Vedant Jhaver

CEO, Prodapt & Group President, Jhaver Group

Vedant is the Founder and CEO of Prodapt. He is also the Group President and a member of the Board of Directors of the Jhaver Group of Companies. Vedant leads the group’s information technology, agricultural inputs, and apparel accessories lines of businesses.

The Jhaver Group is a 120-year-old conglomerate of companies with business in healthcare, agricultural inputs, information technology, infrastructure, and apparel accessories. The group employs over 18,000 people across 64+ offices globally. Vedant started the technology businesses of the group, including Prodapt Solutions and Datamark Prodapt BPO. Earlier, he managed Jhaver Group’s internal technology division based in Chennai. Prior to his current role in the Jhaver Group, Vedant worked at Sapient Corporation in San Francisco.

Vedant holds a Master’s in Computer Science Engineering and Business Management from Cornell University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Madras. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Madras Management Association (MMA) and NASSCOM.

Gary Heffernan

Gary launched his vehicle Xcelerate in January 2020, a venture that provides advisory services to international CEOs. The focus is on helping companies to drive exponential growth in digital-related services.
Prior to Xcelerate, Gary was Senior Managing Director of Accenture and spearheaded many of its early large-scale outsourcing deals in BP, LSE, & BT. In this role, he led Accenture’s Communications, Media & Technology (CMT) operating unit in Europe, Latin America, Middle East & Africa and was a member of the CMT Global Leadership Committee. His functional expertise spans across CMT P&L account, covering strategy, consulting, technology, operations & digital businesses.

Gary is based in Paris. He is an ardent sports lover and has been a writer, speaker, and facilitator at key industry events including Mobile World Congress. He currently serves as a Trustee of Street Child, which funds and delivers education for children in 12 African and Asian countries. He holds a BSC degree in Technology & Business Studies from Strathclyde University and a professional degree from the Institute of Internal Cost & Management Accountants (ICMA).

Rajani Seshadri

Founder Director at indePenn Connections Pvt Ltd

Ms. Rajani Seshadri brings varied experience spanning more than three decades in leadership coaching, growing and building IT services for Global Telecom; identifying, mentoring, and deploying talent, strategy creation & execution to build & grow profitable businesses.

Rajani has extensive experience in the Telecom industry. As Head of Telecom Delivery at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), she has led business development, growth, and profitability with 3000 people in 45 global locations and has added several new large global telecom accounts.

Apart from possessing wide-ranging experience in business development, Rajani is also accredited as a Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coach and a CEO Coach by Coaching Foundation India. As an executive coach, she has coached over 60 senior business leaders in developing winning attributes like communication, delegation, decision-making, collaboration, and expanding their networks with a focus on execution.

Rajani has been an invited speaker at various conferences and has been featured in “Women in IT” lists for nurturing inclusiveness and championing gender diversity in workplaces. Her latest endeavor, “indePenn Connections” brings educated and experienced women who have taken a career break back into the workforce.”

Subhash Dhar

Co-founder & CEO of Commence Mint Ventures

Subhash is the co-founder & CEO of Commence Mint Ventures, a firm focused on developing early-stage Indian start-ups seeking global markets. In this role, he is a mentor and advisor to companies on go-to-market strategies and transforming disruptive tech ideas into global businesses.

Earlier in his career, Subhash was Senior Vice President and Corporate Head of Sales & Marketing at Infosys Ltd., a leading global consulting firm where he worked for 15 years. He was also head of their business unit focused on Communications, Media & Entertainment industries. He is a seasoned leader with a proven track record in building a billion-dollar global business.

Subhash holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. He also served on IIMB’s Board of Governors from 2009-2016. He earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Birla Institute of Technology Mesra, India. The World Economic Forum selected Subhash to its prestigious group of Young Global Leaders, where he works with some of the world’s top leaders across the professional spectrum on multiple global initiatives. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA.

Harsha Kumar

President

Harsha focuses his time helping leading digital service providers (DSPs) transform their IT, products, operations, and networks to meet their strategic objectives. He has significant experience applying process improvement and a variety of automation approaches such as business process management (BPM) and robotic process automation (RPA) to dramatically improve revenue realization, customer experience, productivity, and efficiencies. Key clients include Liberty Global, AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, TELUS, Windstream, DT/T-Mobile, KPN, and Liberty Latin America / Cable & Wireless. As President, Harsha is responsible for the company’s P&L and all business functions including sales, client delight/delivery, account management, core capability and sharp solution development, analyst/advisor relations, and marketing.

Prior to Prodapt, Harsha played several senior leadership roles to establish and grow Virtusa into a leading IT consulting, transformation and outsourcing provider. He started and led Virtusa’s businesses in the Telecom & Media, Information and Entertainment, Insurance, Healthcare, and Technology industries. Prior to Virtusa, Harsha co-founded EC Cubed and served as its CTO.

Earlier in his career, he worked with Bellcore and Hughes Network Systems. Harsha holds an MS from the University of Maryland, and a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He is the author of the book “Enterprise E-Commerce” which is being used as a text at many leading US universities.  He is based at Prodapt’s office in New York.

Rajesh Rathod

Chief Technology Officer

As the Chief Technology Officer, Rajesh Rathod assists the CEO & the Board in building strategic growth drivers focused on next-generation technology and capability development. Rajesh is also responsible for scaling Prodapt labs, building next-gen technology offerings and IP frameworks to boost future growth, in addition to driving the M&A technology strategy. As part of the role, he also oversees the learning & development function to prepare Prodaptians for the next phase of growth.

Prior to Prodapt he was the Centre-head of Telcordia India Laboratories based in Chennai. He was then responsible for building and developing the Engineering Delivery Centre for Telcordia that specialized in the intelligent network domain. Earlier, Rajesh was with Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), in its Switching R&D Division. In ITI, he worked for 9 years in core R&D activities – designing and developing hardware and software for Telephony and Packet Data Communication Systems. Subsequently, he joined Future Software (now Aricent) based in Chennai, where he held various positions culminating as the Centre Head of the organization. As the Centre Head, he was responsible for all the engineering and delivery functions, and the daily operations of the Centre.

Rajesh Rathod completed his B. Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and his Master’s in Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Outside his professional engagements, Rajesh is an active member of Shri Ram Chandra Mission, a spiritual organization, where he volunteers for several initiatives.

Ramanathan J

Chief Financial Officer

Ram is a senior executive with about two decades of rich and diversified experience in the IT/ITES industry, in the areas of taxation, business reporting, budgeting, mergers & acquisitions, capital budgeting, and working capital management. Ram is responsible for the entire financial operations of Prodapt globally – including financial & business planning and reporting, global accounting, taxation, compliance, banking, and de-risking. The finance and operations teams including administration, travel, purchase, and legal functions report to Ram.

During his tenure, Ram played critical roles in the successful deployment of full-fledged real-time ERP systems for multi-geography/multi-currency companies with subsidiaries and managed the setup and running of complex multi-country financial systems and processes. Ram has experience building strong financial systems around the adoption of several complex financial and reporting standards for publicly listed companies and the compliance of various statutes. In addition, he worked with business leaders in chartering the successful growth of the company without compromising the financial diligence and cost focus.

In addition to his Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Ram is a qualified Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary, and a Cost Accountant.

Sandip Mishra

Chief People Officer

As Chief People Officer, Sandip Mishra leads Prodapt’s human resources function globally. As part of his role, Sandip is responsible for the overall roadmap for HR, people strategy, talent acquisition, talent engagement, and learning & development initiatives across Prodapt.

Prior to Prodapt, Sandip was heading HR for the Biologics division at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. He has a rich 22 years of experience in HR, working with the pharmaceutical and technology industries. His previous experiences include leadership roles at Novartis, Oracle, Intergraph Consulting, and LearningByte. Sandip has been instrumental in leading the organization-wide capability development, designing & deploying robust talent management strategies to ensure operational excellence, and taking organizations on the journey of cultural transformation and growth.

Sandip completed his graduation in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, India, and post-graduation diploma in Management, HR & Marketing from Goa Institute of Management.

Sandip is an avid reader, enjoys wildlife photography, traveling and contributing to society.

J K Jhaver

Co-Chair of Jhaver Group

JK Jhaver holds key positions in several companies managed by him. He is also a member of the Central Board of the Jhaver Group, a 120-year-old business conglomerate with several business units, including Healthcare, Agricultural Chemicals, Information Technology, Industrial Infrastructure, and Apparel Accessories based in Chennai. The group employs over 13,000 people across 60+ offices in India and internationally.

JK has been actively involved in starting new businesses, developing technologies, and managing all aspects of the business for 30 years. In the New World economy, JK’s main focus is shifting towards Technology, Global networking & business strategy. He has interests in Indian philosophy & value systems, community service, etc. At Prodapt, he helps to set strategic direction and add significant value in creating and growing a business in India and global wide.

He is a member of the World Presidents Organization, the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Madras Management Association. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Madras

Abhinav Dhall

Executive Director at Affirma Capital

Abhinav Dhall is an Executive Director at Affirma Capital (formerly called Standard Chartered Private Equity), where he is responsible for investments in Technology, Internet, Consumer, Healthcare, Energy, and Logistics.
Abhinav brings in 20+ years of global experience across the US and India in the fields of investing, strategy consulting, and operations. Prior to Affirma Capital, Abhinav worked with Multiples Private Equity. Abhinav has been involved with investments in many of the industry-leading players such as Delhivery (e-commerce logistics), Arvind Ltd. (consumer-branded apparel), Redington (technology products distribution), Sterlite Power Grid Ventures (power transmission). Abhinav was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in New York and has also worked as a Product Manager at an enterprise software company called Vizional Technologies in California.

Abhinav received his MBA from Harvard Business School, MS from UCLA (Operations Research), and BS from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai.