Prof. Chetan Vaman Vaidya is an Architect-Planner with over 30-year experience He is Director of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) New Delhi-An Institution of National Importance under SPA Act, 2014 - from September 20012 and Director (Additional Charge) SPA Bhopal since October 2015. The Government has appointed him as part time Independent Director of Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) from June 2016 for three years. The All India Council of Technical Education has appointed him as Chairman of Planning Education Board. The University of Melbourne has nominated him as Melbourne-Asia Visiting Fellow for 2014-15. He was nominated to Chief Minister Advisory Council of Madhya Pradesh. Member, State Level Strategic Urban Expert Committee set up by Andhra Pradesh State Government. He was Director of National Institute of Urban Affairs supported by Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India during 2008-12. He worked very closely with the Ministry on various urban issues and assisting various city and state governments sharing experiences under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). He coordinated a large number of urban studies for Government of India as well as international organizations. Prior to joining NIUA in February 2008, he was working as Dy. Project Leader, Indo-USAID Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion Program (FIRE) during 1995-2008. Major objective of the program was to develop commercially–viable urban infrastructure projects with focus on urban poor.

Earlier Directors
1. Prof. V.K. Singh
     Director IISER (Additional Charge)
     Oct. 2008 – July 2009
2. Prof. Ajay Khare
     (Founder Director)
     July 2009 – July 2014
3. Prof. V.K. Singh
     Director IISER (Additional Charge)
     Aug 2014 – October 2015
4. Prof. Chetan Vaidya
     Director SPA Delhi (Additional Charge)
     26 October 2015 (Afternoon) - Current