Before returning to Karnataka, Mangal Shetty was a first-generation technology entrepreneur who co-founded several ventures, including CATS, Elind and MarketsNext, providing technology platforms to stock exchanges, banks and brokerage houses. Elind's clients included the National Stock Exchange of India, Markets Inc. (Canada) and Euro TLX (Italy); the company raised venture funding from Intel Capital before its acquisition by Headstrong Corporation, USA. He has since advised NASDAQ, Genpact and Capgemini, and is a member of the BMW Foundation's Responsible Leaders network.

He founded Panchabhuta Conservation Foundation in 2012, directing its early assessments of natural capital in the Aghanashini estuary. PCF's advocacy and research work in the region has been associated with the estuary's Ramsar designation and with opposition to industrial and infrastructure projects considered harmful to the ecosystem. He advises the Karnataka Tourism Department on coastal tourism policy, and in 2017 founded Biogen Wellness, a startup studio for nature-based businesses that now operates Panchabhuta Retreat.

Suptha (Ambika) Shetty co-founded Panchabhuta Conservation Foundation with Mangal Shetty and is a Director of the Foundation. Her experience centres on drawing value from nature and from the agricultural and community knowledge of the Aghanashini region — a background in culinary heritage has made her a skilled culinary practitioner, and she has separately developed expertise in ingredient selection for natural-cosmetics formulation. She serves as Project Director for Biogen Wellness's upcoming retreat, Kirubeli Cove, and at Panchabhuta Retreat has shaped the guest experience and leads A&KA, the property's restaurant, introducing heirloom recipes from her Bunt community alongside a mindful-cooking approach that minimises kitchen waste and plastic use. She is also a co-founder of Panchabhuta Natural Cosmetics, a skincare venture developed with cosmetics specialists from Brazil and Mumbai.

Panchabhuta Retreat and A&KA, which Ambika has shaped hands-on, are cited within PCF as working examples of community-rooted, nature-linked enterprise. She is expected to play a central role in what the Foundation calls its “Panchabhuta 2.0” journey — mentoring local entrepreneurs and community enterprises to bring further nature-linked products and services to market. Alongside Mangal Shetty, she also participates in government-facing initiatives on responsible and coastal tourism development in Karnataka.

Satya S. Tripathi is a development economist and lawyer with over 40 years of experience across international development, environmental governance and public-private finance. He served with the United Nations for more than two decades, most recently as UN Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of UN Environment, and as Secretary of the UN Environment Management Group. His earlier UN roles included Head of Human Rights Investigations in post-war Bosnia, UN Recovery Coordinator for Aceh and Nias — where he helped coordinate international funding of over US$7 billion for post-tsunami recovery — and Executive Head of UNORCID, the UN office set up to implement a US$1 billion REDD+ partnership between Indonesia and Norway. He was instrumental in establishing the Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (2016) and the Sustainable India Finance Facility (2017), and is an alumnus of the London School of Economics.

Mr. Tripathi currently serves as Secretary-General of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet, sits on the Global Steering Group of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative, and is a Trustee at Water Unite. His background in international environmental governance and sustainable-finance mechanisms connects PCF's local ecosystem work in the Aghanashini estuary to wider policy and financing networks.