Gaurav Keerthi during the recording of a Channel NewsAsia programme at MediaCorp, Singapore - 20141219

Gaurav Keerthi (born 2 April 1979, in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

) is a Brigadier General in the

Republic of Singapore Air Force The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) is the Aerial warfare, aerial Military branch, service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for Air supremacy, controlling and defending the airspace of the country, and providing air ...

(RSAF) who is also a TV personality and author in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and is the founder of dialectic.sg, an online commenting platform based in Singapore.

Early life and education

Gaurav was born in India, and grew up in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, before his family moved to Singapore when he was aged ten. He later took up Singapore citizenship. He was educated St. Andrews Secondary School before studying at

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...

and

Raffles Junior College The Raffles Junior College (RJC) was a junior college in Singapore offering pre-university education. The college was founded in 1982, following a separation from the pre-university section of Raffles Institution (RI). Raffles Junior College ...

in Singapore, before going on to Stanford University in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

where he completed a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

on a

Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship The SAF Scholarship, formerly known as the SAF Overseas Scholarship (SAFOS), is a scholarship conferred by the Public Service Commission (PSC). The scholarship is second in prestige to the President's Scholarship. Scholars are groomed for the hi ...

. After returning to Singapore, he became a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribut ...

pilot in the RSAF. He subsequently completed a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

from the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public a ...

in 2014.

Biography

In 2008, Gaurav served as one of the permanent judges on season 2 of the show ''

The Arena An arena is an enclosed area that showcases theatre, musical performances or sporting events. Arena, ARENA, or the Arena may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions * Arena, Saskatchewan, Canada * Arena, Iran * Arena, Calabria, Italy * La A ...

'', which was broadcast on

Mediacorp Channel 5 Channel 5 (Chinese: 五頻道) is a free-to-air, English-language television channel in Singapore. Owned by state broadcaster Mediacorp, it broadcasts general entertainment, news, and sports programming. The channel's logo is a big white number ...

. He also appeared as a guest judge for one of the semi-finals of Season 1 of the show in 2007. In 2012, he served as the host and moderator for Season 2 of the debate show ''Bridging Asia: The Singapore Debates'', broadcast on

Channel NewsAsia CNA (stylised as cna), which is an acronym derived from its previous name, Channel NewsAsia, is a Singaporean multinational news channel owned by the country's national public broadcaster Mediacorp. It broadcasts free-to-air domestically in S ...

. Gaurav served as the President of Debate Association Singapore from 2006 to 2010, having previously served as the organisation's Vice-President from 2005 to 2006. In 2011, he published a book about debating entitled ''Think, Speak, Win: Discover the Art of Debate''. In 2019, Gaurav co-founded a community called better.sg, a non-profit targeted at bringing together busy talents from both technical and non-technical backgrounds to build innovative digital tools to address societal problems. Gaurav acts as the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

for this organization.

Bibliography

References

External links

''Think, Speak, Win'' book websitedialectic.sg website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keerthi, Gaurav 1979 births Living people Raffles Institution alumni Raffles Junior College alumni Republic of Singapore Air Force personnel Singaporean television personalities Stanford University alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Indian emigrants to Singapore Helicopter pilots