The Consulting Report is pleased to announce The Top 25 Technology Consultants and Leaders of 2022. Technology has long become integral to an organization’s ability to advance and evolve, whether in the business, government or non-profit arenas. Thus, the best consulting firms have developed key competencies in digital transformation, cloud, data, analytics, blockchain, and various other areas for the benefit of their clients as well as their own internal organizations. The executives selected for this year’s awards represent some of the most experienced, trusted, and knowledgeable leaders when it comes to technology design, strategy, and implementation. We evaluated each nominee based on a series of factors, carefully weighing their demonstrated expertise, professional milestones, tenure in the industry, and capabilities in technological innovation.
This year’s awardees include executives like Venkat Atluri, who distinguished himself as the cofounder and leader of the Internet of Things practice at McKinsey and now co-leads their Global Tech/Telecom Practice; Kiran Desai, who has spearheaded the journey of CIS from a pure play infrastructure managed services service line to a dynamic organization in his role as SVP and Global Head - Cloud and Infrastructure Services at Wipro Limited; and Jim Paterson, who has been instrumental in the development and execution of public and private cloud strategy as Executive VP and GM of Cloud Managed Services at Sungard AS. Technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, and this year’s awardees are among the best at leveraging the latest innovations.
Please join us in recognizing and celebrating the achievements of The Top 25 Technology Consultants and Leaders of 2022.
1. Venkat Atluri, McKinsey & Company
Title: Senior Partner and Co-leader of Global Tech/Telecom Practice
Atluri partners with top executives, boards, and investors to create value through end-to-end performance transformation, programmatic mergers and acquisitions, and new business building from scale-up to IPOs. Keenly interested in the future of technology, Atluri brings a special focus on opportunities at the intersection of new technologies and business models. He has a passion for working with venture capital and private equity investors.
Atluri is a leading expert on the vast and emerging opportunities—created by the network connectivity of devices, systems, platforms, and people—powered by software and hardware. He serves clients through the design and deployment of network and ecosystem-based businesses.
He currently co-leads the Global Tech/Telecom Practice at McKinsey, and he cofounded and led the Internet of Things (IoT) practice. He also led the incubation of new analytics and digital assets through alliances and partnerships. He spearheaded digital, analytics-based, tech-enabled transformations for clients in advanced industries.
Prior to McKinsey, Atluri held operating roles at GE as well as product development and management roles at 3M. He serves on the board of 1871—a global-leading startup incubator—and is a founding member and Chairman of the Board for CurrentWater, a nonprofit that nurtures the development of innovative technologies to solve the world’s water challenges.
2. Dr. Anand Rao, PwC
Title: Global Artificial Intelligence Lead
Rao is the Global Artificial Intelligence Lead at PricewaterhouseCoopers, as well as the AI-Emtech Lead in Labs and Partner in Analytics Insights. At PwC, he is responsible for delivery, innovation, and thought leadership in data, analytics, and AI, as well as for developing accelerators, solutions, and products for consulting and trust solutions.
Rao began his career in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the 80s and 90s building real-time decision-making and simulation systems in the aerospace, defense, and telecommunications sectors. He then brought his deep expertise in AI, as well as academic and theoretical rigor, to his position as the Chief Research Scientist at Australian AI Institute (AAII). While at AAII, Dr. Rao authored over fifty refereed papers, co-edited four books, and won several awards.
After earning his MBA from Melbourne Business School in 1997, Rao moved to London as a strategy consultant. As a Partner at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, he advised senior leaders in the U.K., Europe, Middle-East, Africa, and Asia in the telecommunications, financial services, and retail sectors before leaving to join PwC. Rao earned a Master of Science in Computer Science from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in 1984 and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Sydney in 1988.
3. Kiran Desai, Wipro Limited
Title: Senior Vice President and Global Head - Cloud and Infrastructure Services
Desai is the Senior Vice President and Global Head of Cloud and Infrastructure Services (CIS) at Wipro Limited. Desai is responsible for driving market share and growth of CIS business across all industries and geographies. Accounting for over 26% of the organization’s revenue, CIS comprises a vast portfolio of solutions and services, including next generation software-defined data center and Hybrid Cloud, Digital Infrastructure and Transformation, AIOps & Hyper Automation, Digital Workplace and User Experience Services, Connected Intelligence, IOT, and edge solutions.
Desai has spearheaded the journey of CIS from a pure play infrastructure managed services service line to a dynamic organization helping customers through their digital transformation journey by delivering compelling value propositions built on modern, cutting-edge solutions and robust operations excellence. He also conceptualized and developed a change in the non-linear delivery framework that led Wipro’s transformational journey in the infrastructure management space, and has developed a stellar customer base by focusing on customer service quality.
With his 30 years of globally diversified experience in the IT Industry, Desai has represented Wipro in numerous industry conferences and events. Desai is a member of Wipro’s Executive Council. He served as a board member in an advisor capacity to Ensono as the Wipro representative for 3 years. His experience includes P&L Management, leading Global Sales & Delivery, and successfully building the Next-Generation Digital Infrastructure Services Ecosystem.
Desai holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Marketing Management from Mumbai University.
4. Vince Campisi, Raytheon Technologies
Title: Chief Digital Officer & Senior Vice President, Enterprise Services
Campisi leads the Enterprise Services group and the Digital Technology organization at Raytheon Technologies. He oversees the company’s digital technology strategy and several global business services designed to reduce enterprise risk, optimize operating efficiency, enable business growth, and maximize outcomes for employees, suppliers, and customers.
Campisi brings more than 20 years of executive experience in aerospace and defense, energy, financial services, and industrial manufacturing. Most recently, prior to United Technologies Corporation’s merger with Raytheon Company in 2020, Campisi served as SVP and Chief Digital Officer for UTC. In that position, he led the United Technologies Digital Technology organization, which focused on cybersecurity to protect company assets, information technology to accelerate employee productivity, and software and data analytics practices to enhance the customer experience.
Prior to joining UTC, Campisi was COO at GE Digital, where he focused on boosting operating margins and revenue growth while increasing customer value using software and data analytics. In addition, he held multiple leadership positions at General Electric, including general manager, CIO, and quality leader.
Campisi is a passionate advocate for diversity in the workplace and a sponsor of various STEM-related diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. He serves on the board of directors for Girls Who Code and is the executive sponsor for Raytheon Technologies’ Re-Empower Program and the Raytheon Alliance for Diverse Abilities.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems and Marketing from the State University of New York at Albany.
5. Kevin Erdal, Nordic Global
Title: Managing Director and Practice Leader
As Managing Director and Practice Leader of Nordic's Digital Health team, Erdal works to help expand Nordic’s internal team to continue to be a strategic partner to clients. He works directly with clients to help build strategic solutions, and in some cases build out their existing teams to support analytical needs, cloud strategies, and robust digital solutions.
Erdal joined Nordic in 2019 after nine years working extensively in data & analytics at Mayo Clinic, most recently as Service Delivery Manager within Mayo’s Unified Data Platform division. In that role, he managed a team of ETL developers integrating data from multiple EHRs and clinical systems, built the IT function to support data governance, and led the build out of the integrated data environment to support clinical research and enterprise scale analytics. In his time with Mayo, Erdal also served as Lead Analyst/Programmer, taking on the responsibility of Cogito Project Manager for the Epic implementation, leading a team of developers across the Mayo Clinic enterprise with a key focus on enterprise data strategy. He began his tenure at Mayo as a developer for both clinical and revenue cycle systems, primarily supporting operational reporting needs and general application support.
Erdal graduated from Winona State University with a degree in Management Information Systems. He holds Epic and Cerner certifications, a Project Management certification from Mayo Clinic, and is a Silver Mayo Quality Fellow.
6. Soumendra Mohanty, Tredence
Title: Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Innovation Officer
Mohanty is the Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Tredence. He has led key growth portfolios (IIOT, Data, Analytics, AI, Intelligent RPA, Digital Integration, Digital Experience, Platforms), bringing in world-class capabilities, innovative solutions, and transformation-led, outcomes-led value propositions to his clients. Under his leadership, Tredence has established a wide range of digital and data analytics capabilities and an enviable client-centric innovation culture to solve problems at the convergence of physical and digital.
With a career spanning over 25 years, Mohanty has held various leadership roles at Accenture (Global Data Analytics Lead), Mindtree (SVP & Digital Lead), L&T Infotech (EVP & CDAO), and has led multi-faceted P&L functions, including M&A advisory for technology growth strategies and startup ecosystems.
Mohanty is an accomplished thought leader and has published several books. He is tenacious in his quest for knowledge and modest in sharing experiences. As an effective communicator, he regularly speaks at various global forums, CDAO advisory gatherings, and educational institutions. He is an advisor to the Harvard Business Review (Analytics Stream) and holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Applications from the College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar, India.
7. Axel Freyberg, Kearney
Title: Senior Partner, Head of Communications, Media, & Technology Practice
Freyberg is a 26-year veteran leader at the global management consulting firm Kearney. Founded in 1926, Kearney is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with offices in 40 countries and a workforce of more than 5,000 employees. With its rich history as one of the first American firms, the company is a trusted management consultancy fueled by experts in a wide array of fields ranging from aerospace and defense, technology, consumer products, healthcare, and utilities. The firm is consistently named as a best-in-class company, with awards including Forbes’ “Best Management Consulting Firms 2021” list, and has earned accolades in its diversity and inclusion practices.
Freyberg currently serves as a Senior Partner and Head of the Communications, Media, & Technology (CMT) Practice for Kearney, for which he utilizes his expertise in business, innovation and technology strategies, sales and marketing, product development, technology management, and transformation. He has held a number of leadership roles in the firm’s CMT Practice, leading international divisions including EMEA, Europe, and Global, and is a published author of many books and expert papers on the telecom and technology sectors. He holds a Master’s of Computer Science Degree in Information Technology with a focus on telecom and database management from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and an MBA in Finance from the University of Pittsburgh.
8. Vaishali Rastogi, Boston Consulting Group
Title: Global Head of Technology, Media, & Telecommunications
Rastogi is the Global Head of Boston Consulting Group’s Technology, Media, & Telecommunications (TMT) practice. Over the past two decades, she has held a number of leadership positions within the company, including leading BCG's business in Southeast Asia, where she led an aggressive expansion of the business into digital, analytics, and transformation. Rastogi brings deep experience in helping transform telecommunications, technology, and other consumer-facing businesses across many markets. She has published multiple reports on digital transformation, go-to-market, and consumer behavior in Southeast Asia. She is also currently leading efforts on how the post-COVID-19 era will affect different sub-sectors of TMT, and how companies can rebound and reimagine their business model and operations to find advantage in adversity.
Before her current role, Rastogi was the co-leader for BCG’s sales work globally, leader for go-to-market for rapidly developing economies, and the Asia-Pacific leader for BCG’s Marketing, Sales, & Pricing practice. She was also a four-year member of BCG's global Executive Committee. Rastogi received her MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and earned her undergraduate degree from Mumbai University.
9. Sanjay Sardar, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
Title: Senior Vice President, Digital Innovation
Sardar is the Senior Vice President of Digital Innovation at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), an American technology company based in Reston, Virginia. SAIC provides high-end solutions in engineering, IT modernization, and mission solutions for the defense, space, civilian, and intelligence markets, especially governmental organizations. The Fortune 500 company consists of a team of 26,000 professionals driven by mission, united by purpose, and inspired by opportunity, and it boasts an annual revenue of $7.1 billion.
In his role, Sardar is responsible for the oversight and management of the company’s strategy of delivering digital transformation and IT modernization solutions and capabilities across all customers. He also oversees the company’s direction with the federal government’s digital transformation, leveraging cloud and platform technologies, application development, cybersecurity, and immersive technologies.
Sardar joined SAIC in 2015 as VP for Advanced Analytics and Simulation and later served as VP of Modernization and Digital Transformation. Previously, he was the CIO for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as well as a Senior Manager at General Dynamics Information Technology. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia and a Master of Business Administration in Strategy and Finance from the George Washington University School of Business.
10. Luke Laurin, Tegria (Formerly Partner at Cumberland)
Title: Managing Director
Laurin is a Managing Director with Tegria. Laurin joined Cumberland during its first years following a successful tenure at Ernst & Young. He has managed several large-scale healthcare technology projects, contributed significantly to business development, and established himself as a healthcare technology leader in the industry. His outstanding performance has been recognized through multiple accelerated promotions, including one to Partner in July 2021.
With more than 15 years of healthcare consulting experience, Laurin is a strategic, results-driven leader providing IT advisory support for provider-based healthcare systems. He has successfully led large-scale EMR implementations for ambulatory, inpatient, and post-acute organizations.
Laurin has extensive expertise in strategic information system planning, system implementation roadmap development, and complex system implementation management. He brings deep knowledge of program/portfolio management, revenue cycle, and ambulatory, dental, and post-acute workflows to each of his client engagements. Prior to joining Cumberland, he served in consulting roles at EY, supporting critical client projects out of the firm’s Chicago office.
Laurin holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Operations and Information Management from Northern Illinois University. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) through the Project Management Institute and is a member of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. He currently resides in Chicago, IL with his wife and children.
11. Jean-Philippe Poirault, Atos
Title: Executive Vice President - Global Head of Telecom, Media, Technology Industry
Poirault is the Executive Vice President - Global Head of Telecom, Media, Technology Industry with Atos, a global leader in secure and decarbonized digital services and products. The company is an Olympic & Paralympic Games worldwide partner and employs over 105,000 people in 71 countries. Atos recently made the news with its deployment of a new energy-efficient supercomputing cluster at Technische Universität Dresden, utilizing warm-water cooling to maximize efficiency and reduce power consumption.
Poirault specializes in building businesses, strategic thinking and innovation, and multi-cultural leadership and talent development. Before rising to his current role, Poirault was the executive vice president and CEO of Atos Southern Europe. He previously served as the VP of the Worldwide Telecom Industry business unit at Amazon, and held a number of senior leadership roles with Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent. Poirault earned Master’s Degrees from both the École supérieure d'electricité (Supélec) and the Ecole Spéciale des Travaux Publics, du bâtiment et de l'Industrie.
12. Nobuo Okubo, Deloitte Consulting
Title: Global Leader, Technology
Okubo is the Global Leader for Technology with Deloitte Consulting, an arm of the professional services and consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited. The firm has an extensive global presence, operating in over 150 countries and increasing its year-on-year revenue to $47.6 billion in 2020, making it the largest of the “Big Four” firms that year. Deloitte has recently embraced the work-from-home movement, providing employees around the world with cash benefits, wellbeing subsidies, and 15 paid holidays to bolster its recruitment and talent retention efforts.
In his leadership role, Okubo guides business strategy across Deloitte’s global network of technology professionals to ensure successful, high-value engagements and solutions. He has over 25 years of experience in technology and management consulting with a focus on the electronics industry, and he is active in the M&A domain, where he helps companies identify new business opportunities, restructuring capabilities and internationalizing their businesses in emerging countries. He has served as a Partner with Deloitte for over 8 years, previously working as a Partner with IBM, the General Manager of the Nomura Research Institute, and a Product Manager for Ricoh Europe. Okubo holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business.
13. Bryan Harris, SAS Software
Title: Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
As Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Harris is responsible for setting the direction of technology for SAS Software. He also collaborates closely with the SAS executive leadership team to translate the organization’s strategic objectives and priorities into highly successful products and solutions. Harris has amassed more than 20 years of experience researching and developing analytic techniques, enterprise search technologies, distributed computing and cloud architectures, and user experiences for both the federal and commercial industries.
For nearly a decade, he has been a critical senior leader of SAS R&D. Most recently, as senior VP and Head of Engineering, Harris was instrumental in releasing the latest advancement of SAS software, SAS Viya. Before joining the SAS team, Harris served as CTO for ADG Creative as well as VSTI. In addition to being a current member of the strategic advisory board for North Carolina State University’s computer science department, Harris holds 12 patents on cybersecurity. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University.
14. Dr. Justin Dustzadeh, Equinix
Title: Chief Technology Officer
Dustzadeh is the Chief Technology Officer at Equinix, a multinational internet and technology company based in Redwood City, California. Founded in 1998, Equinix is a world-leading digital infrastructure company serving organizations in finance, manufacturing, mobility, transportation, government, healthcare, and education across a cloud-first world. The company also boasts about 10,800 employees and more than 200 data centers across the world. Dustzadeh joined Equinix as CTO in 2019, and he currently leads the company’s technological vision, its strategy, and its architecture, as well as the overall technical innovation, focus on software transformation, and support for the developer community.
Before joining Equinix, Dustzadeh served as Head of Global Network & Software Platform at Uber, where he led the team responsible for the architecture, engineering, and operations of the company’s global network infrastructure, as well as software platforms enabling business worldwide. Prior to that, he served as a VP and Head of Global Infrastructure Network Services for Visa, CTO and VP of Technology Strategy at Huawei, and in other leadership roles with AT&T, Ericsson, and Divvio. He holds a PhD and Master of Science in Computer Science from Télécom Paris, and a Bachelor of Science in Theoretical Physics from École Normale Supérieure (Ulm) in Paris.
15. Christian Rast, KPMG
Title: Global Head of Technology & Knowledge
Rast is the Global Head of Technology & Knowledge at KPMG, a “Big Four” professional services and consulting firm with over 219,000 staff located in over 650 offices in 147 countries around the world. The firm reported global revenues of $32.13 billion for FY2021and has recently been focusing on global Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives, investing more than $1.5 billion in establishing five new global hubs to provide expertise and solutions on key global issues.
Rast currently leads a worldwide team of technology experts who are passionate about driving the digital transformation of KPMG and that of their clients. He brings nearly a decade of experience with the firm to his current role, having served as the Head of Advisory and Chief Solution Officer & Global Head of SGI Data and Analytics for KPMG Deutschland, and was previously the co-founder and Managing Director of BrainNet Supply Management Consultants. He serves as a volunteer founding partner of OFW, a student-run non-profit that helps students turn their theoretical business knowledge into entrepreneurial actions. Rast holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Cologne.
16. Mike Taylor, World Wide Technology
Title: Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, Services
Taylor is the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, Services at World Wide Technology, a U.S.-based global systems integrator that provides digital strategy, innovative technology, and supply chain solutions to large organizations. The company employs over 7,000 people around the world and offers consulting, cloud, digital transformation, and security services to clients.
Taylor is responsible for all information technology functions that include business applications, IT governance, architecture, infrastructure and Core Advanced Technology Center Operations at WWT. His focus is on helping to define and execute the IT strategy in line with the overall business strategy, fostering a culture of innovation and positioning IT as a differentiator for WWT's business and go-to-market strategy.
Taylor has spent nearly 30 years in various leadership roles with World Wide Technology, including VP of Information Technology, Director of IT Operations, and Director of Business Systems Analysts. He has also spent over 8 years as a board member of Nurses for Newborns, a St. Louis-based charity that provides a safety net for at-risk families to prevent infant mortality, child abuse, and neglect by providing in-home nursing visits. Taylor earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Columbia College.
17. James Willis, QinetiQ
Title: Group Managing Director, Cyber & Information
Since 2017, Willis has served as the Group Managing Director of Cyber & Information at QinetiQ, bringing more than 30 years of leadership experience to the role. Headquartered in Farnborough, England, QinetiQ is a multinational defense technology company with over 6,000 employees worldwide. The company utilizes scientific and technological knowledge, proven research capabilities, and unique, purpose-built facilities to provide both services and products that meet the needs of a wide range of global customers, including the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD).
Willis specializes in business strategy, planning, and development, operations, business change, and mergers & acquisitions. He works globally across many sectors, including financial services, defense and cyber security, C4ISR, communications, and data intelligence.
Willis joined QinetiQ from Vodafone, where he was Director of Defense & Security, leading the successful central government business development and operations team for over a decade. Previously, he was the Offshore Director at Liberata Outsourcing. He also served in several roles at GE Capital, including as European Process Leader. Willis holds a Six Sigma Master Black Belt and served as a Royal Engineering Officer for the British Army. He holds a first class Bachelor of Arts in Civil Engineering from the University of Leicester.
18. Doug Hart, BDO USA, LLP
Title: Assurance Partner, National Technology Practice Co-Leader
Hart is an Assurance Partner and National Technology Practice Co-Leader for BDO USA, LLP. Founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, BDO USA is a leading accounting, tax, financial advisory, and consulting organization that provides services to a wide range of publicly traded and privately held companies. The firm offers numerous industry-specific practices, world-class resources, and deep industry knowledge and expertise, serving clients with more than 7,500 professionals in nearly 1,600 offices across 162 countries.
Hart, who is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA), boasts four decades of experience working with hundreds of leading businesses with a focus on the software, media, and consumer sectors. He is known for his proactive, hands-on style with clients and effective communication with C-Level executives and boards.
Hart joined BDO as a Partner in 2004, subsequently serving as Office Managing Partner before ascending to his current leadership role. Prior to joining BDO, he began his career with KPMG, serving as a Partner for 21 years. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
19. Mario Desiderio, Huron Consulting Group
Title: Managing Director of Enterprise Solutions and Analytics Business Leader
Desiderio is the Managing Director of Enterprise Solutions and Analytics Business Leader for Huron Consulting Group. Desiderio advises clients in leveraging digital cloud technologies to capture additional market share and drive operational efficiencies as the leader of Huron’s Enterprise Solutions and Analytics business. He is a recipient of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Desiderio has over 25 years of experience leading global industry, functional, and technical teams to achieve innovative outcomes. He has spearheaded a diverse set of client engagements, helping organizations modernize and transform their front and back-office functions via cloud technologies in the areas of CRM, Financial, HCM and Risk to reduce their total cost of ownership and increase revenue. Desiderio arrived at Huron through its 2016 acquisition of ADI Strategies, where he served as President. Additionally, he was the founder of Infinis, which was acquired by WhittmanHart and subsequently by Rolta International.
20. Jim Paterson, Sungard Availability Services
Title: Executive Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Managed Services
Paterson is the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cloud Managed Services at Sungard Availability Services, a company focused on helping businesses optimize their investments in people and technology by driving digital transformation, securing information technology infrastructure, and developing resilience. Sungard AS operates secure datacenters and workplace recovery centers around the world, providing clients with best-in-class disaster recovery and business continuity resources. During his time with Sungard AS, Paterson has been instrumental in the development and execution of the company’s public and private cloud strategy. The firm was recently listed in the 2021 Gartner Market Guide for Disaster Recovery as a Service.
Paterson brings over 20 years of experience in IT services management and solutions development leadership to his current role. Before joining Sungard AS, he served in a variety of vice president and director roles with companies such as Comcast, CrossWaves Ventures, AT&T, USinternetworking, Inc., and Ernst & Young. Paterson earned his Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Baltimore, completing the full MBA program in 12 months. He also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.
21. Neeraj Koul, Tangoe
Title: Vice President of Global Information Technology
Koul is the Vice President of Global Information Technology at Tangoe, a leader in the international telecom expense management and mobility services space with the goal of helping customers increase productivity, reduce costs, and drive predictable results. Koul is a business technology luminary with a nearly 20-year track record of building, transforming, and leading diverse, high-capacity teams. With deep business, process, technology, and strategic delivery skill sets, Koul has a passion for enabling transformation through modern practices such as SRE, Agile, DevOps, and cloud.
Prior to his current role, Koul was Tangoe’s director of IT and DevOps strategy. He had previously been VP of Cloud Services with Majesco, where he had full accountability for the company’s cloud-related resources and components. Koul also worked in infrastructure management and consulting for Capgemini and the Knights of Columbus following a 5-year stint at McKinsey & Company. He received his Master of Business Administration in Operations and Information Management Systems from The University of Connecticut School of Business and his Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from The University of Mumbai.
22. Chan Suh, Prophet
Title: Chief Digital Officer
Suh is a Senior Partner and Chief Digital Officer for Prophet and is based out of its New York offices. A well-known visionary in the digital strategy space, Suh brings more than 20 years of experience to Prophet. Founded in 1992, Prophet is an integrated growth consulting firm that specializes in strategy, transformation, innovation, branding, marketing, and design, providing services to a wide array of industries including aerospace, technology, healthcare, financial services, and more. The company boasts a skilled workforce of 600 professionals across 14 global offices. Suh joined Prophet in 2013 as CDO and a Senior Partner, and he is currently a member of the executive committee and board of directors.
Previously, Suh headed Broome Crosby Ltd., a consultancy that helped develop next generation digital commerce and social innovations, serving as the head of the Samsung Digital Innovation Team. In 1995, he co-founded Agency.com, where he was CEO and Chairman until the company’s sale in 2010. He also served as a Marketing Leader for Time, Inc. and Condé Nast. He is an advisory board member for Venture for America and the founder of Daniel’s Music Foundation, a New York-based non-profit. He attended Sarah Lawrence College, where he also served as a trustee.
23. Todd Merrill, TechCXO
Title: Partner
Merrill is a Partner at TechCXO, which provides on-demand financial, technical, and operational management bandwidth to companies from the startup-through-mid-market range. He is also the Interim Chief Technology Officer at the autonomous drafting solutions company AirWorks. Merrill has made his mark at a series of companies as a C-Level executive focused on leveraging the cloud to bring SaaS offerings to market.
Before bringing his talents to TechCXO and AirWorks, Merrill served as an Innovation Mentor at Chick-fil-A’s Georgia Tech Rev Center. There, he led teams delivering machine learning, computer vision, NLP, and modern web apps based on AWS and GCP. Previously, as CTO at HireIQ, he established Agile software development and moved from a Co-Lo private cloud to AWS for a global, high-availability SaaS offering. He also founded and was CEO of Global Crypto Systems, where he was an early adopter of AWS and secured patents on steganographic distribution of PKI credentials. Merrill holds fundamental patents on the first cable modem and has had software deployed on a satellite launched from the Space Shuttle. Earlier in his career, Merrill held critical engineering and security architecture positions with organizations including Air Defense, Scientific Atlanta, BellSouth, and Ciena. He received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering as well as both of his Master of Engineering Degrees from the University of Florida.
24. Imran Bashir, ECS
Title: Chief Technical Officer of Cloud Computing and Vice President of Emerging Technologies
Bashir serves as the Chief Technical Officer of Cloud Computing and Vice President of Emerging Technologies at ECS, an ASGN subsidiary specializing in IT and related services. The company provides cloud, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, application modernization, science, and engineering services for customers in the public, defense, intelligence, and commercial sectors. In his dual role, Bashir leads the ECS Cloud Center of Excellence, which was created to help customers launch cloud initiatives and manage cloud adoption life cycles, and is also responsible for originating the ECS cloud computing technology practice, with a focus on managed services and emerging technology.
Before joining ECS in 2017, Bashir served as VP of Emerging Technologies at the Virginia-based IT consultancy InfoReliance. Its customers had access to his expertise in cloud technology evaluation as well as personalized tools and engineering practices based on their objectives. Bashir earned a PhD in Software Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan.
25. Ivaylo Petrov, Rand Group
Title: Vice President & Chief Software Architect
Petrov is Vice President and Chief Software Architect for Rand Group, a consultancy that delivers technology solutions for business operation, execution, and management. The firm was selected as a distinguished member of Bob Scott’s VAR Stars in 2021, recognizing its accomplishments in the sale and implementation of middle market financial software. The firm was also named to Accounting Today’s VAR 100 list for the 17th consecutive year.
Petrov has over 20 years of experience in business process automation and integration with small to medium-sized businesses, and he is responsible for leading the firm’s technical delivery and custom development. He has expertise in an extensive range of software as well as in database application design, development, administration, and implementation, and he also provides intelligence in for the Microsoft Solutions Framework. Petrov was previously a Senior Associate at Hein & Associates and a Senior Developer at First Edge Sornson. Petrov holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Houston C.T. Bauer College of Business and a Bachelor’s Degree in Ecology from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski.
