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Venkata Ramanan

Founding Class
Chief Executive Officer, CAMS Repository Services Ltd

 


 

Previous Occupation: Corporate Black Belt, SixSigma, GE Corporate
Present Occupation: CEO, CAMS Repository Services Ltd
Sector: Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), specifically insurance.
Work Experience: 18 years
Interests – Professional/ Personal: Coaching fellow professionals; playing and watching cricket; I am also a Bollywood junkie.


Can you tell us a little about your family background/ history?
I come from a middle-class South Indian family, where the emphasis has always been on family first. My father put our (mine and my sister’s) education and family’s stability above his career. He gave up many lucrative promotions to avoid being transferred frequently, so that the family was not inconvenienced. In terms of education, the emphasis was always on learning and not on rank or grades.
My wife Anantha and I try to ensure that our son Shreyas enjoys the journey of learning — be it academics, sports or music.

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards/ special projects).
I was involved in setting up the Insurance Repository System in India, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the world, in conjunction with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). This repository was inaugurated by the Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in September 2013.

Tell us about your profile pre-ISB, and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
Pre-ISB, I cut my teeth at Siemens where I was involved in project management, specifically, in setting up greenfield factories for our clients. Some notable projects I have worked on are the ITC factory in Devanahalli, Bangalore and the Nestle factory in Goa. I then moved on to GE Corporate, where I was in the first batch of Six Sigma professionals trained by GE in India.
Post-ISB, I went back to GE and was sent to Bangalore to set up GE Capital International Services (GECIS, now GENPACT). It was a new site for GECIS beyond Gurgaon and Hyderabad. Also, I was instrumental in transitioning over 15 processes for the Industrial Centre of Excellence (ICOE). These were processes from across businesses, such as GE aircraft engines, plastics and water.
I subsequently moved to Accenture where I worked as an industry expert alongside Carnegie Mellon University to develop the E Sourcing Capability Model (eSCM). I was also the Master Black Belt for Accenture BPO. My next stint was at Bharti Airtel, where I was called upon to build a B2B business developing seamless solutions across mobile, landline and data circuits for corporates.
In my current role with CAMS, I am building an organisation that provides insurance repository services that are the first of their kind — whereby one can hold insurance policies in electronic form.
I would say I have been fortunate to be a part of start-ups (intraprenurial), not only in my professional life but also at ISB, as I was the very first student to be admitted to the school (PG010001).

Describe your fondest memory of ISB.
While I have many fond memories of my days at ISB, two of them particularly stand out: the “Thank God it’s Thursday” parties we had on campus and the dinner hosted by then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, in honour of the founding batch of ISB.

In your personal life, how have you changed post-ISB? Do you see yourself doing something differently because you went to ISB? What has left a lasting impression?
ISB was a humbling experience. It was a phenomenal experience to be a part of the founding class which had professionals rich in experience from diverse backgrounds. From an Indian Army Major (who was the president of our batch) to an IT dotcom entrepreneur (who was part of my core group) to an advertising professional (whose company now runs the largest loyalty programme in the world) to a fashion designer, our batch certainly had a lot of variety.
The lasting impression from such a diverse and rich student body is that to succeed in life (both personally and professionally), emotional intelligence (EQ) is more important than IQ. I learnt to respect others’ points of view.

How do you think ISB has contributed to your career growth?
ISB helped open doors. Over the course of my career, I have switched industries with ease. I moved from engineering to Six Sigma to BPO to telecom, and most recently, to insurance. My ISB degree gave companies the confidence to experiment and take a chance with me.

If you have to sum up ISB in one word:
Enriching.

What was the main highlight of your programme at the ISB?
The opportunity to learn from the best, be it my peers, the professors or professionals visiting the campus. I had to be a sponge to absorb the best from each one of them. While everyone has their strength and weakness, I would like to believe that I imbibed only their strengths, like the mythical swan.

Word of advice for the current class?
Be grounded. I say this from experience. Post-ISB, I entered the industry with an attitude of entitlement. In due course, however, I realised that at the end of the day it is only your performance that drives you forward.

What was your favourite course/ class at ISB and why?
I enjoyed the course on “Leadership” by the late Professor Sumantra Goshal. He had built the course around a movie, “Twelve O’Clock High” and we also got to work on a live project with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. We had to present our recommendations to G.V. Prasad, Chairman and CEO, and Satish Reddy, Vice-Chairman and MD, and other senior managers of Dr. Reddy’s.

Was there anyone during your time at ISB who acted as a mentor for you? Tell us a little about this relationship and why it was valuable.
I was very comfortable going to my peers and the faculty and staff of ISB for advice and using them as a sounding board. But if I have to name one individual, the person I looked up to for sound advice was Pramat Raj Sinha, the Founding Dean of ISB. He was a mentor and friend to most of us on campus.

What are the areas in which you can contribute to ISB?
I have been actively involved in conducting admission road shows and interviews for the last decade. I think I can further contribute by coaching ISB alumni, both in their professional and entrepreneurial pursuits.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
I enjoy grooming and coaching my team. I have introduced a “Future Leaders” programme in my current organisation to identify high-potential people who can be groomed to assume greater responsibilities.

What is the next new thing in the industry or vertical you are working in? Any trends that you can see?

Insurance is still underpenetrated in India. Also, investors in the insurance sector are yet to see returns on their investments. As an insurance repository, my organisation is working on increasing the reach of insurance in the country by tying up with eGovernance Common Services Centres (CSCs); there is typically one centre for every six villages in the country.

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