New Product & Product Management Awards Judging Committee

Chair:
Balagopal Ramdurai, Chief Technology Officer
Vectramind Corporation, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Balagopal Ramdurai is a seasoned product innovator, researcher, and author with 20+ years of experience in full-cycle product management. He has a proven track record of delivering innovative, highly successful, and scalable products to market, and has expertise in Banking & Finance, Healthcare, and E-commerce domains.  He is skilled in web, mobile, omnichannel, cloud architecture, AI/ML, NLP, and social technologies, and is a recognized speaker at tech conferences, mentor advisor to startups, and judge for industry awards.

Balagopal has led high performance teams in developing successful products in FinTech, which includes Digital Banking Platforms, Mobile Wallets, and payments to the Hyper-Local product Discovery platform. In the recent past, Balagopal has created successful customer experience and engagement platforms in the Healthcare Domain.  His career highlights include spearheading the development of AI-powered platforms, and leveraging his deep understanding of artificial intelligence to create impactful products that meet market needs effectively.  Balagopal's leadership has been instrumental in guiding teams through complex technological landscapes, fostering innovation, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality, market-leading products.

Throughout his career, Balagopal has demonstrated a keen ability to bridge the gap between technology and business strategy, aligning product development efforts with organizational goals to achieve sustainable growth and competitive advantage. His passion for innovation, coupled with his strong leadership skills, continues to drive forward-thinking initiatives that redefine industry standards and deliver tangible value to customers and stakeholders alike.
 

Committee:

Barbara Amina Al-Ramadna, Managing Director
Green Fields Oil Factory, Amman, Jordan
Barbara Amina Al-Ramadna studied electrical engineering and has a master’s degree. She worked as Maintenance Contract Manager in a large computer company for over ten years. She started her own business, Green Fields Oils, based on something she believes in and enjoys. She has been the Managing Director for 20 Years.

Hande Alaca Un, Marketing Director
Eczacibasi Building Products, Istanbul, Turkey
Hande Alaca Un has accumulated over 15 years of experience in marketing and product management, working as the Marketing Director at Eczacibasi Building Products Company. She is also pursuing a PhD in marketing at Istanbul Technical University, researching "Consumer Behavior in Omni-Channel Retailing" and its relationship with digitalization.

Aysenur Can, Engineering Manager
UPS, Istanbul, Kartal, Turkey
Aysenur has 13 years of extensive experience in logistics, particularly in financial controlling and reporting, process development, business analysis, operational excellence, and engineering management. She is currently the TR&MEA Cluster Engineering Manager at UPS. Throughout her career, Aysenur has held various positions at prominent companies such as Ekol Logistics and Ceva Logistics.

Jeffrey Diwakar, Strategy Leader
Cummins Inc., Columbus, Indiana, United States
Jeffrey is a strategy leader at Cummins Inc., a global powertrain manufacturer. Jeffrey oversees Cummins Research & Technology organization's exploratory initiatives and investments. He has over 13 years of experience spanning engineering and strategy functions.

Narasimha Kishore Yadav Dupally Naval Venkata, Operations Manager           
DSKN GROUP, Sacramento, California, United States
Narasimha has a self-motivated career across operations and engineering management. He is an experienced professional known for his comprehensive skill set and visionary approach. As an accomplished aeronautics engineer, he has excelled in product research and development, showcasing expertise in engineering design, quality assurance controls, and forward-thinking strategic planning.

Neveen Elhelw, Consultant
DRC, Cairo, Heliopolis, Egypt
A seasoned quantitative analytics expert, excelling in data-driven decision-making and impactful insights. With an M.B.A. and World Bank TOT certification, Neveen leads with proficiency in marketing analytics and policy development. Currently, they manage a dynamic team at the Saudi Ministry of Tourism.

Khaled Elnems, Q.C. Innovation R&D
PARSONS & Egyptian Society, Abu Dhabi, MBZ City, United Arab Emirates
Khaled Elnems is an R&D Innovations Q.C. He has extensive experience as a jury member on the Committee for International Engineering Invention and Innovation Exhibitions and is a Co-founder and Head of Delegation in International Innovations Exhibitions in Egypt and U.A.E to represent young inventors in local and international events.

 

Sagar Ganapaneni, Data Science Leader    
Intuit, Mountain View, California, United States
Sagar Ganapaneni is a seasoned Data Science leader with expertise in building data-powered products and driving enterprise-level business and marketing optimization efforts. Currently leads Data for SMB MediaLabs at Intuit. With a wealth of experience, he plays an influential role in shaping industry standards, working with prominent trade organizations.

Seetharamareddy Gowda, Analytics Lead
FedEx, Plano, Texas, United States
Seetharamareddy Gowda, Analytics Lead at FedEx since 2017, holds 12+ years' experience in data analytics and AI. Specializing in data engineering, analysis, and AI/ML, collaborated with stakeholders to develop dashboards, forecast revenue, optimize sales content, and conduct A/B testing. Proficient in tools like Power BI, Tableau, Python, and SQL.

Sahil Khullar, Senior Principal Consultant
Genpact, New York City, New York, United States
Sahil Khullar, Senior Principal Consultant at Genpact, brings over 10 years of experience in Agile product and project management. He is currently lending his expertise to product development for the world's largest investment bank.

Swapnil Kognole, Director
UBS, Edison, New Jersey, United States
Swapnil Kognole is a highly accomplished Wealth Management Technology expert currently serving as a Director at UBS, with over 20 years of extensive Information Technology experience. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Shivaji University, India and is a CFA Charter holder.

Rohit Kulkarni, Associate Director   
Merck, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Rohit Kulkarni has over 18 years of work experience in Financial Trading, Educational Research, Data Analytics, and pharmaceutical industries with globally known companies such as Thomson Reuters, McKinsey, and Merck. He is responsible for creating FAIR data products and making them available on demand to scientists at Merck.

Kannamangalam Chakaravarthi Lakshminarasimham, Director, Program Management
Expedia Group, San Francisco, California, United States
Program Management leader with two decades’ experience in portfolio, program, and project change management leading high-performing teams that manage complex, cross-functional, and companies’ top business and transformative initiatives. Leader of managers across business, product, operations, engineering, and technology.

Korey McMahon, Chief Growth Officer
WEOKIE, Norman, Oklahoma, United States
Korey McMahon, a former professional snowboarder ranked #2 by USASA, founded McMahon Marketing, a top inbound marketing agency. As Chief Growth Officer for WEOKIE Federal Credit Union, he drives growth and community impact. Korey is also a TEDx speaker, real estate investor, and recipient of multiple prestigious awards.

Sumit Mittal, Senior Director of Product Management
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.

Dina Mostovaya, Founder & CEO
Mindset Consulting, Barcelona, Spain
Dina Mostovaya is an award-winning global cultural and business strategist; the founder of Mindset Consulting and of Sensity Studio. She was named the Best Woman in PR by Davos Communications Awards’22 and the grand prize winner and PR Star Under 40 by the 2023 Bulldog PR Awards. She's a regular speaker at conferences.

Avishkar Nikum, CEO and Founder
TechnoTronic Pvt.Ltd., Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Avi is a cybersecurity leader with over 12 years of experience, specializing in Cybersecurity program management and regulatory consulting. As a Senior Manager at PwC, he led numerous cybersecurity strategy engagements for Fortune 500 companies. Avi is the Founder and CEO of TechnoTronic Pvt. Ltd. and an angel investor, mentoring professionals and startups.

Vikrant Nishandar, Global Head of Product
S&P, New York City, New York, United States
A dynamic Global Head of Product, with a proven track record of driving innovation, building high-performing global teams, and harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and automation to create transformative products. With 15+ years of experience driving success in diverse industries, Vikrant is passionate about pushing the boundaries of what's possible and delivering exceptional value.

Olga (Olya) Osokina, CEO
UME Tech, Los Angeles, California, United States
Silicon Valley IT Founder’s Producer and Investor. Olga and her products are 10 time Stevie Award Winner. Osokina has been named entrepreneur and innovator of the year by the Stevie Awards. 

Supreeth Rajan, Director of Product Management
Experian, Costa Mesa, California, United States
Supreeth is the Director of Product Management at Experian. He thrives in the Product Management space and, over the last 10+ years, has launched solutions to improve manufacturing execution, make split-second decisions on the racetrack, and help American consumers make the right financial decisions with the right solutions.

Vartika Rawat, VP of Product
Mastercard, New York City, New York, United States
Vartika Rawat is a Product Management Leader at Mastercard and has 10+ years of experience in building and shipping B2B and B2C products in the AI/data and FinTech space. She has done her Masters from Indiana University and is an active mentor and contributor at various product management communities.

Kadambari Sahu, Senior Vice President
ValueLabs, San Francisco, California, United States
Kadambari is an international multi-award-winning designer and SVP of Design at ValueLabs. Founder of the User Experience Group, she leads 75+ designers to craft award-winning products and services. With 170+ awards, she excels in building high-performance teams and blending design thinking across physical, digital, and service design.

Srinivas Saitala, Consultant
VIRTUSA CORPORATION, Little Elm, Texas, United States

Rakesh Singh, Vice President of Product Management
JPMorgan Chase, Secaucus, New Jersey, United States
Rakesh, VP of Product Management at JPMorgan Chase & Co. since 2022, boasts over 13 years of IT expertise spanning IT Consulting, Digital Transformation, and Product Management. Armed with a master’s degree in information systems from George Washington University, Rakesh is committed to driving innovation and excellence in products.

Malcolm Summerfield, CEO
MIS Consulting Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Entrepreneur, Marketing and Advertising Expert, and Portfolio Non-executive Director, Malcolm has wide experience of many business sectors both in the UK and Internationally. He is a former CEO of McCann Erickson in London and now runs his own business consultancy.