Rajeev is a first-generation entrepreneur and Angel investor in technology start-ups.

He along with his brother built one of India’s largest Security, Safety & Building Automation companies, which was acquired by Siemens.

Subsequently, they are focusing their efforts on technology businesses for the Building & Transportation verticals, with a presence in Australia, India, Ireland, Singapore, and the USA.

Rajeev is an alumnus of Loyola College and University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.

He is an Executive Committee member of The Chennai Angels, Charter Member of TiE Chennai, and Founding Director of Chennai International Centre (CIC). He is the Founder President of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization in Chennai, former Regional Chair of the Young Presidents’ Organization in South Asia, and is also the Honorary Consul of Ireland in Tamil Nadu.

Mahalingam K (Mali) is a Partner / Director at TSM Group of companies and a member of The Chennai Angels.

A Chemical Engineer from REC Trichy and an MBA from IIM Calcutta, Mali joined the family business in January 1988. TSM then was a single location car dealership in Chennai, employing around 10 people and selling around 75 pre-owned cars per month. TSM & Sons today is one of the largest pre-owned car dealerships in South India and currently sells around 5000 cars a year across locations.

On joining the business, Mali immediately started diversifying by partnering with Citibank to pioneer 3rd party distribution of financial products in India. This business entity over the last 24 years has transformed itself into a large ‘Financial Super Store’ which represents all leading Banks/Financial Institutions Industry.

TSM Group entered the real estate development business in 2003, operating under the brand Shreyas Investments. It focuses on land, residential and commercial development. TSM has completed over 100 projects in Chennai to date.

TSM also offers real estate advisory services under the brand ‘Qualitas’.

Qualitas counts amongst its client’s MNCs, large corporates, and leading developers in Chennai.

Mali is also a stakeholder and Chairman of M/s. Enzotech Solutions Pvt. Ltd, the pioneers in the field of wastewater treatment plants.

With his professional qualification, varied business interests, and hands-on experience in building successful businesses, Mali continues to be passionate about exploring new business models.

L Ramkumar currently lives in Chennai. He is on the Board of Shanthi Gears Ltd, and the Board of Igarashi Motors India Ltd as an Independent Director. He is a Member of the Board of Governors of IIM Bodhgaya. He is member of The Chennai Angels (TCA) network. He has been mentoring startups at TCA as well as IITM Incubator Cell.

Ramkumar retired from a full-time role as Managing Director of Tube Investments of India Ltd in August 2018 after a successful stint for over 10 years in the position. He has been heading businesses or companies over the last 25 years of his career. He was CFO of TII before moving onto a business role. He has been a part of the Boards and the committees of listed companies over the last 25 plus years. His experience has been in sectors such as bicycles, supply chain partner in auto industry, industrial products such as gearboxes and gears, chains and belts, polymer products, telecom cables and optical fiber.

Ramkumar’s contribution has been in the areas of financial turnaround, fundraising, investor relations, market share improvement, export growth, creating a customer centric culture, setting up greenfield projects, M&A, development of leadership pipeline, innovative marketing strategies for the bicycle business, like the retail focus and driving the concept of cycling for fitness and as a sport.

Ramkumar was the President of The Madras Management Association (2018/19). He was awarded the Business Leader of the Year 2018 by Loyola Alumni Association. He has played a key role in mentoring senior leadership as well, in the various assignments His interests are Music, Cricket.

Chandu has over 30 years of experience in industry, consultancy, media, and information services. A co-founder of Scope e-Knowledge Center, a pioneering knowledge process outsourcing company that scaled up to 1000+ people before his exit, his areas of focus were business development and fundraising, and his passion was enterprise building and transformation.

Chandu has direct experience in angel, VC, and strategic investor funding and has also been a part of two exits. He was also involved in the creation of other enterprises, most of which were ho-hum or failed.

A key focus for him now is entrepreneurship and helping strengthen the entrepreneur ecosystem. He advises entrepreneurs and enterprises in creating and building their business. He has also invested in some start-ups and the jury is still out on their fate. He is also on the advisory board of a Chennai based private equity firm. He is an active charter member of TiE Chennai and has been closely involved with its mentoring initiative.

A Postgraduate in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad, he has been a member of various industry panels both in India and overseas as also a visiting faculty in various business schools.

Ramakrishnan K (Ramki) is Senior Managing Director Strategic Relationships at Spark Capital Advisors (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Ramki is a veteran investment banker, with close to thirty years of experience across the entire spectrum of corporate finance and investment banking, covering private equity capital raising, mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, and capital market transactions.

As part of the founding leadership at Spark Capital, Ramki has actively co-led and contributed to the growth and transformation of Spark Capital from an advisory boutique to a leading mid-market full-service investment bank.

Prior to Spark Capital, Ramki headed the investment banking business for ICICI Securities in southern India. Apart from being on the Executive Committee of The Chennai Angels, Ramki sits on the General Committee of the Madras Chamber and the Managing Committee of the Madras Management Association.

He is a founding fellow of The Chennai International Centre. He is a mechanical engineer with a post-graduate in Management.

In his career spanning over 28 years in the Upstream Oil & Gas Sector, Elango has held several leadership roles in different areas of the business and is a recognized leader in the Indian industry.

Currently Elango is the Managing Director of Hindustan Oil Exploration Company Ltd (HOEC) since February 2015.

Prior to joining HOEC, he was the Chief Executive Officer & Whole Time Director of Cairn India Limited. Over his long association with Cairn, he played a key role in building Cairn into a leading Oil & Gas company operating over 30% of the crude oil produced in India.

Elango holds a Masters degree in Business Administration and began his career with ONGC in 1985 and over a span of 10-years, has performed diverse roles and joined Cairn in January 1996.

Under his leadership, Cairn India has been adjudged

1. The fastest growing energy company in the World as per Platts 2012 and 2013 ranking
2. Winner of Oil Industry Safety Award in 2013
3. Winner of Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance in 2012

 Elango was one of the five finalist for Platts first-ever Asia CEO of the Year award 2013

Mr. CK Ranganathan was born in Cuddalore to parents with a primary interest in education. He took up his Bachelors in Chemistry and after a short stint in the family business, he set up Chik India. The Company began its journey as Chik India and was renamed CavinKare Pvt. Ltd (CKPL) in 1998 with a starting investment of Rs. 15, 000/-

The Company manufactures and markets many products under the brand of Chik, Spinz, Fairever, Meera, Nyle, Raaga Professional, Karthika, Indica, Ruchi, Chinnis, Maa, Garden and Cavins etc both in domestic and international markets.

The Company has pioneered the concept of Family Salons in India with its specialist brands Limelite and Green Trends, and hence started Trends In Vogue Pvt. Ltd a Group Company which has a clear-cut focus on providing personal styling and beauty solutions to everyone in the family.

Mr. Ranganathan was the Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry, Tamil Nadu State Council for the year 2009/10. He was also the past President of the Madras Management Association.

CK Ranganathan is one of the founder-members of the Ability Foundation, an NGO working towards the rehabilitation of the disabled.

He instituted CAVINKARE ABILITY AWARDS to celebrate annually the exemplary spirit of a rare breed of individuals who have risen above their physical limitations to display that attitude is everything.

He also instituted an annual Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards to encourage small and tiny entrepreneurs in memory of his father Shri. R Chinnikrishnan, the man who pioneered the sachet revolution.

Mr. Ranganathan was conferred the prestigious ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award by the Economic Times in 2004. He was also conferred the award of ‘CEO WITH HR ORIENTATION’ by the Employer Branding Institute which recognizes Asia’s Best Employer Brands in Singapore.

Reji Joseph is a Chartered Accountant with a degree in Economics from Loyola College in Chennai.

He has leadership-based expertise evaluating key business drivers and developing strategies to achieve sustained profitable growth for stakeholders. He possesses on-site international experience and has served on the boards of prominent companies. 

He has exhibited his business acumen in providing insights to realize the vision of corporates and capture regional opportunities via expansion, repositioning, M&A, turnarounds, and business culture transformations. He has successfully built a solid track record of success.

Reji served as the CEO at Al Anwar Holdings, a listed private equity company where he was able to turn the group around to register record growth and performance. 

He assumed charge when the company reported record losses and orchestrated a rebuilding that saw a record turnaround in profits in their corporate history. In 2016, the Oman Economic Review ranked him among the top 100 CEOs. 

He was previously associated with KPMG as their Director of Corporate Finance. A major chunk of his work experience has revolved around management/private equity/corporate finance over the past 2 decades.

Presently residing in Chennai, he is now a respected investor, advisor, social worker, and artist in his free time. He is the trustee and treasurer of Prathysaha ‘A Home of Hope’ which is an NGO for children with HIV/AIDS.  

Being a gifted artist he has held solo and group exhibitions. His works can be viewed on the website www.reji7000.com. His paintings were showcased in a month-long solo exhibition held in March 2018 which was sponsored by DakshinaChitra. 

His artworks have also been selected for the Affordable Art Fair in New York in 2018. 

In his free time, Reji enjoys a round of golf, indulges in scuba diving, practices martial arts, and relaxes with cycling.

He is an active member of The Chennai Angels and is also associated with The Madras Management Association and the TiE – Chennai Chapter.

R Ramaraj is a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in ventures in IT cellular and Internet. His last venture was Sify, where he was the Co-Founder and CEO and was the first Indian Internet Company from India to list on NASDAQ National Market in the US (NASDAQ SIFY).

He was recognized as the Evangelist of the Year at the India Internet World Convention in September 2000 and was also voted the IT Person of the year 2000, and in 2001, in a CNET.com poll in India,

Currently, he is the Senior Advisor at Elevar Advisors Pvt Ltd. He is also associated with a couple of funds focusing in the social sector. He is a Member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta

He is on the board of Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) a Not for Profit organization. OGQ is committed to bridging the gap between the best athletes in India and the best athletes in the world thus helping Indian athletes to win Olympic Gold medals. He is the Co-Founder and Director of Coaching Foundation of India, an organization that trains and certifies CEO Coaches.

He is the first Indian to be invited to the Board of Directors of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)where he served for 6 years as an Independent Director. He was a member of the Global Board of Trustees of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs).

In 2010, CII recognized him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for nurturing the Spirit of Entrepreneurship and inspiring and mentoring numerous entrepreneurs.

He worked in Johnson & Johnson in Sales & Marketing for over 7 years and subsequently co-founded Computer Point & Microland.

R.Ramaraj holds a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the University of Madras and an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Harikumar is the co-founder Managing Director of Origin Learning.  Started in 2009, Origin has grown to be a niche player in the eLearning business.  With a focus on the North American market and Enterprise customers, Origin has a marque client list that includes General Electric, Hewlett Packard VMware, and many other blue-chip companies.  

Origin’s work has won several awards from Brandon Hall and Chief Learning Officer Magazine for innovations in learning.

Hari has over 30 years of experience in the eLearning, Publishing, Higher Education, and Software industry.

Prior to Origin, he worked for the Manipal Group, Thomson Learning (now Cengage), Sify, and Brilliant’s. Passionate about the Education Training field, he and team Origin constantly innovates in using technology for making learning better.

Origin’s mobile learning solutions and the social learning platform Origin-Konnect is a testimony to that.

Hari has completed his Masters in Commerce.  His core strengths are in Sales Marketing, Strategy, and technology. Hari likes traveling and Gardening. He has developed an interest in philosophy and is a follower of Swami Parthasarathy of Vedanta Academy.

Mridula Ramesh is the founder of the Sundaram Climate Institute, which focuses on solid waste and water solutions and education.

She is an active angel investor in cleantech startups, with a portfolio of over a dozen and counting. 

A graduate with distinction from Cornell University and armed with an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Mridula has worked at McKinsey in Silicon Valley before returning to India. 

Leveraging on her two decades of management experience, she teaches a postgraduate class on climate change at the Great Lakes Institute of Management. 

She is a regular columnist with Firstpost on climate change and has also written extensively for The Hindu. 

She is the Executive Director of Sundaram Textiles and lives and experiments in Madurai in a net zero-waste house with her husband and two children.