Sushant Palakurthi Rao

Sushant is a German–American dual citizen as well as Overseas Citizen of India and resides in Hamburg, Germany.

He is the Managing Director of Global External Relations at Agility, a global leader and investor in supply chain services and innovation as well as the second largest shareholder in DSV, the world’s third largest logistics company. In this capacity, Sushant oversees group public affairs and supports the Agility board and the CEOs of its subsidiary companies in their business development, strategic initiatives, and partnership development.

Prior to joining Agility, Sushant was the Head of Asia Pacific and a member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum from 2005 to 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. In that role, Sushant led a significant expansion of the World Economic Forum’s engagement with stakeholders from the private sector and governments in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Korea and Australasia, which more than tripled the Forum’s membership base in those regions within three years. He also developed and oversaw the first ever major Forum events in Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Early in his career, Sushant held roles with Accenture (Munich) and Sony Europe (Berlin) in management consulting. In 2017, he also supported the office of the CEO of Hannover Re in regulatory affairs. Today, he acts as a Senior Advisor to the investment company General Capital Group (Munich).

Sushant holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University (cum laude), a Master of Public Affairs from Columbia University (summa cum laude) and a Master of Global Leadership from INSEAD in conjunction with the World Economic Forum. During his undergraduate studies, he completed the one year General Course at the London School of Economics. He is fluent in English and German and can speak conversational French, Korean, and Hindi.

“Forging trust and overcoming physical and mental boundaries are very close to my heart, and all the more, I am deeply honoured to join the board of Seeds of Peace to contribute to the advancement and evolution of its mission.”