# Executive Board

> Meet the 1stepGrow executive board and editorial team: the people who set editorial direction and standards and the verified writers behind every article.

- **Last updated:** Sep 11, 2026
- **Canonical URL:** https://www.1stepgrow.com/executive-board/

## At a glance

- The executive board sets 1stepGrow's editorial direction and standards and oversees corrections and recognition lists.
- Ravi Pradhan also writes for 1stepGrow under his own byline.
- Every article is written by a named writer whose profile links to their LinkedIn.
- Concerns about our coverage can be raised with the board at contacts@1stepgrow.com.

1stepGrow's executive board is responsible for the publication's editorial direction and its standards. It is accountable for how our [editorial policy](https://www.1stepgrow.com/editorial-policy/), [correction policy](https://www.1stepgrow.com/correction-policy/) and [AI content policy](https://www.1stepgrow.com/ai-content-policy/) are applied, and it chairs the jury for [25 Tech Leaders](https://www.1stepgrow.com/25-tech-leaders/) and [30 Under 30](https://www.1stepgrow.com/30-under-30/).

## Board

- **Ravi Pradhan** — AI Expert - 11+ Yrs Experience. AI and data specialist with more than eleven years across EdTech, financial services and technology, and an IBM Certified Data Scientist. (https://www.1stepgrow.com/authors/ravi-pradhan/)
## What the board does

- Sets editorial priorities across news, comparisons, roadmaps and guides.
- Owns our published standards and reviews them as the site grows.
- Reviews escalated correction requests and complaints about coverage.
- Approves the criteria and final selections for our recognition lists.
- Keeps commercial decisions separate from independent editorial judgement.

Ravi Pradhan also writes for 1stepGrow under his own byline, from course comparisons to guides and technical articles. Board members declare any conflict of interest on matters they review.

## Editorial team

Articles are written by named, verified writers — working engineers, data and cloud specialists and content strategists. Each profile lists the writer's role and links to their LinkedIn so readers can check the experience behind the advice. See all [writers and their articles](https://www.1stepgrow.com/authors/).

- **Althaf Ashraf** — AI Systems Engineer, Tata Consultancy Services. AI systems engineer working on agentic decision systems and retrieval architectures at TCS, with a focus on getting AI into real workflows rather than demos. (https://www.1stepgrow.com/authors/althaf-ashraf/)
- **Ayushi Kulshreshta** — AI Engineer. AI engineer building retrieval-augmented systems, previously a software developer at VDB Inc. and an R&D associate at Nokia. (https://www.1stepgrow.com/authors/ayushi-kulshreshta/)
- **Vanshika Nigam** — ETL & Data Engineer, Accenture. ETL developer at Accenture working with Informatica, Snowflake and DBT, specialising in data mapping, cleansing and pipeline performance. (https://www.1stepgrow.com/authors/vanshika-nigam/)
- **Sivaranjani S** — Cloud Operations Engineer, Zoho. Cloud operations engineer and technical writer at Zoho, previously technical content consultant at 1stepGrow Academy. (https://www.1stepgrow.com/authors/sivaranjani-s/)
- **Nishant Kiran** — B2B SaaS & EdTech Content Strategist. Content writer and copy editor with seven years across EdTech, FinTech and B2B technology. Formerly led content marketing at 1stepGrow Academy. (https://www.1stepgrow.com/authors/nishant-kiran/)
## Raise a concern

To raise a concern about our coverage with the board, email [contacts@1stepgrow.com](mailto:contacts@1stepgrow.com) with the subject line "For the executive board", or use our [contact form](https://www.1stepgrow.com/contact-us/).