New Product and Service Awards Judging Committee
Chair:
H.E. Baron Alec Stern, Entrepreneur|Speaker|Mentor|Investor
Alec Speaks, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
H.E. Baron Alec Stern is an entrepreneur, speaker, mentor, and investor. He has become known as "America's Startup Success Expert" for performing hundreds of keynote speeches worldwide and for his popular sessions at top conferences. He has been a co-founder or founding team member of 8 startups with 5 exits - 2 IPOs and 3 acquisitions. As a primary member of Constant Contact's founding team, Alec was one of the original 3 who started the company in an attic. Alec was with the company for 18 years from start-up, to IPO, to a $1.1 Billion-dollar acquisition. Alec has also been a Co-Founder or founding team member of several other successful startups.
Recently, Alec received the distinct honor of being Knighted and Ennobled as Baron of Boston of Cappadocia by the Royal Order of Constantine the Great and Saint Helen, of the Royal and Sovereign House of Cappadocia and San Bartolomeo. His Knight of Merit is for his exceptional accomplishments in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Philanthropy. Alec also advanced to Grand Cross Commander and became the Grand Prior General of the United States. One of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs, he is a limited partner in Boston-based G20 Ventures, which provides early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups. Alec is also an angel investor and mentor in a number of rising startups in various industries. Today Alec is innovating in a variety of industries including SaaS, Technology, Web 3.0, Metaverse, Medical Devices and Cannabis.
Alec is passionate about small business, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Working within the inner cities, or as he calls it, “urban innovation” is near and dear to his heart. Once Alec settled in Boston after college, he became very involved in the city’s nonprofit ecosystem, co-chairing and chairing many galas and fundraisers. He created programs and events that led to raising millions of dollars for several causes and was an advisor and board member for several nonprofit organizations. He helped develop the Young Professional Organizations for several nonprofits including the Boston Public Library Foundation, the first public library in the Country. The BPL Young Professional Organization became the steppingstone for many future donors, event chairs and board members. Alec went on to co-found two nonprofits and the highest rated sailing regatta in Boston Harbor, the Flip Flop Regatta, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to teach sailing to inner city kids.
Committee:
Jeff Bell, Operating Partner
MidOcean Partners, Kirkland, Washington, United States
Best known as past LegalShield CEO, creating the Jeep Rubicon & 4-door Wrangler, launching the Chrysler 300, Halo 3, Gears of War, growing Xbox Live with Netflix & Rock Band, and exiting multiple start-ups.
Parth Desai, Founding Engineer
Litmus Automation LLC, Santa Clara, California, United States
Parth Desai, founding engineer at Litmus Automation since June 2016, brings over a decade of expertise in product management and software development. Leading industrial driver development for Litmus Edge, he has significantly contributed to advancing industries' IIOT adoption through numerous solutions.
Kranthi Kiran Erusu, Group Vice President, Engineering
Newrelic Inc, San Francisco, California, United States
Kranthi Kiran Erusu is the Group Vice President, Engineering, of NewRelic. Over a 17-year span, he has been at the helm of conceptualizing and launching products and services that have reached millions at Microsoft and Newrelic. His expertise spans hyper-scale data and API platforms in the security and observability domains.
Srinivasa Rao Gunturu, Solution Architect
LTIMindtree, Houston, Texas, United States
Srinivasa Rao possesses over 14+ years of expertise in SAP FICO, encompassing proficiency across all phases of SAP Implementation. Additionally, he has extensive experience in production support endeavors for global clientele and rollouts. He has a proven track record of leading multiple teams, consistently delivering value to clients.
Ashish Gupta, Senior Director
Capital One Services LLC, Richmond, Virginia, United States
Ashish Gupta is a Senior Director of Software Engineering at Capital One. He has more than 20 years of experience crafting secure, scalable, resilient, and high-performance software platforms in banking, finance, telecom, and technology domains. He has built engineering platforms that secure data and APIs at scale in the public cloud.
Roopak Ingole, Director - Advanced Electronic Systems & Strategy
Cummins Inc., Columbus, Indiana, United States
With over two decades of dynamic leadership in automotive and telecommunication, Roopak is a seasoned Engineering Director at Cummins Inc. leading Electronic Systems in R&D, to drive new product excellence. His strategic foresight reduced warranty costs and improved software efficiency. He is a Computer Engineer with an MBA.
Gaurav Kohli, Managing Director
EY, New York City, New York, United States
Gaurav Kohli is a Managing Director at Ernst & Young (EY). He has over 15 years of experience in consulting focused on the financial services industry. He has a Bachelor of Economics from University of Delhi and a Master of Business Administration from the College of William and Mary.
Kishore Kothandaraman, Co-founder
Goldcast, Los Gatos, California, United States
Kishore is the Co-founder & COO of Goldcast, a digital events platform for B2B marketers. Over the last 4 years, the company has raised $40M in venture capital and worked with 300+ enterprises such as Adobe, Workday, Intuit, LG & more. Kishore oversees sales and marketing.
Raktim Mitra, Chief Lending Officer
Varo Bank, San Francisco, California, United States
Raktim is the Chief Lending Officer at Varo Bank. He has over 15 years of experience in launching and scaling multiple businesses across consumer and small business lending, with leadership roles at Discover, Lending Club, Goldman Sachs, and Carvanan. He holds a Masters in Industrial Engineering from Virgina Tech.
Sumit Mittal, Senior Director of Product Management - Commerce
BlueYonder Inc., Frisco, Texas, United States
Sumit Mittal, a seasoned leader with over 21 years at Blue Yonder Inc., excels in E-Commerce, Supply Chain Execution, Data Science, and building cognitive solutions. As a product management leader, he has successfully introduced new products and services, transforming traditional supply chain systems.
Rajendran Nair, VP Product Marketing
Medallia, Fremont, California, United States
Subramanian Narayanaswamy, Risk Officer
Wells Fargo, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, United States
Subramanian Narayanaswamy (Subbu) is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in the financial services analytics space, spanning big banks and FinTech companies. He specializes in designing and building scalable credit and fraud risk solutions and is passionate about bringing in new innovations in the financial sector.
Dushyant Sengar, Director - Data Science and Innovation
BDO USA LLP, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Dushyant Sengar is a Director in the Chicago office of the Valuation and Capital Market Analytics practice of BDO and the author of the book “Modern Data Mining with Python”. Dushyant, with 17+ years of experience, specializes in AI/ML and other data science techniques related to product and model development.
Mohnish Kumar Singh, Associate Director
ValueLabs Inc., San Diego, California, United States
An accomplished product management leader with over 16 years of global experience in insurance technology, employee benefits, and financial services. Recognized for driving value innovation and customer satisfaction through strategic initiatives, particularly in AI and analytics-focused products, shaping industry evolution.