PALS Core Team – Enhancing Engineering Education

PALS Core Team

Palghat Mohan is the current chairman of PALS and an Alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Calcutta, having 40 years of work experience mainly in the Paints industry. During his career he occupied various senior managerial positions spanning Manufacturing operations, Sales and Marketing as well as General Manager. Major part of his career was spent in Goodlass Nerolac Paints ( now Kansai Nerolac) in India and Kansai Plascon Paints in Africa. Mohan spent 21 years of his career working in Zambia.

Mohan Narayanan was PALS Chairman till 2020. He worked with TCS in their initial years and then was with Cognizant, as part of their executive leadership team. He now runs his own boutique consulting company Kubos. Additionally, he is the Board member in a few other organizations. He has more than 35 years experience across engineering and IT. He has a Post Graduate degree from IIT Madras.

Anuradha Ramanujam is a 2009 pass out from the MBA program at Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras and Electronics and Communications Engineer from the College of Engineering, Guindy (1982). Before working in Cognizant Technology Solutions in various managerial functions in Delivery and General Management, she was an entrepreneur for about ten years. Post Cognizant, she did general administration and succession planning in her family hospital at Chennai for two years.

Prof. K V Gangadharan is a Professor in Dept. of Mech Eng. NITK and Coordinator Centre for System Design at NITK where he has 21 years of experience. He is a B.Tech from Calicut University and a PhD from IIT Madras. Dr Gangadharan is the Participating Institute Coordinator for Virtual Labs at NITK. He loves experimentation and is highly enthusiastic about inter-disciplinary work in Engineering. He is also an active HAM radio user.

Subramanian, a Post Graduate in Computer Science from IIT Delhi, has over 3 decades of experience in various aspects of Information Technology and International Project Management encompassing strategy formulation, organisational refinement, offshore/onsite delivery management, international marketing, financial management, Delivery Excellence, and large account management. He has executed large government projects both in India and abroad. Currently, he is involved in Academics at BITS Pilani (Chennai campus) and with India Institute of Material management, Chennai.

Krishna Kumar is an alumnus of IIT (BHU) Varanasi and has more than three decades of manufacturing experience working in companies like Escorts, Tube Investments, Rane etc. He is currently an independent management consultant focusing on strategy, structure and operations of organizations.

C N Chandrasekaran (CNC) is a Professional with 40 years of commendable Information Technology Service Leadership and work experience in the areas of Global Practice/Engagement Oversight, Business Development, Business Operations, Program Management, Project Management, Service Delivery Management, People Management, Competency Development and Training. CNC has provided services to Financial Services, Manufacturing, Automotive, Chemicals, Food and Maintenance clients, Globally and in India. CNC is a graduate of IIT Madras (1977 batch) and holds Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Science and Applications from NCSDCT-TIFR

Bharanidharan, an Alumnus of IIT Madras and IIT Delhi, has over 26 years of experience in the IT industry with rich experience in building and running offshore delivery centers for large financial services institutions, eCommerce and HealthCare organizations. He has joined PALS for driving change amongst the students community and enable them to adapt the disruptive technologies for a successful launch in their career.

Arun Dev has 36 years in L&T, during which he has served in various functions across the organisation. He has closely worked with the Oil & Gas Industry as well as the Power generation industry across the globe in establishing the acceptance and sales of these products in international markets. Widely travelled he has also participated in industry forums towards improving standards and regulations across the globe. He also had a key role in establishing a manufacturing operation in China, working with a joint venture partner. Following retirement (as Vice President – Sales and Contracts) in 2018, his primary aim is to contribute to bridge the gap between Industry and academia, as well as provide mentorship, leveraging his global experience. Travelling, reading and following Motor sport and English Premier League soccer are his other interests.

Nanu Swamy has more than 3 decades of hands-on deep technology experience. He completed his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering and his MS in Entrepreneurship – both @ IIT Madras. While at IIT, he founded Sentinel Technologies – a successful company focused on building Hardware and Software Security products.

After spending the last 30 years in Boston/San Francisco, USA, Nanu has now moved to his farm in rural Tamilnadu and has founded “The Learning Lofts Foundation” – a non-profit technology business accelerator that is focused on engaging and nurturing talent across Tier 2&3 towns. Nanu received the Presidential Award from Barack Obama for his Ed-Tech initiatives in the United States in 2013.

Ramaswamy is an Alumnus of IIT Madras, having obtained his B.Tech and M.Tech degrees in Metallurgy from the Institution. He has served for nearly 40 years in reputed organizations like LMW, Brakes India and Texmo Industries in their iron foundries, last position as head of operations. He has been responsible for setting up green field foundries and in project upgradations. He has been active in Foundry Associations and now serves the Foundry Industry as Consultant, based in Coimbatore.

Kolambur Sambamurthy completed his Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in the year 1971. Immediately after his graduation, he joined the German Engineering Company, Uhde GmbH based in Dortmund, Germany and worked in this company for 41 years till his retirement as project director. During his tenure with Uhde, he was posted in Mumbai, Dortmund Germany and in Houston, USA.

As a process engineer and later-on, as business director and lastly as project director, he was involved in several projects in India, Germany, Oman, Libya, USA, Canada etc.

Pramod Athalye has over 25 years’ experience with Fortune 50 companies in the US and India in Finance and Operations. He also co-launched a management consultancy in India helping clients implement strategy and operational transformation. Pramod has a passion for helping individuals succeed in serving societal needs through his involvement as a mentor to social entrepreneurs, advisor to NGOs and social start-ups, and facilitator of workshops in several countries. Pramod enjoys traveling and making friends from other cultures, as well as periodic solitude. He graduated from a B.Tech. from IIT Madras, MS from UT Austin, and MBA from UC Berkeley.

Patthamadai Ramesh has 4 decades of structural engineering design and construction experience in various types of projects including high-rise buildings including seismic design, schools, hospitals, hotels, leisure complexes, shopping malls, mosques, oil and power plants, atomic reactor buildings, water and waste water treatment plants, in UAE, Qatar, India, Nepal and Oman. Ramesh has been associated with international firms like WS Atkins, Maunsell, Stantec, KEO, WME and Tata Consulting engineers. Ramesh has knowledge of building codes of Euro, British, American and Indian.