SPEAKER PROFILES

Pradeep Gupta
Chairman, CyberMedia Group and Managing Director, IDC (India) Ltd.

Pradeep Gupta is the Chairman of the CyberMedia Group, South Asia's first and largest specialty media house, with 15 publications, 12 websites, 100+ events and TV programming in the infotech, telecom, consumer electronics & biotech areas. CyberMedia’s brands include Dataquest, PCQuest, Voice&Data, BioSpectrum and Global Services. The group's media services include market research (IDC India), job board (CyberMedia Careers), content outsourcing & distribution (CyberMedia Services). CyberMedia is a public company. Pradeep is also an Angel investor.

Pradeep is the ex-chairman of PanIIT India; member of the IIT Delhi Advisory Council; founder director, Band of Angels; board member of TiE, Delhi; secretary, Association of Indian Magazines; chairman, IT Task Force, PHD Chamber of Commerce; member, executive committee of Indian Newspaper Society (INS); and director, Kaleidoscope Entertainment.

He is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni award of IIT Delhi and the Helen Keller award for working in the disability sector.

Pradeep is an Engineer from IIT Delhi (1975) and an MBA from IIM Calcutta (1977).

Ajai Chowdhry
Founder - HCL, Chairman & CEO - HCL Infosystems

An engineer by training, Ajai Chowdhry is one of the six founder members of HCL, India’s leading Technology and IT Enterprise. HCL, India’s original IT garage start-up founded in 1976, is today a US$ 4.7 billion Global Enterprise.

Ajai took over the reins of HCL Infosystems, the flagship company of the group, as President and CEO in 1994. He was appointed the Chairman of HCL Infosystems in November 1999. Under Ajai’s stewardship, the company’s turnover has grown to US$ 3.1 billion for the last 12 months from US$ 89 Million in 1994. Employing ~5700 people, it has emerged as the country’s information-enabling powerhouse.

Ajai has been a key force in driving the growth of HCL Infosystems. The credit of setting up HCL's overseas operations, starting with Singapore in 1980 goes to him. During this tenure he extensively covered South Asian Markets including Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the People's Republic of China, expanding business operations, which paved the way towards enhancing HCL's core competencies in bringing the best international technologies to the domestic market.

Driving the thrust on IT, Telecom and Imaging, Ajai perceives the role of his company as that of enabling information. Credited with providing momentum to key IT phenomena - within the company as well as in the industry - he has constantly added newer and cutting edge technology skills to the company's portfolio. Under his leadership, several new projects have been undertaken in the company that have had a lasting impact including – pioneering HCL into digital lifestyle by getting into IT retail, building technology capability for convergence at the time when convergence of IT was merely a slogan, spearheading the company wide Quality movement and driving a vision of “IT for the masses” are some examples. A great believer in manufacturing potential of India, Ajai has relentlessly advocated the cause of manufacturing in India to many non-Indian MNCs, Industry bodies and Government. An absolute stickler for customer focus, he himself spends significant time personally listening to customers.

Ajai sensed an emerging opportunity early in the telecom and imaging domain and today HCL Infosystems is poised to exploit this opportunity to offer a richer bouquet of technology products to its customers.

It is recognition of stature and his visionary ability that Ajai was invited to be part of the IT Hardware Task Force set up by the Prime Minister of India, to give shape to the country's IT strategy. Ajai has tirelessly championed the cause of improving PC penetration in the country. He has worked closely with many Government bodies to take the ‘IT for the masses’ agenda forward and is on several government committees to take forward the course of IT and Hardware in India. Ajai has recently been invited to Chair the Confederation of Indian Industry’s National Committee for IT, ITES & E-Commerce, where he is striving to up the deployment of IT in Indian SMEs to increase their productivity and to make them globally competitive.

In cognizance of his contribution in championing the cause of the domestic Indian IT market, Ajai has recently been conferred the DATAQUEST ‘IT Man of the Year 2007’ Award. Ajai has earlier been awarded the 'IT Man of the Year' title by The Skoch Consultancy and 'Best IT Man of the Year' by The Foundation of Indian Industry and Economists. He has also received ‘Corporate Ratna - IT Industry of the Millennium’ Award by Wisitek Foundation and ‘Electronics Man of the Year - 2006’ Award by EFY for his pivotal role in HCL’s breakthrough innovations.

Ajai has a bachelor's degree in electronics and communication engineering, and attended the Executive Program at the School of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, US.

His pride and passion for his country very well reflects in the creation of HCL MindiaTM, a forum to salute the prowess of Indian Mind. His affection for music is well known and has lead to the birth of HCL Concert Series. Ajai is an avid reader and is fond of Jazz and the fine arts. He and his wife Kunkun live in New Delhi. 

Pallab has close to 20 years of experience in the IT Industry and has served in various sales & marketing positions both in India as well as in Asia Pacific region.

Cort Isernhagen
Vice President, Industry Insights Asia/Pacific

As Vice President for IDC's Asia/Pacific Industry Insights, Cort Isernhagen is responsible for the overall management and research services of the Financial, Manufacturing, Government, Health, and Energy industry sectors in Asia/Pacific. Based in Singapore, he leads IDC's "Insights" business units in Asia/Pacific whose dedicated analyst teams provide guidance on industry-specific technology and business process issues facing corporate leaders in these industries.

Prior to this role, Cort was Vice President of Marketing & Business Operations for IDC's Vertical Market business units and New Ventures group. In this role, he ensured that research products in each portfolio fit the needs of the target market, and assessed the market demand for new products. He managed the marketing groups for these businesses, established operational and financial objectives, and provided general management for all units in the portfolio. 

Before assuming this role, Cort held the position of Vice President for IDC's Interactive Products and Services. He was responsible for the development, communication, and implementation of an interactive products strategy for IDC. This included the delivery of research and information to customers and prospects via the Web, Lotus Notes, and Intranet products, management of IDC's company web sites, and technical customer support teams.

Cort has also previously held the post of Regional Marketing Director for IDC's Asia/Pacific operations. Under his direction, marketing and business development activities were coordinated for the first time through all countries in the region. He launched IDC's regional events and conferences business in Asia/Pacific where he created and branded several multi-country sponsored events. 

Prior to joining IDC, he also has held the position of General Manager and led online marketing consultants for the business solutions division of Chinadotcom, based in Singapore. He was also Associate Director at IDG Asia/Pacific based in San Mateo, California.

Cort holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration from the American Graduate School of International Management-Thunderbird, and a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration: International Business from Hawaii Pacific University.

Pallab has close to 20 years of experience in the IT Industry and has served in various sales & marketing positions both in India as well as in Asia Pacific region.

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
Eminent Journalist, Author, Political Economist and Talk Show Anchor 

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is a journalist with over 30 years experience in various media - print, radio, television, the Internet and documentary cinema. He used to anchor "India Talks", a daily programme that was broadcast on the CNBC India television channel for nearly six years. Nearly 1,400 episodes of the programme, featuring many of India's best-known politicians, bureaucrats, social activists, businesspersons, professionals and academicians, have been telecast. He is a regular contributor to various newspapers, magazines, news agencies, websites, radio stations and television channels. He has directed a number of documentary films.

A graduate from St. Stephens's College, New Delhi and a postgraduate in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, Mr. Guha Thakurta has worked with Business India, BusinessWorld, The Telegraph, India Today and The Pioneer.

He has co-authored a book on coalition politics in India that anticipated the outcome of the 14th general elections. He teaches and trains aspiring and working media professionals and lectures on the working of India's economy, its polity and its media. He is a consultant to the UNDP.

Kapil Dev Singh
Country Manager, IDC India

Kapil Dev Singh is the country manager of IDC (India) Limited and in this capacity he is responsible for the management and business operations of the company in India.

Kapil has over twelve years of industry experience, of which close to eleven years is in business research. In his earlier stints, Kapil has headed several new initiatives at IDC India, including software & services research, corporate research, Internet research etc. Of these Kapil built up the IDC India Software & Services Research practice from scratch. Prior to joining IDC, Kapil worked for three years with IMRB International (part of the WPP group and southern Asia’s largest research firm) and for one year with the HCL group.

Kapil is widely quoted in the press and is a regular speaker at various industry forums. His areas of interest include industry analysis, business strategy, change management, resource planning and teaching.

Kapil holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical) from Bengal Engineering College (Calcutta University) and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (Marketing) from Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (Calcutta University). Kapil believes in continual improvement through a systematic approach and himself is a lead auditor for ISO 9001: 2000 requirements. He is also a certified Six Sigma ‘Green Belt’ quality professional.

Praveen Sengar
Senior Manager, Software & Services and Industry Verticals Research, 
IDC India

Praveen Sengar heads the Software and Services and Industry Verticals Research practice at IDC India. He is responsible for driving all market analysis and research assignments for the India domestic Software and Services market and identifying new research and consulting opportunities. Praveen personally handles the Packaged Software market tracker for IDC in India. He has also conceptualised and spearheads research into new, emerging technology markets such as Security Solutions, Software as a Service (SaaS) and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).

Praveen is a regular speaker at IDC’s annual IT industry briefing session, Directions and at other major IDC conferences.

Praveen has worked with organizations like Lowe Lintas in brand management and Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals in marketing.

Praveen graduated from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi with a Master’s degree in International Business (specializing in International Marketing).

Sanjit Sinha
Associate Vice President, Research and Group Business Head, IDC India

Sanjit Sinha heads the Research and Consulting Practices at IDC India. Based at Gurgaon, near Delhi, Sanjit manages the operations of IDC’s research groups. 

Sanjit has twelve years industry experience of which the last four have been spent leading various research initiatives at IDC India.

Prior to joining IDC, Sanjit headed the Industrial Market Research for South India at AC Nielsen-ORG MARG based out of Bangalore. Sanjit has also worked in sales during the early days of his career.

Sanjit is an engineer from Bengal Engineering College and holds an MBA from IISWBM, Kolkata specialising in Marketing.

Deepak Kumar
General Manager, Communications Research, IDC India

Deepak Kumar is General Manager, Communications Research, IDC India. He has the operational responsibility of planning, executing and managing all supply side research activities of IDC India in the space of telecommunications, data communications, Internet and E-commerce. 

Deepak carries more than 16 years of experience in journalism, editorial, analysis and other associated fields. More than half of his experience is in the technology field, particularly in the communications industry. His specializations are in Cellular Services, WiMax, OSS/BSS, Networking etc. 

Prior to joining IDC, Deepak was with Reuters and with Voice&Data, in editorial, research and analysis roles. Voice&Data is the leading Indian magazine, which covers communications technology markets.

Ranjan Das
President & CEO, SAP Indian Subcontinent

Ranjan Das is President and CEO of SAP’s subsidiary in the Indian Subcontinent. He relocated to Mumbai in July 2007 from SAP’s offices in Silicon Valley in the US to lead the India region. Previously, Ranjan was a senior vice president with SAP Americas and co-founded the business unit for xApps, the first packaged composite business applications in the industry. He also led the business unit for other strategic new solutions like the SAP Business Process Platform and SAP NetWeaver.

Prior to joining SAP, Ranjan was the founder and CEO of Patkai Networks Inc., a Silicon Valley-based venture capital-funded software startup. Earlier, he held a variety of roles at Oracle Corporation in California. He started his career as a software engineer at InterSystems Corporation and Kenan Systems, Inc., both based in the Boston area. 

Born and raised in Assam, Ranjan moved to the US for higher studies after high school and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2000. He lives in Mumbai with his wife and two sons.

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan
Chief Executive Officer, Zensar Technologies 

Ganesh has been one of the most successful and dynamic professionals in the Indian Information Technology Industry and has been leading Zensar as the CEO for over seven years now, making Zensar one of the most successful IT companies in the country and amongst Fortune’s Top 10 global offshore outsourcing companies from India. Ganesh has been elected Chairman of the National Association of Software & Services Companies (NASSCOM) for 2008-09, and also drives NASSCOM’s vibrant Innovation Forum. 

Ganesh is an alumnus of IIT Bombay and the Harvard Business School, and a Gold Medalist in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering. A PhD in Knowledge Management from IIT Bombay, Ganesh is the author of four McGraw Hill Books on Business Process Reengineering and Knowledge Management. He is also a regular columnist for India’s premier Business and IT magazines.