Founded in 1957 by Miss H.S. Oliphant, Welham Girls’ School in Dehradun has spent nearly seven decades producing women who lead — in law, medicine, diplomacy, business, the arts, and public life. They are known as Welhamites, and the community they form across generations is one of the most tightly knit alumni networks of any school in India.

The school’s motto, Artha Shanti Phala Vidya, meaning “the aim of education is to bring peace,” runs through the lives of the women it has shaped. What distinguishes Welhamites is not just the height of their achievements but the purposefulness with which they pursue them.

The Welham Girls’ Alumni Association

The Welham Girls’ Alumni Association, known as WGAA, connects Welhamites across generations and geographies. It runs an active mentorship programme, including the Welham Women Real Talk series, through which former students return to campus to speak with current students about their career journeys. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the WGAA spearheaded the WELHAM BREATHE campaign, raising funds for over 50 oxygen concentrators distributed across the Delhi-NCR region.

Notable Welhamites

All alumni listed below are confirmed from the official Welham Girls’ School website.

Law, Civil Services, and Diplomacy

Dr. Swati Dhingra (Batch of 1998) Perhaps the most internationally recognised Welhamite of recent years. Dr. Dhingra was appointed to the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, becoming the first Asian woman to hold this role. An Associate Professor at the London School of Economics, she also serves as a Director of The Royal Mint Museum and sits on the Editorial Board of the Review of Economic Studies.

Warisha Farasat (Batch of 1999) Promoted to Senior Advocate in the Delhi High Court, Farasat is an alumna of Columbia Law School and has been widely published on human rights, freedom of speech, international criminal law, and transitional justice.

Diksha Joshi (Batch of 2013) Cleared the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination and secured 19th All-India rank — one of the school’s most celebrated civil service achievements.

Jyoti Mathur-Filipp Appointed by the United Nations Secretary General as Executive Secretary for the Secretariat leading global negotiations on a new treaty on plastics, bringing 28 years of experience across UNEP, UNDP, UNFCCC, and the Green Climate Fund.

Nandita Kanchan (Batch of 1984) An officer of the Indian Revenue Service (1993 batch), she received the prestigious CBDT Certificate of Excellence from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the 165th anniversary celebrations of the Income Tax Department in 2024.

Business and Corporate Leadership

Devika Bulchandani Appointed Chief Operating Officer at WPP, one of the world’s largest communications companies.

Mahima Kaul (Batch of 2021) Director of Public Policy at Netflix, having previously served as Director of APAC Public Policy at Bumble and held roles at Twitter and the Observer Research Foundation.

Trisha Suri Bangia (Batch of 2006) Featured among the Top 50 Women Leaders of Chicago 2025 by Women We Admire, she serves as Head of Planning and Execution, US Exports at The Kraft Heinz Company.

Medicine and Science

Dr. Gayatri Singh (Batch of 2007) Appointed Assistant Professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Bone Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. She completed her MBBS from AIIMS New Delhi followed by a Fellowship in Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Shreya Rastogi (Batch of 2014) Part of the team that developed India’s first flying taxi prototype, an electrical vertical take-off and landing craft. She studied aerospace engineering at the University of California, Davis and worked at NASA developing nanocomposite materials for spacesuits before returning to build her own company.

Journalism, Arts, and Literature

Gargi Rawat (Batch of 1995) Senior Anchor and Environment Reporter at NDTV 24×7, honoured at the WOT Awards 2025. Over two decades, she has brought stories of wildlife, conservation, and climate to national audiences, and recently released her debut novel Tiger Season.

Sukhmani Sadana Actor, host, and writer who made her debut at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, co-writing the script for R Madhavan’s Rocketry: The Nambi Effect.

Sujata Kulshreshtha (Batch of 1979) Founder of Wide Angle Films. Her documentary India 2050, made in association with Discovery Channel, won Best Documentary, Best Direction, and Best Cinematography at the Asian Academy Creative Awards in Singapore.

Poulomi Chatterjee (Batch of 1994) Promoted to Senior Editor at HarperCollins, overseeing adult publishing imprints including Fourth Estate, Perennial, and Harper Non-Fiction.

Academia and Research

Aditi Bhowmick (Batch of 2012) A Tata Scholar at Cornell and Masters graduate from Princeton, Bhowmick is an incoming PhD Scholar at Harvard Kennedy School in Public Policy. She previously worked as India Director at Development Data Lab.

Praggya Surana (Batch of 2010) Granted one of the limited fully funded positions by the International Law Department of the Graduate Institute of Geneva, an institution whose alumni include former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. She holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School and is an Assistant Professor at OP Jindal Global University.

Vaanya Singh (Batch of 2020) Admitted to the Master of Science in Sustainability Management programme at Columbia University and awarded the Dean’s Fellowship for academic and leadership potential.

What Welham Builds

The breadth of fields represented by Welhamites is not coincidental. It reflects what Welham Girls’ School is designed to produce: women who are intellectually rigorous, personally confident, and committed to making a contribution beyond themselves. From the Bank of England to the United Nations, from NASA to Netflix, Welhamites carry the school’s founding spirit into the work they choose and the mark they leave.

For families considering Welham Girls’ School, the alumni community is perhaps the most honest reflection of what an education there produces. Not a particular career path, but a certain kind of woman.

Preparing your daughter for Welham Girls’ School? At Truemaths, we work with families to develop the reading depth, mathematical reasoning, and communication confidence that the school is genuinely looking for. We would love to be part of your daughter’s journey.