Transformation in Times of Crisis brings together a visionary business practitioner, Nitin Rakesh and an award winning academician, Jerry Wind to bridge the worlds of industry and academia to bring you the knowledge that can help your business thrive in the new world.
Nitin Rakesh, a distinguished leader in the Technology and Financial services industries, is the CEO and Managing Director of Mphasis. His career spans over two decades leading large transnational operations and delivering transformative digital solutions to Fortune 500 companies. A computer science engineer at heart, Nitin’s lifelong passion for Innovation and Technology is evident throughout his career. Coupled with his deep domain expertise in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance verticals, strong customer orientation and an entrepreneurial mindset, he has been able to bring cutting-edge offerings consistently to accelerate value creation for customers, shareholders and employees. Notably, it has led to the introduction of Mphasis’ C=X2C2=1TM formula for success, (hyper-personalization; drive n=1 powered by Cloud & Cognitive); driving multi-dimensions of business value with an integrated consumer-centric Front2BackTM Digital Transformation driven by IP assets which resulted in the remarkable turnaround of Mphasis into a leading global software services firm. Earlier, as the Founding CEO and Managing Director of Motilal Oswal Asset Management Company, he led the launch of many award winning innovative investment products, including India’s first US equities-based Exchange Traded Fund that tracks the NASDAQ-100 index. His work with companies on advising them on their transformation roadmap with an ‘Applied Technology’ mindset earned him the Gold Stevie for ‘Executive of the Year - Computer Services’, under the Management award category. He also won the ‘2019 American Business Awards & International Business Awards – Gold Stevie’ under the ‘Tech Innovator of the Year – Services’ category. Nitin’s maiden book has been recognized as ‘Best Business Book’ in the ‘Publication Award Category’ of American Business Awards, and has won the International Business Book title at 2021 Business Book Awards. He is one of the first 250 CEOs globally across 26 countries who has committed to build an inclusive work environment, end disability inequality through business performance and create social and economic value of people living with disabilities across the world. Nitin is an active member of US – India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and member of the NASSCOM executive council. Nitin is a founding member of Plaksha University in India, a new model of engineering education and research through collective philanthropy to transform higher education in India. He also serves as a founding Trustee of Ashoka University in India.
Jerry Wind
Jerry Wind, an internationally renowned and award-winning academician, is currently the Lauder Professor Emeritus and Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He joined Wharton in 1967 with a doctorate from Stanford and took an emeritus status in 2017. His pioneering research on organizational buying behavior, market segmentation, conjoint analysis, and marketing strategy has resulted in him being one of the most cited authors in marketing. He is also a prolific writer, having authored and edited 30 books, published over 300 articles and edited top marketing journals. Among his many innovations at Wharton, he led the development of Wharton Executive MBA, the Lauder Institute and Wharton School Publishing. He also founded and directed for three decades the Wharton Think Tank – the Wharton SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management - whose mission was to ensure the relevance of management research and education to the evolving needs of business and society in the 21st century. His contributions in the field of Marketing have earned him numerous awards including the 4 major marketing awards: Buck Weaver, Parlin, Converse, and AMA/Irwin Distinguished Educator Award. He was inducted to the inaugural group of AMA Fellows and is a 2017 inductee into the Marketing Hall of Fame. He was one of the original Legends in Marketing, with an 8-volume anthology published by Sage in 2014. He has consulted with over 100 companies, sits on the advisory boards of various companies and nonprofit organizations, and testifies in intellectual property cases. He is a trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Curtis Institute of Music and Grounds for Sculpture. He is a co-founder of the first private, non-profit university in Israel, The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya. His current research explores marketing-driven business strategy, the Network Challenge; reinventing advertising; creativity and innovation; and challenging our mental models. He is the co-founder of the Purple Project for Democracy and of the Reimagine Education global competition and conference.