Mr. Krishnakumar Natarajan | President & CEO | MindTree
Krishnakumar Natarajan (KK) is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MindTree. In this capacity, he has the overall responsibility of both the IT Services and the R&D services businesses of the organization.
Until recently, KK served as President & CEO – IT Services for MindTree. One of co- founders, KK is responsible for taking the company’s IT Services to a global leadership position.
In the early years of MindTree, KK moved to the U.S. to launch its operations in the region and was instrumental in acquiring some of the early customers for the organization. He then drove MindTree’s expansion into Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Australia. As a result of his leadership, MindTree has added several Fortune 500 companies to its client list and has now grown to make a guidance of $186 million business for 2007-08.
Prior to co-founding MindTree, KK was Chief Executive of the Electronic Commerce & Financial Solutions Division at Wipro, and held several other key positions in the same organization from 1982 until 1999. During the growth phase of Wipro’s software business, KK started and grew the e-commerce division of Wipro, developing a team of 300 people and generating $30 million in revenues annually. Earlier , while serving as Group Vice President of human resources, KK increased the number of employees in Wipro’s software services business from 800 to over 4,000 people.
KK has been elected to the Executive Council of NASSCOM for three consecutive terms and works towards strengthening India’s position in IT through key strategic global initiatives. At NASSCOM, he also chairs the ‘Emerging Companies’ Forum , helping the Indian IT Industry build a globally competitive ecosystem comprising of both large and emerging companies.
KK is also an active member of professional industry organizations such as the Manufacturer’s Association for Information Technology and the Confederation of Indian Industry. He is a regular speaker/faculty at reputed conferences and management schools worldwide.
KK earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering, Madras, India, and a Master’s in Business Administration majoring in marketing and systems from the Xavier Institute, Jamshedpur, India. Golf and travel rank high among his interests.
Mr. Puneet Shivam | Executive Director | Avendus Capital
Puneet, based in New York,heads the US business for Avendus across products and sectors.
Prior to Avendus,Puneet was the Head of Management Consulting at EXL/Inductis (New York) and led the global P&L for the consulting business comprising of 80+ strategy consultants. His areas of specialty include financial services, strategy and international business where he has led over 40 engagements creating over a billion dollar of bottom-line impact for Fortune 500 clients.As a Board member and a leader from the early stages at Inductis, he built Inductis’consulting practice into a highly regarded brand in the US and was instrumental in its merger with EXL. Post merger he was also a member of Advisory Council for EXL/Inductis which subsequently went public in 2006.
Prior to Inductis, Puneet has worked with international business advisory practice of Arthur Andersen, financial services & strategy practices of Mitchell Madison Group (New York)and in equity research at Morgan Stanley (Mumbai).
Puneet is also one of the pioneers for the BPO industry having advised a number of Fortune 500 clients from early days of globalization of operations in 1999, leading to the establishment of one of the largest financial services operations in Philippines and India.He has been a speaker on issues of globalization at a number of international conferences and panels in US and Europe. He also led the India investments initiative for Inductis focusing on investing in emerging high value business services.
Puneet holds an MBA,IIM Ahmedabad, a Masters in Engineering Management,IIT Kanpur and a BS (EE), IIT Kanpur.