Bijal Mehta
CEO & MD

Bijal Mehta is the founder of Arctern providing the vision, strategic direction, and execution for the company.

Prior to Arctern, Bijal was the Chairman of iCode, Inc. A seasoned entrepreneurial executive with 15 years of experience in the computer hardware, software, and India offshore outsourcing industry, Bijal co-founded iCode in 1994 with the vision of developing an 'all-in-one' mini-ERP software solution for small businesses and medium enterprises (SMEs) worldwide.

Under his leadership as President and CEO until February 2004, the Everest line of products have been implemented at thousands of SMEs worldwide and won numerous industry awards and accolades beating leading competitors such as Microsoft Business Solutions, SAGE, and Intuit. He raised multiple rounds of venture financing to help fund strategic initiatives and fuel the company's growth. Bijal established iCode as a pioneering software company to leverage a 80:20 India:US workforce model as early as 1996 and built iCode up to 240 employees in India and 60 in the US. Bijal is considered an expert on India offshoring and the worldwide SME market. Bijal remains one of the largest individual shareholders in iCode.

Prior to iCode, Bijal co-founded Accel Inc., a DC-based "white box" computer retailer that grew revenues to $33 million in three years because of attention to quality manufacturing and customer service. In 1994, Accel was sold to Mantech International.

Bijal earned two Bachelor degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech. He is a Charter member of TiE/ICEO council, a MindShare CEOs alumnus, a member of YEO and SIIA, and a 2003 E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year nominee. Bijal has also been interviewed by and written about on numerous media channels around the world including the Nightly Business Report (TV), Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Economic Times, The Indus Journal, SoftwareCEO.com, and Bisnow on Business.

Analogous to the Arctic Tern’s cyclical annual journey between two ends of the globe, Bijal resides between Virginia, USA & Bangalore, India with his wife, son, and daughter.

Bijal Mehta in the press...

Dan Jain
Director – Sales

Dan is a seasoned executive with over fifteen years of professional experience working in the United States and India. At Arctern, as Director Sales, Dan drives the new customer acquisition and revenue maximizing function. He is responsible to help expand and manage Arctern’s direct sales and channel teams.

Prior to Arctern, Dan has held numerous positions in sales and service at Hero ITES, Fair Consultants, and Browns Automotive Group.

Dan received his Bachelors of Arts degree from Kurukshetra University, Haryana, India followed with a Bachelors of Law, from Avadh University, Uttar Pradesh, India. Dan also holds a Diploma in Computer Applications from PICAK, New Delhi.

In his spare time, Dan enjoys working out, cooking, watching movies, and playing with his daughter.

Indy Shah
Director

Indy is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur with over 27 years of professional & global experience ranging across various functions. Based in VA, Indy is responsible for promoting and selling the RemoteHire™ service to US based customers and helping expand Arctern’s partner distribution network nationally.

As a successful entrepreneur during the past 12 years, Indy provided numerous trade links between Indian suppliers and USA buyers in engineering and consumer goods manufacturing, and helped identify the right outsourcing partners in India for USA clients. He has successfully executed several buying programs in association with major USA importers in the power transformers industry and for retail store chains like Wal-Mart, K-mart, Target, J. C. Penny, Bloomingdales, Boscov, Krogers, Albertsons, Safeway, Family Dollar, Dollar General, 99 cents stores, and Super Value to name few major ones.

Previously, Indy worked for over 15 years in management level roles in Engineering and Business Development at major USA corporations including BENDIX and IBM.

Indy received his BS EE from L.D. College of Engineering, Ahmedabad, India and MS EE from New Jersey Institute of Technology, N.J. Additionally he has also undergone the Management Personal Development Training at The IBM School.

Suresh Anandham
Corporate Controller

Suresh Anandham is a seasoned finance executive with over 15 years of professional experience in India and Canada in various spectrums of business activities. He is responsible for the financial activities of the company including accounting and controls, statutory filings, financial planning and analysis, corporate governance, audits, and tax structuring and planning. Suresh's cross-border experiences working in Canada and in India are very helpful toward our vision of bridging the global workforce.

Prior to joining Arctern, Suresh was working as a Controller/Accounting Manager with CNW Group Limited, a medium-sized Media company located in Toronto, Canada. Suresh was responsible for the day-to-day finance activities. As a result of his ongoing dedication and professional development, Suresh was given additional responsibilities and professional progression. Suresh was instrumental in the successful restructuring of the accounting team to improve the accuracy and timely presentation of financial information. Prior to migrating to Canada, Suresh spent his earlier years with Navaratna Public companies and other growing companies in various sectors and learned the ins and outs of the business processes.

Suresh has a Bachelors Degree in Science from University of Kerala and further accomplished his professional qualifications in ICWAI and CS in India. During his five years of stay in Canada, he added additional professional qualifications like CPA from USA and CGA from Canada to improve his exposure in international accounting.

Suresh enjoys spending his spare time with wife and two kids.

Surya Katakam
Director - Technology

Surya Katakam provides the technology direction and leadership for Arctern.  He is responsible for building and implementing the MIS backbone for the company. He is also responsible to liaison with the technical services group to ensure best practices are followed across technical recruitment, training, consulting, and customer delivery. Surya also heads Arctern's software R&D division, Toofaan. The Toofaan team is actively innovating and developing web-based products/applications in the "specialized/contextual" search engine space. For more details, please visit http://www.toofaan.com .

Surya brings to the company over 16 years of management and product development experience under multiple platforms and computing environments. He has proven ability to span the gap between evolving business requirements and technical implementation. His strong project management skills complement his technical expertise in architecting and delivering distributed enterprise solutions.

Prior to Arctern, Surya served as a Senior Manager - R & D at Everest Software (formerly iCode Software) where he led the design, development and delivery of Everest, an award winning multi-tier e-business and e-commerce software suite, using state-of-the-art Microsoft technologies. During the past 11 years at Everest, he has demonstrated continuous product and process improvements as well as technology migration. He was also instrumental in identifying and integrating key OEM components and solutions for the Everest product line.  Before Everest, Surya worked with a domestic IT organization developing and implementing business automation solutions for several retail/wholesale businesses and manufacturing industries.

Surya holds an MBA and a Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications from Nagarjuna University .  When not working, he enjoys reading, watching cricket, traveling and spending time with family and friends.

Kamal Mehta
Executive Director

Kamal Mehta is a senior executive with a unique combination of professional management and entrepreneurial experiences across USA and India spanning over forty years. In addition to being a member of Arctern’s Board of Directors, Mr. Mehta is responsible for managing all administrative activities of the company including procurement, vendor management, facilities management, imports, and liaison with STPI/Customs, Real-Estate planning, and travel. Mr. Mehta's cross-border experiences working in the US and in India are very helpful toward our vision of bridging the global workforce. Mr. Mehta's team is instrumental in delivering quality infrastructure and back-office support for all Arctern offices worldwide.

Prior to Arctern, Mr. Mehta was Executive Manager - Finance & Admin at iCode, Inc. and a mentor for the company founders. He played a significant role in helping the company setup a strategic alliance for R&D in Mumbai during its early years and later its offshore operations in Bangalore including the company's technical support center.

In parallel to iCode, Mr. Mehta owned and managed several businesses including a chain of retail video stores, check cashing businesses, and car dealerships in Virginia and Maryland for over twenty years.

Prior to migrating to the United States, Mr. Mehta was Regional Manager at a nationalized bank in India managing several branches across West and North India and its Foreign Exchange Division.

Mr. Mehta was also the Vice Chairman of Shruti Swaram an India Art Academy to promote young and budding artists.

Mr. Mehta completed his Bachelors in Arts and Commerce from Gujarat University. He also completed his higher education and professional certification as a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Banking (C.A.I.I.B).

Outside of work, Mr. Mehta has a passion for traveling and entertainment and has traveled to over twenty countries around the world. He also enjoys sports including golf, swimming, cricket, badminton, and ping-pong.

Pallavi Mehta
Director – Marketing

In addition to being a co-founder and member of Arctern’s Board of Directors, Pallavi is responsible for all marketing activities of the company including branding, advertising, and public relations. Pallavi's cross-border experiences working in the US and in India are very helpful toward our vision of bridging the global workforce. Pallavi's team is instrumental in providing us with the right visibility, messaging, lead generation, and overall positioning of the company. Since the company's inception, Pallavi manages ongoing special projects across various functions.

Prior to Arctern, Pallavi was the Head of Operations at Granny’s Goodies, a Washington DC based full-service promotional and marketing company. Earlier in her career, Pallavi has also worked in various capacities including sales, marketing, HR, finance, and research at iCode Software Private Limited, DCW Public Limited, Saraswat Cooperative Bank, and Polaris Software Private Limited.

Pallavi has a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (MBA) in Marketing and Finance from KLS Institute of Management, Education and Research, Belgaum, India and a Bachelors of Science in Physics, Math, and Electronics from GSS Karnataka University, India.

Sudhakar Vishwanath
Corporate Counsel

Sudhakar Vishwanath is the Corporate Counsel at Arctern. He is responsible for planning and directing all aspects of the company’s legal affairs in India including matters related to corporate/company compliance, employment/labour, contracts, M&A, financing, real estate, intellectual property and general commercial transactions.

Prior to Arctern, Sudhakar has worked for over 7 years as the Company Secretary and Compliance Officer of Compulink Systems Limited, Pune, India and had successfully contributed in managing the venture funding and IPO.

With over 10 years of experience in the areas of Legal and Company Secretarial functions, Sudhakar holds a Bachelors Degree in Law and Commerce and is an Associate Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, New Delhi.

Besides working, Sudhakar is a passionate part-time cricketer and an avid weekend trekker/traveler.

Narresh Galidevara
Director - Recruitment

Narresh Galidevara is Director – Recruitment at Arctern. He is a savvy recruitment professional with more than 14 years of experience in human resource acquisition. His objective is to recruit the best and brightest people across the spectrum of Arctern’s practice areas. Narresh is responsible for developing and maintaining the company’s recruitment engine to support high volume recruitment without compromising on quality across multiple geographies.

Prior to joining Arctern, Narresh worked for Invensys Development Center India Ltd. as its Staffing Head. He contributed significantly toward the company’s fast headcount growth from 150 to more than 1200 employees during his tenure. He was accountable for all staffing related initiatives like developing, streamlining, and implementing recruitment processes, conducting performance assessments & training, and designing the compensation structure for the IDC centers in India. His forte was to proactively recruit candidates through various channels including paper ads, online resume databases, placement consultants, local advertising, networking/personal contacts, employee referrals and direct sourcing. He mastered the art of maximizing operational excellence in the staffing process across multiple business groups. Narresh has a great passion for recruitment.

Earlier in his career, Narresh has held key positions in Ace Corporate Solutions, Pentasoft Technologies, Hamsh.com, & Objectsoft Group.

Narresh acquired a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University and further advanced his academic background by gaining his MBA – HR, from Andhra University.

He enjoys traveling and exploring new places with his family during his leisure time.

Ramachandran Krishnamurthy
Director - Services

Ramachandran Krishnamurthy is a certified project management professional (PMP) with 15 years of experience in IT services delivery and product development. He has end to end experience from pre-sales to post implementation support/sustenance in software development lifecycle.

Prior to joining Arctern, Ramachandran worked for companies like NXP Semiconductors and Wipro Technologies. During his tenure at Wipro, he has managed high value large enterprise mission critical projects involving multi-vendor and multi-site implementations for fortune 500 clients. He has implemented SEI CMM Level 5 quality processes and piloted lean software development processes. He has also contributed significantly towards product development and delivery at Interactive Health Network Inc., USA, for a period of 6 years.

Ramachandran received his Masters in Computer Applications from Bharathidasn University, India and Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Madurai Kamaraj University, India.

He enjoys music and books.

Rinku Ganesh
Director - HR

Rinku is an HR Professional with an overall work experience of 12 years out of which 4 years have been spent in the Sales industry and 8 years in the BPO industry. She specializes in areas like Transition, Recruitment, Employee Engagement and Compensation & Benefits.

Prior to working with Arctern, Rinku was heading the HR function at neoIT Consulting, a services globalization firm headquartered in the US. She designed a competency-based 360-degree Performance Management System, that helped improve efficiency & compliance. She has designed and implemented Employee Satisfaction Surveys and Individual Development Programs.

Prior to neoIT, she worked with ITC Clientlogic and helped put together a lot of organization development interventions and rolled out mentoring programs which helped increase retention. Apart from ITC, she has worked with BPO's like Progeon (now called Infosys BPO) and FirstRing Inc. (now FirstSource)

She holds a post graduation in English from Bangalore University along with an MBA in HR from Chennai University.

Rinku's family comprises of her husband and her 5 year old son. Her favorite past time is reading self-help management books and writing poems in Hindi and English.

Nicolas Orolin
Vice President - Direct Sales

Nick Orolin is a seasoned executive with numerous experiences in building new and innovative technology business units across North America, Europe, Australia, & Asia. He has a deep understanding of multiple sales methodologies including direct, channel, alliances, distribution and agent networks and a broad set of experiences running marketing and operations teams to achieve improved efficiency and rapid sales growth.

Early in his career he was tapped by the CEO of MicroStrategy (NASD: MSTR) to launch the company’s e-CRM subsidiary, Strategy.com. Nick led all sales, marketing, business development and product management functions and built the organization to nearly 220 employees and $15 million in direct revenue, and another $30 million in service revenue for the parent company, in less than 24 months. This brought him to the attention of Precise (NASD: PRSE, HQ: Israel) where he was recruited by the CEO to launch the North American J2EE division. Employing a joint sales strategy of direct sales and strategic alliances with IBM and BEA Systems, Nick successfully grew the division and the following year the company was acquired by Veritas (NASD: VRTS). The acquisition brought Nick back to Virginia where he joined iCode, Inc (renamed as Everest Software, Inc.). As head of North American Sales and a trusted advisor to the company founders, Nick helped grow the company revenues and market penetration across various verticals.

In 2004, Nick was recruited by the President of North America for Integrated Research (AIX: IRI, HQ: Australia) to launch the company’s voice-over-IP product suite into the US market. Nick partnered closely with Cisco, Cisco Certified Gold Partners and Ingram Micro to distribute the product suite. In 2006, Nick finally realized a long-term goal of starting his own company. He co-founded an e-CRM services company and built a suite of offerings for a major International bank in Europe. Two years later, Nick sold his equity position to his partner and joined Arctern.

Nick graduated top of the Business School class at the University of Wales with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics and Management Studies. He also holds a Master of Philosophy Degree in Management Studies from Oxford University and conducted post-Master’s research at The University of Cambridge.

Robert Kazmi
Director - Channel Sales

Robert is a seasoned multinational executive whose forte is setting up and growing businesses internationally.

Prior to joining Arctern, Robert has held executive leadership positions in sales, marketing and operations for multinational technology companies. He is experienced in selling to and supporting a vast array of companies from Fortune 100 to SME’s.

Robert has worked with technology service and product companies and has been responsible for setting up and running overseas back-office and front-office infrastructure and support. He has been responsible for marketing, branding and product life-cycle management and delivery.

Most recently, Robert served as head of account management at Everest Software, Inc. where he was responsible for doubling the size of the team and more than doubling revenues.

Prior to Everest Software, Inc. Robert was VP of US Operations for Wisdom Information Consultants/Thrulogic Itech, Inc. a Dutch Multinational software services provider.

Before Wisdom/Thrulogic, Robert was head of marketing for Fact Software; a Singapore based financial accounting and payroll software developer. He was responsible for the marketing and sales operations for the Fact’s Regional Office in India. He was responsible for establishing Fact as a recognizable brand in the region through many innovative marketing programs and local partnerships.

Robert is widely traveled and has lived and worked in the US, most western European countries and India. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and has many software programming and sales and leadership accreditations.