Our speakers

Dr. Ramesh Byrapaneni, Venture Partner, Ventureast

Dr. Ramesh Babu MD FACC is a Venture Partner with the Ventureast Tenet Fund, a premier seed-stage VC Fund consisting of investments across technology and technology-enabled sectors. With significant managerial and entrepreneurial experience, Dr. Ramesh brings a passion for early stage ventures, commitment to work, business acumen and a complementary rolodex. Healthcare, Education, Services (Consumer as well as Business) and Government Verticals are his key sectoral strengths.

Dr. Ramesh was Chief of Cardiology and Managing Director at Medwin Hospital. He is also the President of TiE Hyderabad and one of the Founding Members of Hyderabad Angels. He has been actively involved with Nephroplus a Healthcare startup, backed by funding from Bessemer. He has also jumpstarted various innovative initiatives like Hyderabad 10K run (the first to start these 10k runs in the country) and Health Awareness Promotion Project India (HAPPi) Hearts project to prevent Non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Dr. Ramesh has had an excellent academic career. Dr. Ramesh Babu did his postgraduation in Internal Medicine, postdoctoral fellowship in Cardiology from PGI, Chandigarh, and Interventional Cardiology Fellowship from University of Alabama, Birmingham, USA. He was adjudged the Best Outgoing Student from the University.

Not surprising then that when you ask Dr. Ramesh what he likes, pat comes the reply, ‘Working'. But that does not mean he is all work and no play. His friends believe he is a cheerful person to have around. Dr. Ramesh lives with his wife, Dr. Srinagi, a doctor again, who is as gutsy as her better half. He has two sons and a daughter, and no, they are not doctors. He encouraged them to follow their heart and find their own calling, whether law, engineering or entrepreneurship.

Dr. Rana Mehta, Executive Director – Healthcare, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Dr. Rana Mehta currently leads the Healthcare Advisory at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) He has over 15 years of experience in strategizing, planning, commissioning and operations of over 50 hospitals in South Asia. He has developed customized healthcare solutions to suit client needs within political, socio economic, geographic, and demographic imperatives.

Dr. Mehta also worked for  the Apollo Hospitals Group, Asia’s largest private healthcare provider He has been instrumental in commissioning and operating the Group’s hospitals in Delhi and Colombo.

Educational Profile
Master of Hospital Administration (MHA), Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Medical College, Kolkata, India.

Dr. Ranjit Nair, Co-Founder & CEO, Germin8

Dr. Ranjit Nair is the co-founder and CEO of Germin8, a Big Data analytics company focused building products that provide action-oriented analytics from social media interactions. These analytics drive tactical and strategic decisions related to Marketing, PR, Customer Care and Sales.

Ranjit is a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Southern California where he focused on decision-making in multiagent teams. Post his doctorate, he worked as Senior Research Scientist with Honeywell Labs, developing algorithms for decision making in the face of imprecise and incomplete information.

The urge to set up a product company focused on decision making brought him back to India where he co-founded Germin8.

Ranjit is a member of CII's Committee on Knowledge Management and Business Outcomes and serves as the President of the Mumbai chapter of USC's Alumni Club. He is also an active speaker at conferences and educational institutes.

Dr. Ravi Gaur, MD & COO, Oncquest Laboratories Ltd | @oncquest_lab

Dr. Ravi Gaur, MD Pathology, is the Chief Operating Officer and Lab Director of Oncquest Laboratories, the largest Molecular Onco Pathology laboratory in India. He has 25 years plus experience in the field of Pathology and Health care management. He brought International recognition to the Indian Healthcare Industry in the form of accreditation from the College of American Pathologists (CAP – USA). Currently he operates over 23 labs, including a super specialty centre in New Delhi with over 500 collection centre’s all over India.

Dr. Gaur is a member of many expert and advisory bodies of the industry. He is a senior member of FICCI National health care Committee. He is a quality expert with vast experience of NABL processes and was one of first India based Indian to be certified as International inspector for quality audits for College of American Pathology (CAP-USA).Before joining Oncquest in 2009, Dr Gaur was heading North & East India division of Piramal and Pathnet India Ltd ( a unit of Gribbles Pathology, Australia) He has served in the Army Medical Corps for about 15 years and holds a rank of Major of Indian Army. He has recently been awarded for excellence in setting up a global standard molecular pathology lab in India by Word Wide Achievers and ASSOCCHAM.

Dr. Raviganesh Venkataraman, CEO, Cloudnine Group of Hospitals

Dr. Ravindranath Kancharla, CMD, Global Hospitals Pvt. Ltd

Dr. Ravindranath Kancharla, M.S., FRCS (Glasgow) FRCS (Edin.) founded Global Hospitals Private Ltd. and also serves as its Managing Director. Dr. Kancharla serves as Vice President of Shiridi Sai Medical Trust, Nellore. He Worked about 7 years in the United Kingdom in various positions at Darlington Memorial Hospital, Hammersmith Hospital, St. Mark's Hospital and King's College Hospital. He has performed over 15,000 Laparoscopic Operations including over 9000 Laparoscopic Gall Bladder operations.

Dr. Kancharla was Founding member and served as Treasurer of Endoscopic & Laparoscopic Surgeons of Asia, Singapore (First Indian to occupy this post). He served as Hon. Secretary of Indian Association of Gastrointestinal & Endosurgeons from 1998 to 2000. He served as Vice President of Endoscopic & Laparoscopic Surgeons of Asia, Singapore from 2001 to 2003. He served as President of Indian Association of Gastrointestinal Endosurgeons from 2000 to 2002 and President Iages from 2002 to 2004. Dr. Kancharla serves as the Chairman of the Board of Global Hospitals Private Ltd.

He serves as a Director of Institute of Laparoscopic Training Center, Hyderabad (Recognized by ELSA, Singapore). He serves as Member of St. Mark's Association, London. He is Guest Faculty of Scientific Committee member for many International meetings of Endosurgery, Laparoscopic Surgery & G1 Surgery. 

Dr. Rex Davis, MD, dunnhumby India

Dr. Rex Davis is a leading retail scientist who has spent his career exploring the phenomenon of human behaviour and decision-making within the retail environment. As a marketer, researcher, and an analyst, Rex brings over a decade of experience to dunnhumby in helping businesses better understand their customers and adopt a customer-first approach as a key growth strategy. Rex oversees the company’s Gurgaon, India office and leads the global analyst and technology teams responsible for storing and interpreting customer data and insights for clients around the world. Prior to his current role, Rex served as Vice President, Insights, USA and was responsible for leading the insights solution group, providing leadership in the development of data modeling techniques and the delivery of customer-driven implications for The Kroger Co. and consumer packaged goods (CPG) partners. Since joining the company, Rex has been instrumental in shaping innovation and best practise standards on a global scale. Prior to dunnhumby, Rex spent seven years in marketing, customer loyalty, and analytics at Coles Myer, one of Australia’s two major retailers. At Coles, as National Loyalty Manager Rex was accountable for the company’s investment in fuel, loyalty, and direct marketing. Before that as Head of Analytics, he was responsible for driving insights out of an extensive database that covered 15% of the Australian retail economy. Striving for ever-increasing levels of insight, Rex is a major asset to our India team as the team maximises the value that India brings to dunnhumby globally.

Dr. Risham Garg, Associate Professor of Law, Associate Dean, Executive Director, Centre for Transnational Commercial Law (CTCL), National Law University Delhi

Dr. Robert Benhenni, CEO of QFA, Inc.

Dr. Robert Benhenni, CEO of QFA, Inc. He is also a lecturer at the University of Bergamo, (Italy) and Portfolio Advisor to Classis Capital, SpA. (Milan)

Robert Benhenni holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics (Statistical Probability) from UCLA (University of California Los Angeles), and an MBA in Finance from the University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business.

CORE COMPETENCIES:

• Deep knowledge of High Yield and Distressed credit investment strategies (e.g., QFA, NYU Stern Salomon Center for the Credit Markets, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Nicomachean Partners, Natixis)
• Thorough knowledge of valuation of credit securities including structured credit, full capital structure debt claims and credit derivatives (Credit Suisse, Nicomachean Partners, Natixis)
• Strong background in the application of statistical techniques to the financial markets such as the application of statistical survival analysis to default prediction (e.g., Morgan Stanley) and the successful application of Bayesian dynamic multifactor econometric models to systematic investments strategies in Futures (e.g., QFA)
• Thorough knowledge of portfolio construction analytics and asset allocation techniques (e.g., QFA, Natixis)
• High competence in risk management analytics such as Value-at-Risk, Credit Risk and Stress Testing (e.g., QFA, Morgan Stanley, Nicomachean Partners, Natixis)
• Strong background in the valuation of derivatives products, cash instruments and corporate firm valuation (e.g., Credit Suisse, Nicomachean Partners, Natixis, JP Morgan)
• Excellent capacity to explain complex issues clearly and succinctly no matter the professional or academic audience (e.g., Morgan Stanley, NYU Stern School of Business)

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Robert Benhenni created the first-ever Middle-Market company performance index providing early investment insights into major stock indexes: S&P 500, S&P SmallCap 600 and Russell 2000, that the media (WSJ, CNBC) have discussed (NYU Stern School of Business, QFA)
• Built a unique quantitative credit investment strategy in High Yield corporate bonds incorporating the business risk of the firm, the capital structure of the firm and earnings growth forecasts, and managed the fund resulting in superior performance (Natixis)
• Actively developed the CLO/CBO business: an instigator of the investment strategy to identify CLOs/CBOs relative value trades by quantifying the risk / return profiles of those products (Natixis)
• Built state-of-the-art credit default models for both non-financial firms and financial firms covering the full U.S. market that showed very high prediction power (Morgan Stanley)
• Developed a novel capital structure valuation model based on balance sheet simulation valuing senior/junior/secured debt and CDS; plus developed investment strategy applications such as capital structure arbitrage and optimal firm recapitalization models (Nicomachean Partners, Credit Suisse)
• Built systematic investment strategies in grain and soft commodity futures based on a state-of-the-art Bayesian dynamic multifactor econometric model resulting in stellar fund performance significantly outperforming most of the hedge funds (QFA)
• Chaired the portfolio risk management committee and successfully managed risk during turbulent times for all funds such as long/short Macro-Fund, long/short Equity, long Credit, and long/short Emerging Market debt (Natixis)

Dr. RS Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority, MoHFW (Govt. of India)

Dr. Ram Sewak Sharma is a former member of the prestigious Indian Administrative Service with a distinguished career in the Government of India and State Governments, leading reforms and leveraging IT to simplify administrative processes. In the process, he has contributed to shaping India's Policies in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). He combines planning and execution skills to ensure that policies work at the ground.

Dr. Sharma is presently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Authority responsible for managing the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) – the largest health insurance scheme of the World - and the Ayushman Bharat -Digital Mission. Also, he serves as the Chairperson of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19.

Previously, Dr Sharma headed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from August 2015 to September 2020, in which period he brought consumer focus to reaching the telecom and broadcasting services to all pockets of the country. And where the regulatory action may have been insufficient, he advocated policy changes to the government.

He provided thought leadership through initiatives, for example, in adopting Net Neutrality principles in India, use of crowdsourced data to measure service quality, and leveraging blockchain to achieve regulatory outcomes.

He pushed for development of indigenous technologies, keeping the country's needs in mind, e.g., to establish a grid of Wi-Fi hotspots or to make interoperable set-top boxes for television broadcast.

He represented India at various international fora and contributed to the policy space in communication technologies and broadcasting. Before joining the TRAI, Dr Sharma worked as Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, where he spearheaded the Digital India program to develop India into a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy.

He brought in policies related to open source, open standards, and open APIs in all government projects and shaped eGovernance space by converting silo applications in various sectors to modern, multi-tenanted enterprise systems.

Dr. Sharma supported the development and adoption of several digital products in governance and citizen services, such as eKYC, Digital Locker, eSign, Online Reservation System (ORS) in the hospitals, Digital Attendance, Jeevan Pramaan (a system for issuing Digital Life Certificate for the pensioners) and the Digital Consent Artefact. Importantly, he crafted policies for digital payments that led to the creation of the phenomenally successful UPI payment system in India.

Before joining the Government of India as Secretary, Dr Sharma worked for one year in 2013-14 as Chief Secretary in the Government of Bihar and Jharkhand, where he provided leadership to the entire administrative system of the State. He dealt with law and order, administration of the criminal justice system, revenue system and all other aspects of the work, for which a State Government is responsible under the Constitution. While there, he modernized governance and public service delivery systems using technology in several areas, such as land and property registration systems, municipal governance, Public Distribution System (PDS) and taxation systems.

Dr. Sharma is best known for the role he played as Director General & Mission Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India in the years 2009 – 2013.

Working closely with Mr Nandan Nilekani in overall design and implementation of Aadhaar, he brought to fruition Government of India’s ambitious project to provide a unique identity to all its residents. Today it is the world’s largest identity system, capable of biometrically authenticating every individual resident in the country.

He conceptualized (and later implemented) several services that leveraged the authentication infrastructure for better governance and for bringing in cost-effectiveness in both government and private enterprise.

In his other assignments, he has worked as District Magistrate in several districts in Bihar, Director of Treasuries, Secretary in different departments in the State and as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India.

In September 2020 Rupa Publications brought out his book The Making of Aadhaar: World's Largest Identity Platform (ISBN-13: 978-9390356126), which has been very well received.

Dr Sharma holds a PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi; Master’s in Computer Sciences from the University of California, USA; and Master’s in Mathematics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.