive Director of Cities4Peace – a not-for-profit consultancy that actively promotes peace in cities worldwide. The flagship program was held in Los Angeles, where so far over 250 community members including LAPD officers, former gang members and victims/survivors of violence have been trained by Mandar as Ambassadors of Peace. Similar programs are now being offered in many other cities and communities worldwide.
Documentary Filmmaker & Social Activism
In 2017, Mandar produced & directed a documentary film, From India with Love – that showcases the transformational experience of victims of violence from across America who embarked on a journey to India. The film was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who had also visited India to study nonviolence in 1959.
The film was premiered by the Los Angeles Police Department at Paramount Studios and is now available on Amazon Prime in the US and in the UK.
In 2018, the film was converted into an educational module (Be The Change) in collaboration with the Association for School Superintendents (AASA). This module has been used as a resource by educators from across America to promote peace education in schools.
In 2018, Mandar hosted the inaugural World Summit on Countering Violence & Extremism that brought together law enforcement officers and peace activists from US and India to brainstorm novel solutions to promote peace.