Hitesh Vaidya has more than 20 years of broad-based urban development policy, project formulation, implementation and program management experience on mainly UN, World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) assignments. The areas he has been associated are urban development, urban governance and urban Infrastructure management. Poverty Alleviation has been an integral component in all the projects. Prior to joining as Director of National Institute of Urban Affairs, he was the Country Representative of UN-Habitat in India. He was part of team supporting in designing and rolling out national urban flagship missions (Smart Cities and Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Transformation) in India. His strengths are his interpersonal skills and the ability to respond to demanding situations by mobilizing the required skills and strengths of others to complement his own.