The Team
Sumeet earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar and John Loeb fellow. He also earned a Master’s in Management from Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM), where he was an Aditya Birla Scholar and a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, where he received a “University Blue” for outstanding contribution to the University Squash team, of which he was the captain.
Sumeet provides overall leadership to Samara Advisors and spends his time in strengthening the Samara brand amongst entrepreneurs, company managements, bankers and financiers.
Previously, Gautam was a Director with Citigroup’s Corporate & Investment Banking business in India, and over 13 years, led various parts of the franchise including the public sector and South India businesses.
He graduated cum laude from Princeton University with an AB in Political Economy and followed it with an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.
Gautam is also an amateur middle-distance runner and high-altitude hiker.
Previously, Paurush worked with Deutsche Bank Global Markets in India as a Vice President during 2007-08, heading the coverage function for eastern India. Paurush worked with Citigroup Corporate & Investment Bank, during 2004-07 in the eastern India market as a senior banker and Vice President. Paurush started his banking career with HSBC India in 2000 and worked in various functions and markets from 2000-04.
Paurush holds an MBA degree from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow and received his B.E. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee.
Manish has led investments in the Consumer, Retail, Healthcare and Business Services verticals for the Fund. He serves on the board of Sapphire Foods, Iron Mountain India, Lotus Surgicals and First Meridian Business Services and was previously associated with Paradise Food Court, Ganga Kaveri Seeds, Thyrocare Technologies and Asian Institute of Gastroenterology.
Prior to joining Samara Capital, Manish worked with the Private Equity Fund at Lehman Brothers in New York. Before that, Manish was a Principal in a $10 billion multi-strategy hedge fund at Barclays Global Investors. Manish also briefly worked in Real Estate Private Equity at Grove International Partners (Soros Fund) where he was covering investments primarily in the hotel sector. Manish began his finance career with Lehman Brothers in 2001 in New York.
Manish earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School where he graduated with Distinction. He also holds a Master of Science degree in Transportation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Bachelors degree in engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee.
Previously, Vikram worked with PwC Delhi where he spent over seven years in the tax and regulatory practice.
Vikram is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a commerce graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi.
Previously, Abhik has worked with organisations such as Hindustan Unilever, RPG Group, TNT India, Spoton Logistics, and Delhivery. Abhik is a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Varanasi.
Previously, Girish worked with Cadbury Schweppes plc UK (FMCG Business) for over 28 years in various positions as CFO and Commercial Director for Cadbury India, Finance Director for Cadbury Beverages Europe, Finance Director Cadbury SEA (Bangkok), Director Assurance Cadbury Plc in UK. He worked as Group CFO for Gammon India (Infrastructure business) for 4 years and PE Advisory for international business for two years. In 2010 and 2011 he was recognized as “Top 100 CFO” in India and in 2015 as “CFO lead of Excellence” by CFO Magazine.
Girish is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), Chartered Management Accountant (FCMA) from CIMA UK, Cost Accountant from Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ACMA) and a commerce graduate from Mumbai University. He has an Independent Director certification from Evaluation Board UK/ Hunt Partners India.
Abhishek has investment experience across the focus sectors for Samara Advisors and currently leads the investment vertical for Healthcare, NBFCs & SFBs and Consumer – Personal Care and Apparels sector. He currently serves on the board of Nature’s Essence, Spoton Logistics, Sahajanand Medical Technologies and Lotus Surgicals. He was previously associated with Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, RBL Bank, Global Coal and Sharekhan.
Prior to this, Abhishek was in the Equity Investments team of Reliance Asset Management (now Nippon Life Asset Management) which had an AUM of over USD 20bn in 2008.
Abhishek is an MBA from SPJIMR, Mumbai and a Master of Commerce from Mumbai University. He is also a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
He leads investments for the firm in certain sectors – Technology Services and Products, Pharmaceutical, Auto & Auto Ancillary and Media & Entertainment. He serves on the board of Cogencis, Oaknet Healthcare, SMS Integrated Facilities Management & Gamot (API Pharma platform) and is involved in More Retail Limited.
Previously, Anchit was at Kubera Partners and was involved in seven investments and two exits with more than USD100 million at work across sectors such as technology, media services, automotive ancillary, education and biotechnology. Prior to Kubera, he was an analyst with the corporate finance practice at McKinsey & Co.
Anchit has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Chicago and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from Delhi University. He also holds an MS (Finance) and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charter from ICFAI University, Hyderabad.
Prior to Samara Advisors, he was with Aumentis Consulting, a management consulting firm. At Aumentis, Nilay worked on client engagements across consumer and retail space. For two years, he led the team which handled India operations of Mitsui Global Investments, the PE/ VC arm of Mitsui Corporation of Japan. He also worked for a year with Manhattan Associates in supply chain solutions.
Nilay holds an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode and a B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee.
Prior to this, Sameer worked with MSCI where he was part of the ESG and Climate research team and focused on evaluating the emerging ESG regulations and the associated risks for companies. He started his professional journey as an ESG Consultant in 2012 and led ESG strategy and disclosure projects for clients across manufacturing, FMCG, energy and materials sector.
Sameer holds M. Tech in Energy Systems Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and B. Tech in Electrical Engineering from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Raipur.
Prior to Samara, she has worked with FirstMeridian as the head of Strategy and Corporate Development. Earlier, she was an Investment Banker with Avendus in their Mumbai office, advising companies on their fund-raising, organic and inorganic growth plans primarily in the Digital and Technology sector.
Her last stint was with Flipkart focussing on both financial and strategic Investments.
Monika is a graduate from Delhi University and has completed her MBA from SPJIMR, Mumbai.
Prior to joining Samara Advisors, Pratik worked at PwC in its Assurance division for nearly 10 years. Pratik specialized in financial services and his clients included venture funds, non-banking finance companies, broking companies and banks. His area of work included statutory and tax audit, group reporting and internal controls review. He also has experience in US GAAP/ GAAS.
He is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a Graduate in Commerce from N. M. College of Commerce & Economics affiliated to Mumbai University.
Previously, Shilpa worked with Globeop Financial Services Private Limited where she spent around 4.5 years in the fund accounting department.
Shilpa is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a commerce graduate from Mumbai University.
Prior to joining Samara, Lalita worked with HSBC as a Customer Service Officer for four years.
Lalita holds a Post-Graduation degree from Mumbai University majoring in Political Science and ranked Second in the University. She completed her Bachelors in Arts, majoring in Economics and Political Science having secured First rank in the University.
Previously, she has worked with Samara portfolio companies – Witzig Advisory and SMS and led their legal and secretarial departments. She has also appeared before the Bombay High Court and handled arbitrations during her stints with law firms. She has got her articles published in various esteemed journals including Taxmann.com and Corporate Law Adviser magazine.
Sneha is a Company Secretary from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and is a law graduate from ILS Law College, Pune.
He has more than 30 years’ experience in creating and growing profitable businesses across consumer product categories – food and apparel retail, packaged food, paints, oil and gas and has a track record of delivering high impact business results in every role. Sanjay is able to combine deep consumer understanding and a strong strategic orientation with execution excellence.
Sanjay is passionate about building high performing teams & an enabling work culture rooted in the foundational values of Excellence, Courage, Integrity, Empathy and Personal Accountability that he espouses.
He was the Managing Director for Levi Strauss & Co India, handling the India operations for 6 years for the iconic American jeans wear company. Before Levi’s, he was with Cadbury India for 11 years as Executive Director and Board Member and has also worked with Mobil Peeves (a joint venture of Exxon-Mobil), Asian Paints and Kansai Nerolac Paints.
Sanjay is a Mechanical Engineer from NIT Surathkal and an alumnus of The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.
Vinod brings a unique combination of inspiring leadership and first principles-based problem solving approach with passionate customer obsession. His strategic clarity coupled with a strong execution bias shall drive exceptional results in the years to come.
Vinod has done his MBA in Marketing from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
Prior to joining Samara Capital, Amit was the President and Head – Ad Sales in Star India and had also been the CEO of its entertainment business. Amit Chopra joined Star in 2013 to lead sales. A year later, he took on the role of revenue head, managing profits for distribution and ad sales. Following this he was named CEO of entertainment at Star, overseeing the business delivery of entertainment channels - drama and movie channels in Hindi, English, Bengali and Marathi.
As CEO of Hindustan Media Ventures between 2007-2013, Amit was instrumental in transforming the company and making ‘Hindustan’ as the 3rd largest daily newspaper in India.
Amit has also held various challenging and leadership roles at Unilever for 7+ years.
Amit holds an MBA degree from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad and received his B.E. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.
Sudhakar brings along 36 years of work experience from his entrepreneurial/professional journey across streams including Sales, Marketing, HR, Strategy Formulation and P&L Management, of which 25 years experience is within the Human Capital business, with entities like Adecco India/Middle East, SIFY and ABC Consultants among others.
During Sudhakar’s 14 years of leadership at Adecco India as the Managing Director and CEO, Adecco India had the distinction to become the first HR services provider in India to cross the 100,000 head count mark in temporary staffing.
Sudhakar is a post-graduate from Madras School of Social Work. He has attended Management Development Program at IIM Kozhikode, Senior Leadership Program at INSEAD, Fountainbleau, France and Leadership Development Program at IMD Business School at Lausanne, Switzerland.
He is an Investor, an avid reader and plays tennis in his spare time.
He has been a veteran in the sutures industry starting his career as the Head of Sales and Marketing for Centenial Surgical Suture in late 1990’s and making it the largest Indian suture company before taking the entrepreneurial route by founding Lotus in 2005.
Mehernosh started his career with Pfizer in 1979 as a Sales representative and moved into various managerial roles during his stint with Pfizer.
Gautam holds an MBA degree from Indian institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow and also received his B. Tech. degree from the Indian institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.
In his leisure time, you will find him on a cricket pitch or behind the wheel for a long drive.
Supratim brings a unique combination of experience with turning around private equity owned businesses and first principles-based problem-solving approach through extensive use of technology and analytics.
Supratim has done his Master’s degree in Finance and Market graduating from the founding batch of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
Ganesh is currently also the President of the Indian association of Medical Stents Manufacturers. He has cross-cultural as well as global exposure in medical devices, life sciences, chemical and financial services industry.
Ganesh holds an MBA degree from the Washington University in Saint Louis, USA and is also a Company Secretary from Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
He enjoys Golf, EDM & Trekking. He is also passionate about giving back to the society and is closely associated with an NGO called Round Table India.
Prior to that till 2018, as Executive Director of Max Fashions India, Vasanth has conceptualized and led the brand’s aggressive growth plans since its inception in 2005. Max is now the largest omni-channel mono brand in the Value Fashion segment with close to 400 stores across 120 cities.
Vasanth also conceptualized Easybuy retail format, a home-grown value apparel concept for Tier II cities in India in 2015 and mentored it to become profitable. Easybuy is distributed across 100 exclusive stores and Spar Hypermarket shop-in-shops in the country.
Prior to 2005, he spent a decade with Madura Garments (marketing premium brands such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen and Allen Solly) and has successfully established Peter England as one of the largest selling apparel brands. He has also worked with Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) in Sales and Marketing early in his career.
Vasanth was recognized amongst the “TOP 100 Retail Icons over the past 25 years“ by IMAGES in 2019. He had also been awarded “Retail Professional of the year” by CMAI in 2015 for his contribution to the outstanding growth of Max Fashion India and also got “Retail Leadership” award at Indian Retail Congress in April 2016.
Vasanth is a certified “CEO Coach” (from CFI) and a “Team coach” (Marshall Goldsmith SCC). He is also a “Business Model Coaching” practitioner (Bruce Hazen).
Vasanth is a B.E from Anna University (CEG), has an M.Tech from IIT , Chennai and a MBA in Marketing & Finance from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
He has 30+ years of experience in pharmaceuticals & medical devices industry.
Prior to joining Lotus, Rajiv was the Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Healthium Medtech. During his stint, he oversaw the successful exit of ownership from TPG to Apax Partners.
He has held various leadership roles at Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly & Wanbury. He has led the entire sales & marketing operations with P&L responsibility across Acute & Chronic segments like Diabetes, Oncology, Cardiology, Virology, Hormone therapy & Critical Care teams.
Rajiv holds a diploma in Business Management and Marketing from NMIMS.
He has spent nearly 14 years in the Facility Services / Building Management domain ; with extensive expertise in Mechanical, Electrical and Control Systems (as well as Managed Services) that make buildings (commercial, industrial and residential) healthy, safe, secure, sustainable and cost effective (productivity, operational efficiency, energy efficiency).
Prior to this current role, he was the Chief Executive Officer for Writer Corporation’s Relocations Business.
Tarun is an MBA from SIBM, Pune and a B.E (Electrical) from Pune University.
in March 1999, she was a Senior Manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers (Mauritius), with particular exposure in the financial, textile and tourism sectors, including management of overseas projects financed by international financial institutions such as the World Bank. She had previously worked for KPMG (Manchester) for 6 years, where she specialized in the Banking and Finance sector and Value for Money audits.
closed-end funds, investment holding companies and trusts. She is also involved in fund structuring and set-ups. As part of her scope of work, she sits on the Board of global business license companies. Prior to joining SANNE Mauritius in April 2003, Dilshaad was in the Audit and Assurance Team of PricewaterhouseCoopers Mauritius. She handled audits mainly in the fields of telecommunications, health, tourism, manufacturing, services and financial services sector.
food production and distribution. He is also a member of the Investor/ Consultant Subcommittee of Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS). Imrith has more than 19 years’ experience in the financial services sector. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants UK (FCCA). Imrith graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Business Science (Honours) degree.
from 1997-98 to 1999-2000. Recently, he has also served as a Deputy Commissioner of the Independent Commission against Corruption in Mauritius.
Since 2008, he is the Chairperson of the Audit Practice Review Panel of the Financial Reporting Council, a regulatory body for the accounting and auditing profession in Mauritius.
was with PricewaterhouseCoopers (Mauritius) in the Audit department. Over the years, she has developed in-depth knowledge of the financial services sector coupled with practical know-how on the operations, regulatory and compliance aspects for global business entities.