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Ramesh Vangal
Founder, Chairman |
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| Mr. Ramesh Vangal is the Chairman of the Katra Group. The Katra Group was co – founded by Ramesh and Katharin Vangal in 2001. The Katra Group is building a footprint across key platforms through both strategic investments, and owned and operated businesses. The Katra Group has built a strategic presence across diverse sectors including wellness, technology, infrastructure & marine logistics, agri businesses, leisure and lifestyle products and services. Ramesh started his career with Procter & Gamble in Geneva, Switzerland. Ramesh was President, Asia Pacific for PepsiCo Foods and also a Member of PepsiCo’s Worldwide Executive Council. |
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He led PepsiCo’s entry into India, an initiative that became the basis of a Harvard Business School case study and led to his being the first recipient of Pepsi-Cola International’s High Performance Leadership Award in 1992.
Ramesh was invited to serve on the Board of Infosys Technologies Ltd as its first independent and overseas Director in 1997. Prior to founding the Scandent Group, now Cambridge Solutions, Ramesh was the Chairman of Seagram Asia Pacific, (now Pernod Ricard) and part of its global executive board. |
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Ramesh received his engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai and his MBA from the London Business School and became the first Asian to be awarded the school’s “Alumni of the Year” honor in 1996 and currently serves on the Global Advisory Board of London Business School. Ramesh received the ultimate accolade from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai by being honoured as its Distinguished Alumnus in 2007.
Ramesh is an avid outdoor enthusiast and has a strong interest in wellness, charity and spirituality. |
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Ashish Misra
Marketing & Strategy |
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Ashish’s career spans over 20 years of experience in leadership roles across marketing, advertising and strategy functions with leading multinational organisations.
During his 13 years in advertising he worked with Ogilvy & Mather and McCann Erickson. He was later Vice President with J Walter Thompson and CEO of Scanad Tanzania.
Over his career in advertising he has worked with clients like Pepsi, Gillette, Unilever, Nestle, Ford, Toyota and SAB-Miller, including India launch projects for Gillette and Nestle Kitkat.
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| Subsequently, Ashish has been Marketing Controller at Bacardi Martini India Limited and Country Manager for The Henley Centre, the UK based consumer insights consulting arm of The WPP Group. He has been leading the marketing and strategy function at The Katra Group since 2003.
Ashish completed his graduation in Commerce from the University of Delhi and PGDM from Institute of Management Technology. |
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| Achamma Joseph is the President of Katrasoft, India and Managing Director of Katrasoft Europe GmbH. A self-driven and highly motivated professional /entrepreneur with 22 years of experience in technology, project delivery, project management, product innovation and management, over all business operations, fund raising and employee & client relationship management. Based on a deep understanding of global markets, specially in the area of IT products, Achamma created a very niche ERP product for the global market from India which has well accepted in the global market. By achieving lot of accreditations, Achamma made the company from a single women to 300 staff and clients across 13 countries, has successfully managed, and grown company. |
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Achamma is also the core committee member of TiE (The Indus Entreprenuers) Kerala and Also the core committee member of TiE Global Women Forum. Achamma had initiated the Women forum for TiE in Kerala.
Achievements :
- Recognized as the “Entrepreneur of the Year 2000 for Kerala” by Berchman’s College , Kerala valued from the 100 entrepreneurs filtered by Govt. of Kerala
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- “Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur of the year for 4 consecutive years, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000- 2001 and 2001- 2002” by ESC( Electronic Software Export Promotion Council of India), for 4 years consecutively under Dept. Of science and technology, among all India women running software companies for the best software export
- Highest Software export for year 2000 from Cochin Special Economic Zone
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- The most Prestigious Award Fusion from Microsoft, USA for the “ Best Business solution for Asia & south Pacific region for year 2000 and 2001” among 350 entries from asia and south pacific region for the product “ Harvest it “ of Soft Systems. First product from India to get this award.
- Prestigious “ Back Office Logo “ Certification from Veri test lab USA for Microsoft products – Harvest it of Soft Systems. The first and the only product from Asia to get this certification.
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| Partha has 15 years of work experience and is a MBA from IIM, Bangalore and has also done his BE in Metallurgical Engineering from the College of Engineering, Pune. Partha looks after the Strategy and Business Development functions at Kerala Ayurveda with a special focus on its US subsidiaries. Partha has significant experience with large corporations like Tata Motor, Philips Electronics, and Caltex across a range of functions like quality, sales, project appraisal, project management and business planning. Partha left his position as the head of Planning for Caltex for its Indian entities to set up ARI's (Applied Research International) technology businesses. |
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| Partha played an instrumental role in professionalizing and converting ARI, hitherto a family managed company into a responsive and market oriented growth company. Partha, in his capacity as the strategy, quality and planning head for ARI's technology businesses, and helped grow these to significant scale within 5 years. |
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S. Swaminathan
Vice President |
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A Post Graduate in Chemistry & Physics with a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in education.
Swami has 27 years of hands on experience in technical areas like Research & Development, Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Technical Services, Production and Formulations and previously held positions in various companies like Tamilnadu Dadha Pharmaceuticals [An affiliate of Sun Pharma now], UB Group, SPIC Group and Sami Labs [An Affiliate of Sabinsa Corporation – US].
He presently heads the Operations, Product Development and Technical Services of Katra Phytochem. |
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S. K. SHARMA is the Managing Director of Global AgriSystem Pvt. Ltd., after having served in National apex organisations for more than 10 years, where he was actively involved in development agriculture and food sector, Sunil decided to venture into the exciting and emerging agri-business in the corporate sector.
He is Science Graduate with Post-Graduate qualifications in Management and has more than 25 years experience in various agri-businesses to his credit. He has wide experience in diversified agri-businesses such as fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, edible oil, sugar and animal feeds.
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He served as General Manager in APEDA and Addl. Executive Director in National Horticulture Board. He made significant contribution in development of horticulture sector during his NHB assignment and developing exports of fruits and vegetables during his tenure in APEDA.
Having extensive knowledge of the Indian scenario along with exposure to successful agribusiness models of countries like Holland and Israel, Sunil is focusing on adoption of advanced agriculture technologies to the Indian conditions and requirements. For last ten years, he is heading a team of Agriculture Consultants, which have undertaken many studies and projects.
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Katharin Zimpel Vangal
Founder, Co-Chairperson |
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Founder of The Katra Group.
Katharin plays an active role at the board level and provides inspiration for the Group’s not for profit initiatives.
Her specific focus is on healthcare and managing diversified investment portfolio.
Founded The ASHA Foundation, in 2001,to help brain-injured children through comprehensive rehabilitation.
Katharin worked in the fashion industry in New York City.
She has a degree in Art History from Canada and studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology,
New York. |
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Gokul Patnaik
Vice Chairman |
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| Dynamic bureaucrat turned entrepreneur Gokul is a former IAS officer and has served various senior positions with Government of Punjab and Government of India. He has vast experience in the agribusiness area and is an acknowledged leader in India’s agribusiness sector. He is the Vice – Chairman of the Katra Group, heading Global Agri and building the vision across businesses in the agri, marine logistics, energy and infrastructure sectors. |
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- Managing director, Global Agri System Pvt. Ltd.
- Founder Chairman, India International Marketing Center (IIMC) at Rotterdam
- Founder Co-Chairman of the Indo-US-Agro Business Alliance
- Former President, All India Food Processors' Association
- Former Principal Secretary for Industry, Govt. of Punjab, India
- Former Principal Secretary for Irrigation and Power, Govt. of Punjab, India
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| MC Mohan started with a memorable 24 year stint at Procter & Gamble, across 3 continents including setting up manufacturing and business operations, introducing and building business on new brands such as Pampers,Ariel,Pringles responsibility for diverse P&G products and being the Global Team Leader for recruiting talent in Europe. |
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- Former GM, UK & Ireland, Findus Ltd. - a leading international Frozen Food business, operating in the Retail and Food-service sectorsm
- Executive-in-Residence at the London School of Business & Goizueta School of Business at Emory University in Atlanta
- He also acts as a coach for several CEOs in the UK and India
- Honors Degree in Mechanical Engineering and M.Tech from IIT Kharagpur
- MS Degree in Mechanical Engineeing at the University of Hawaii
- MBA from Columbia University
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| Featured in an exclusive issue on "Indian Management Gurus" by Business World Magazine,
Tarun Sheth is an eminent Management Consultant. He's a Director on Board of Several
companies and a former Faculty Member of Motorola University, training Motorola Managers in
the US, Europe, Australia, China, Taiwan, Singapore and India.
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- Past President, Bombay Management Association
- Member of professional bodies like Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Science, Indian Society for Training and Development and Bombay Management Association(Past President)
- His Prior Experience includes 18 years with the Unilever Group in various capacities
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J H Mehta
Group President |
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| Mr. J.H. (Jitu) Mehta is a management graduate from the IIM, Ahmedabad and Wharton School alumnus. He joined as a management trainee, finance with Hindustan Lever Ltd in June 1974. After a series of functional assignments in finance, buying and commercial areas, he went on to become the Chief Buyer of HLL in 1989. From 1992 onwards, he handled various general management assignments as Vice President- animal feeds, divisional vice president- coffee/popular tea and executive director- ice creams. |
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| He has been passionate in turning around difficult businesses and putting them on sustainable growth track. He has built Bru and Kwality Wall's as strond brands in their respective domains. In 2000, he was elevated to the management committee of HLL. In July 2005, he joined as the President, Spencer's Retail with the RPG group, where he played a leading role in defining the brand and business strategy, building an organization for rapid growth and steering exponential expansion of multiple formats. As President of Katra group and a member of the Global Board, he provides vision and leadership to the diverse businesses within the Katra Group based at Bangalore. He guides the Global Board on the strategic growth of the existing and new businesses. |
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| After 28 years with P&G in Switzerland, Germany, UK and Japan, Ron returned to Switzerland to pursue diverse business interests in investments and consulting. Ron Pearce takes a strong interest in the development of Katra initiatives at the Group and business levels. Ron Pearce is the former President of P&G Far East Inc based in Japan. He also held the position of Managing Director of P&G Limited based in the UK.
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AR Radhakrishnan
Finance & Commercial |
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| Radha has over 24 years of experience across diverse sectors including Engineering, Pharma, FMCG, Software, Retail and Leather. This includes senior assignments with multinational corporations. Previous roles include heading the finance and Commercial function with Unilever and Landmark-Lifesytle, UAE. Significant experience in the software sector with Polaris Group. Radha has built a strong track in the area of finance and commercial management, business modelling, corporate finance and Finance for value creation. |
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| Radha is a strong people’s person with significant contributions in the area of margin improvement, working capital reduction, structuring private placement of shares, creating a cohesive functional team, business processes for accelerated growth and business modelling. |
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Dr. Vaijayanti (Jay) Apte
BAMS, MS |
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| Dr. Apte is the Director of the Kerala Ayurveda Academy. She holds a BAMS integrated degree in Ayurvedic and Allopathic (conventional) medicine from the University of Poona, India (1973), and a MS degree in Biomedical Sciences (Pharmacology) from the University of North Texas (1991). Dr. Apte has more than 30 years of experience in Ayurvedic practices and teaching. |
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| In 1997 she founded the Ayurveda Institute of America (AIA) to offer quality Ayurveda education in the United States. AIA has now merged a Kerala Ayurveda Academy. Dr Apte is also the author of an Ayurvedic cookbook, “You Are What You Eat” and also owns “AyurFoods”, an Ayurvedically balanced, packaged food company designed for busy and health conscious people. She was the President of the California Association of Ayurvedic Medicine (CAAM) for the past 3 years and is currently on the Board of Directors of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA). |
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Thomas R. Yarema
MD, Director, Kerala Ayurveda Clinics, USA |
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| Dr. Thomas Yarema has passionately committed to bridge the best of all systems of medicine - East & West, Conventional & Non-Conventional, Scientific & Intuitive. He is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine as well as Holistic Medicine, a Clinical Research Consultant in Bio-Energetics, and an Educator to both enthusiasts and medical professionals. He has learned that much of good medicine is common sense, resource management, and respect for an individual's dignity. |
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| His professional tools consist of Allopathy, Ayurveda, Traditional Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture, Immune Stimulation, and Intra-Venous Nutrition & Chelation Therapy. In 1996, he founded the Kauai Center for Holistic Medicine and Research, which he directed until 2007, and in 2003 he founded the Aloha Ayurveda Academy. Dr. Yarema is a co-author of “Eat, Taste, Heal: An Ayurvedic Guidebook & Cookbook for Modern Living,” a seven-time National award-winning book, and co-owner of Five Elements Press. |
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Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar
BAMS, MD (Ayurveda) |
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| Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar, Executive Director, Kerala Ayurveda USA, is an accomplished Ayurvedic doctor with varied background and experience. He was a research associate in Indian Ayurvedic pharmaceutical company “Ayuveda Rasashala”. He was a Chairman of Dept. of Medicine at the Maharshi College of Vedic Medicine –Albuquerque from 1999-2001. |
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| He was a medical director at the Raj and an assistant professor at the Maharshi University of Management – Fairfield, Iowa from 2001-2002. He has published research articles, and offered lectures and Radio and TV talks in many countries. His extensive international experience of working in different medical infrastructures makes him a compassionate healer, philosopher and teacher. He is an insightful Medical Astrologer and an expert clinician who adds tremendous value for all of his clients and students. |
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Matt McKillip is our CEO of CMS-Katra and Executive Director of Katra Healthcare USA. He serves as a member of the Senior Management Team of Kerala Ayurveda USA. In this capacity, he is developing Katra’s non-clinic nutraceutical, phytochem and OTC organization, brands, distribution and channels in the USA, starting the USA business for Katrasoft and leading CMS-Katra.
Matt has 25 years of experience in business and public service. He served the people of Indiana as mayor of Kokomo. |
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While mayor, Matt is focused on improving Kokomo’s quality of life, making the city more attractive to businesses and young professionals and running government more like a well managed business.
Matt has 25 years of experience in business and public service. He served the people of Indiana as mayor of Kokomo. While mayor, Matt is focused on improving Kokomo’s quality of life, making the city more attractive to businesses and young professionals and running government more like a well managed business. |
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Matt was recognized by The US Conference of Mayor’s, the National League of Cities and the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns for his efforts and received an award for Mayoral Leadership. Matt was one of a select group to participate in the George Washington University fellowship on “Governing in the Global Age.”
Matt has also been a successful entrepreneur. He started and sold two consulting firms, one in Europe and the other in the USA. Before government and his entrepreneurial efforts, Matt worked in the private sector for 10 years with Procter & Gamble in the USA and Europe. |
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Matt graduated with highest distinction from Purdue University and was later honored by his alma mater as a 2005 Distinguished Alumnus. Matt is married to Heather and they are expecting their first child, a baby girl, in June.
Matt is a firm believer in taking care of the body, mind and soul and in living a balanced life focused on others. He is active in many community organizations and his church. |
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Dr. K. Anilkumar is the Executive Director of Kerala Ayurveda Ltd. After he obtained a Bachelors degree in Ayurveda medicine (BAM) from the Government Ayurveda College affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University, he steered the business as a member of the founding family.
He consolidated the activities of manufacturing, marketing and healthcare service divisions and took KAL to newer heights including a public issue That made Kerala Ayurveda the first listed Ayurveda public limited company, in India. His vision is reflected in the aggressively expanding wellness centre network across India. |
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| Dr. Anilkumar is a well- known entrepreneur popular among Ayurveda Doctors Fraternity and holds multiple honorary positions in industry associations. He is now an elected member of Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) – Apex Body of Govt. of India for Indian System of Medicine. He was the President of Ayurveda Medical Association of India for an uninterrupted period of 10 years and a former Joint Secretary for Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturers Association of India. He is currently the Executive Member – Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India and Director (Finance) of Confederation for Ayurvedic Renaissance, Keralam (CARe Keralam). |
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| Further, he is an active member of Confederation of Indian Industry, Kerala Management Association and TiE; and a member of Alumni Society of Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS). He has traveled widely and presented scientific papers in various Seminars across Asia (including India) Europe, the Americas and various Latin American countries. |
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| Mr. Arunkumar is the Founder Director of Ayurvedagram, a subsidiary of Kerala Ayurveda Limited. He started his business career with Kerala Ayurveda in 1975 as Deputy Managing Director managing finance and operations. He successfully managed the initial public issue of Kerala Ayurveda Ltd in 1995. |
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He also rendered his expertise in the expansion and modernization of the Kerala Ayurveda manufacturing facility and conceptualized and executed the chain of Kerala Ayurveda clinics across India.
He moved to Bangalore to realise his dream project ‘Ayurvedagram’ which he successfully accomplished with a capital outlay of 7 crores. |
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Vice President - Sales, Kerala Ayurveda Ltd. Gourab has a BE from Jadavpur University and a PGDM from IIM Calcutta.
He has 13 years of experience in the FMCG/ retail sector in the areas of sales, business development, distributor/ franchisee management and international marketing.
He has worked in various capacities in Madura Coats Ltd, Scion International LLC and Siemens Ltd. |
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Founders |
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Global Board |
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Corporate Support |
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Business Leaders |
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| Agri Science: |
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Gokul Patnaik, AT Jacob, S Swaminathan, SK Sharma,
Simon Gebhardt, Pat Subramoni |
| Healthcare: |
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JH Mehta, Matt Mckillip, Dr Suhas Kshirsagar, Dr Jay Apte,
Dr Tom Yarema, Partha Sanyal, Sreedhar Hariharan,
Dr. K. Anilkumar, Mr. Arunkumar
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Gokul Patnaik |
| Leisure & Lifestyle: |
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Arun Barik, Surya Kathpalia, Sandhya |
| Technology: |
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Achamma Joseph |
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Business Support |
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