Management & Leadership

Ashok Soota

Executive Chairman

Ashok Soota, Executive Chairman of Happiest Minds Technologies Limited (NSE:HAPPSTMNDS), is widely recognized as one of the pioneering leaders of the Indian IT industry.

Ashok was earlier founding Chairman & MD of Mindtree, a company he also led to a very successful IPO. Prior to Mindtree, he led Wipro’s IT business for fifteen years, making it the second largest IT company in India. He also led the turnaround of Shriram Refrigeration into a highly profitable company after four straight years of losses.

Ashok has been the President of leading industry association, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force for IT and was on the Advisory Council for the World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva. He is a Fellow of INAE and CSI and on the Board of Governors of Asian Institute Management (AIM), Philippines. He is a recipient of multiple IT Person of the Year (Dataquest and Elcina) and Lifetime Achievements Awards including Financial Express (2016), Dataquest (2017) and Chiratae Ventures, earlier IDG Ventures (2018).

On April 5, 2021, Ashok launched SKAN (Scientific Knowledge for Ageing and Neurological Ailments), India’s first private sector, non-profit organization, exclusively dedicated to carry out medical research on ageing and neurological disorders. SKAN seeks to be a global leader in gut microbiome research, specifically the gut-brain axis. Ashok has committed US$ 50 million (₹375 Crores) for SKAN and the goals are to find kinder and gentler remedies; to delay the onset and slow the progression of the diseases; and to enrich the lives of people afflicted with such ailments. Ashok is not new to philanthropic work. He is the Founding Trustee of Ashirvadam, an NGO committed to caring for the environment and providing support to the needy including vocational training, education and medical assistance.

Ashok holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Roorkee (now called Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee) and a Master of Business Management degree from the Asian Institute of Management, Philippines.

Ashok is co-author of the national bestseller – “Entrepreneurship Simplified: From Idea to IPO”.

Joseph Anantharaju

Executive Vice Chairman & CEO
Product Engineering Services (PES)

Joseph has over 25 years of professional experience, primarily focused on helping technology and digital engineering companies unlock new levers of growth. In 2011, he became one of the co-founders of Happiest Minds and currently serves as its Executive Vice Chairman and a member of its Executive Board. Joseph’s instrumental role in establishing the Company’s Product Engineering Business Unit helped in substantiating its digital credentials and contributed towards a highly successful IPO.

Previously, Joseph owned the P&L responsibility at Mindtree for the Microsoft Strategic Business Unit. In this role, he devised and implemented a strategic program that helped the Company become one of the largest vendors and engineering partner of choice for Microsoft. In his stint with Aztecsoft (later acquired by Mindtree), he was first responsible for making inroads into Microsoft and rapidly scaling it into a multi million-dollar account. During his combined association with both companies, he was instrumental in winning several large deals while contributing in strategy formulation, customer engagement and strategic marketing. He started his career in banking and manufacturing before foraying into the world of IT.

Joseph holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from BITS Pilani and a PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad.

Rajiv Shah

President & CEO
Digital Business Services (DBS)

Rajiv Shah is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Business Services and member of the Executive Board of our Company. He is a global executive with more than 30 years of experience across the healthcare, financial services, technology, travel/transportation, and software industries.

Rajiv has held leadership and Board level positions at technology-driven organizations including Electronic Data Systems (EDS), Wipro Technologies, IBS Software Services, and Mu Sigma. Prior to Happiest Minds, he was an advisor to Founder CEOs and various companies and worked with PE firms during their investment evaluation process.

As a CEO and Executive Director of IBS, he turned around the company with proprietary software by engineering the change in business model from on-premise to SaaS which improved revenue and profitability visibility. He drove their global expansion, initiated acquisitions and integration of niche product companies, and facilitated a major transaction to provide profitable exit to shareholders.

Rajiv led Financial and Healthcare Business Units at Wipro. He also oversaw the establishment of international operations of an IT major, EDS, a JV between the largest US BPO TeleTech and Bharti group and a new entity for an Australian Conglomerate – Kerry Packer Group. He then ran these businesses as a CEO and Executive Director.

Rajiv holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri. He has completed Executive Management courses at multiple business schools and has also participated in Global Leadership Alliance Training in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Stanford University. He speaks at various forums and has published leadership articles.

Ram Mohan C

President and CEO
Infrastructure Management
and Security Services (IMSS)

Ram Mohan is President and CEO of Infrastructure Management and Security Services Business Division and a member of the Executive Board in Happiest Minds Technologies.

Previously, Ram was EVP and Global Head of IMS, Enterprise Integration, Mainframe services and APAC business in Mindtree. He was also CISO for Mindtree, responsible for organizational automation. Prior to that, he was EVP - Operations of e4e.

He was Founder and COO of Vinciti Networks, a specialized service provider in Infrastructure Management and Tech Support (IMTS) which he ran successfully for five years and built a 1,200 strong team, before rolling up to the holding company.

Ram has worked in the Support Division at Wipro for 11 years in various capacities from customer support to business development, and helped the formation of its Global Support division, now Global Infrastructure Services division.

Ram worked as a Systems Manager in MPACT Immedia, Michigan, USA, thus acquiring the multifaceted experience in IT management and business, technology, operations and managing multiple business.

He has 30+ years of experience in IMTS, including last 20 years in senior management positions. He has the experience of working both in service organizations and product companies and has played key role in M&A activities.

Ram holds a Bachelor of Electronics Engineering degree with distinction from Bangalore University. He is a distinguished speaker in many Infrastructure and Support forums and seminars. He has also taught MBA (IT) to students of Symbiosis. He is the winner of the coveted Chairman’s Award at Mindtree and at Happiest Minds and the CSO Award.

Venkatraman Narayanan

Managing Director and CFO

Venkat is the Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Board of our Company. He is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce and in Law. He has been associated with our Company since April 2015 and has over 25 years of experience in general management, operations, finance and law.

Previously, he was CFO, Sonata Software, TeamLease Services, Perot Systems TSI (India), Transworks Information Services, and Mindtree. He was Director - Operations Oracle and Consultant at Arthur Andersen. He has been on the Board of Directors of Sonata’s subsidiaries and Perot Systems.