Board of governors
Mr. Brij Kumar Agarwal is the President of the society. He is a 1985 batch IAS officer and serving as the Principal Resident Commissioner of the State of Himachal Pradesh in Delhi. He also holds a post graduate degree in civil engineering from IIT Delhi. Mr. Agarwal developed an affinity for Kangra paintings during his three tenures in the Kangra district as an Additional Deputy Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and Divisional Commissioner.
Dr. Akshai Runchal is an internationally acknowledged expert in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) – a branch of Computer Simulation and Virtual Reality. He obtained his engineering degree from PEC, Chandigarh and his Ph.D. from Imperial College, London. He has taught at IIT Kanpur, Imperial College, London and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is Founder & CEO of ACRI – a company that is renowned for its CFD and Virtual Reality Software that is used for Engineering Design and Environmental Management.
Dr. Runchal has deep roots in Himachal and takes a keen and abiding interest in issues related to Dharamsala and Himachal and is looking forward to opening an International Institute in Virtual Reality for Engineering and Environment in Himachal and contributing to the flourishing of Arts and Sciences in the state.
His interest in Kangra Paintings was awakened by interactions with Mr. B.K. Aggarwal and Mr. B. Khera who brought to his attention the rather neglected state of the art and the artists of Kangra Miniature Paintings. He is an active member of KAPS and is looking forward to contributing to his fullest to revive this art form and cultural heritage of Himachal and that of India.
Mr. Bharat Khera is a 95 batch IAS officer working with the Himachal Pradesh state government. He developed keen interest in Kangra paintings during his stint as a Deputy Commissioner of District Kangra. This is when he played an important role in setting up of KAPS. Mr Khera was awarded the Gurukul Chevening Scholarship for Leadership and Excellence by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, United Kingdom at the London School of Economics & Political Science in 2009. He was has recently been selected for the Hubert H. Humphrey Programme (Fulbright Scholarship) of the United States Government for 2011-2012.
Mr. Varun Rattan Singh has been a member of KAPS since 2008 and represents the society as its Secretary. After having completed his MBA from Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), Varun decided to move back to Himachal and work towards creating livelihood opportunities for the less privileged citizens of the state. He is the Founder of HimVani.com, a widely read news portal about Himachal and Founder & COO of Development Logics, an IT services company in Dharamshala. Varun is also the Founding Curator for the Dharamshala hub of Global Shapers community run by the World Economic Forum.
He manages the day to day operations of KAPS, helps in running the painting school and leads the marketing efforts for promoting Kangra miniature art.