Bhubaneswar: Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) successfully concluded the 8th edition of the Business Excellence Summit (BES) 2026, themed “Building Resilient Businesses – Navigating Risk to Shape A Sustainable Future.” The two-day summit brought together industry leaders, faculty, students and alumni to explore resilience, leadership, technology, ESG, AI and risk management.
The summit commenced with a lamp-lighting ceremony and inaugural address by Dr. Biswa Swarup Misra, followed by the theme address by Dr. Fr. K.S. Casimir, S.J., who emphasised openness, collaboration and the human edge in building resilient organisations. The session also witnessed the launch of Echoes, the BES magazine, and Unnayan, the alumni magazine.
The Day 1 keynote by Sandeep Bagla, CEO, TRUST Mutual Fund, introduced the 4A Framework – Anticipate, Absorb, Adapt and Accelerate, highlighting AI, accountability, digital infrastructure and responsible leadership. Panel discussions on “Leadership – Leading for the Long Run” and “Technology – Build to Bend, Not to Break” featured Srinivas Baratam, Jaydeep Chakraborty, Sushant Dwivedy, Bivas Mishra, Gaurav Chawla and Jayati Dwivedy, focusing on resilient leadership, technological transformation, AI, governance and sustainable value creation.
Day 2 featured a keynote by Himanshu Routray, Director, JLL India and XIMB alumnus, who highlighted embracing uncertainty, risk management, AI, networking, collaboration, continuous upskilling, compliance, quality and ethics in building resilient careers.
The panel on “ESG – Resilience by Design,” moderated by Prof. S.S. Ganesh, featured Priyanka Ghosh, Debasmit Mohanty and Sambitosh Mohapatra, who discussed adaptability, governance, stakeholder management, ESG, technology and sustainability. The final panel, “Risk Management Built for the Bad Day,” moderated by Dr. Ritesh Kumar Dubey, featured Kiran Rana and Chittaranjan Mohanty, focusing on risk assessment, AI, technological disruption, adaptability and human judgement.
Interactive Q&A sessions across both days enabled students to engage with speakers on AI, innovation, entrepreneurship, ethics, career choices, ESG, uncertainty and risk management. The summit concluded with the felicitation of the dignitaries, reinforcing BES 2026’s focus on building adaptable, responsible and resilient organisations for an uncertain future.
