Our Leadership Team
Tony Kinnear
Tony joined Azentio in 2021 from Thomson Reuters where he was President of its Legal Professionals business, overseeing the $2.5 billion division and a global team providing information, software and services to 235,000 customers. Prior to that, he was CEO of Thomson Reuters across the Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Russia since 2005. He brings with him deep expertise managing and scaling software businesses in the region and a strong record of successful M&A.
At Azentio, Tony leads activity for the company globally. He works closely with the existing management team and Apax Funds to expand Azentio’s presence in its current geographies, build on its strong portfolio of feature-rich products and pursue strategic M&A opportunities to support Azentio’s positioning as a regional leader in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) software sector.
Tony joined Azentio in 2021 from Thomson Reuters where he was President of its Legal Professionals business, overseeing the $2.5 billion division and a global team providing information, software and services to 235,000 customers. Prior to that, he was CEO of Thomson Reuters across the Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Russia since 2005. He brings with him deep expertise managing and scaling software businesses in the region and a strong record of successful M&A.
At Azentio, Tony leads activity for the company globally. He works closely with the existing management team and Apax Funds to expand Azentio’s presence in its current geographies, build on its strong portfolio of feature-rich products and pursue strategic M&A opportunities to support Azentio’s positioning as a regional leader in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) software sector.
Krish Narayanaswami
At Azentio, Krish defines the strategic path for the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance vertical with the objective of helping organizations adopt a digital-first approach and enable seamless digital experiences for their customers. His technical expertise and domain knowledge across core banking, lending, trade finance, treasury, risk & compliance and analytics, has been the differentiator in product innovation, client engagement, and operational excellence.
Krish brings over 25 years of nuanced BFSI experience to the table. Prior to Azentio, Krish led the banking vertical at 3i Infotech, driving sales, presales, product, and delivery. Earlier, he had held leadership roles at Tata AIA Life Insurance Company Ltd as Vice President – New Strategic Business Initiatives and at ICICI Bank as the Head of Technology Management Group. At ICICI Bank, he was responsible for technology investment and strategy across the ICICI Group. He was part of the core team which set up ICICI Bank’s credit card business and supported multi-fold business growth for the bank as Head of Credit Card Operations. He started his career in banking with Standard Chartered bank in Bangalore.
Krish is a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Bharathiar University in Tamil Nadu, India. He is currently based in Mumbai, India, with his wife and two sons.
At Azentio, Krish defines the strategic path for the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance vertical with the objective of helping organizations adopt a digital-first approach and enable seamless digital experiences for their customers. His technical expertise and domain knowledge across core banking, lending, trade finance, treasury, risk & compliance and analytics, has been the differentiator in product innovation, client engagement, and operational excellence.
Krish brings over 25 years of nuanced BFSI experience to the table. Prior to Azentio, Krish led the banking vertical at 3i Infotech, driving sales, presales, product, and delivery. Earlier, he had held leadership roles at Tata AIA Life Insurance Company Ltd as Vice President – New Strategic Business Initiatives and at ICICI Bank as the Head of Technology Management Group. At ICICI Bank, he was responsible for technology investment and strategy across the ICICI Group. He was part of the core team which set up ICICI Bank’s credit card business and supported multi-fold business growth for the bank as Head of Credit Card Operations. He started his career in banking with Standard Chartered bank in Bangalore.
Krish is a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Bharathiar University in Tamil Nadu, India. He is currently based in Mumbai, India, with his wife and two sons.
Suryanarayan Kasichainula
A business growth synergist, Surya has steered the ERP product, Orion, through series of augmentations to keep it technologically rich and functionally relevant. Surya advises clients on solutions related to digital transformation, customer experience, mining and useful analysis of data, thus helping businesses differentiate across Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
Prior to Azentio, Surya led the ERP business with additional responsibilities for the IT Services business at 3i Infotech, accountable for over 70% of the company’s global revenues. Earlier, he was Vice President, Sales at Oracle Financial Services for over a decade. A high energy, outcomes-focused leader, Surya has consistently and successfully driven growth by creating new market opportunities and penetrating existing ones.
Surya supports causes related to education, wellness, and the software products industry.
A business growth synergist, Surya has steered the ERP product, Orion, through series of augmentations to keep it technologically rich and functionally relevant. Surya advises clients on solutions related to digital transformation, customer experience, mining and useful analysis of data, thus helping businesses differentiate across Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
Prior to Azentio, Surya led the ERP business with additional responsibilities for the IT Services business at 3i Infotech, accountable for over 70% of the company’s global revenues. Earlier, he was Vice President, Sales at Oracle Financial Services for over a decade. A high energy, outcomes-focused leader, Surya has consistently and successfully driven growth by creating new market opportunities and penetrating existing ones.
Surya supports causes related to education, wellness, and the software products industry.
Lakshmi Swaminathan
Lakshmi joined Azentio as SVP – Global Product Support to head up Product Support for the BFS and Insurance verticals. The BFSI Support organization under Lakshmi is responsible for on-time resolution of client issues as well as supports Customer Satisfaction scores. She is the one to ensure agility and responsiveness across all elements of post implementation support, and continually relays client feedback to the Product and Engineering teams. Lakshmi brings 20+ years of professional experience at Adobe, AT&T and Cognizant spanning people management, program management, P&L management, process excellence, and operational roles. She is an Engineering graduate from NIT, Trichy, India and an MBA holder from Kelley School of Business, Indiana, US.
Lakshmi joined Azentio as SVP – Global Product Support to head up Product Support for the BFS and Insurance verticals. The BFSI Support organization under Lakshmi is responsible for on-time resolution of client issues as well as supports Customer Satisfaction scores. She is the one to ensure agility and responsiveness across all elements of post implementation support, and continually relays client feedback to the Product and Engineering teams. Lakshmi brings 20+ years of professional experience at Adobe, AT&T and Cognizant spanning people management, program management, P&L management, process excellence, and operational roles. She is an Engineering graduate from NIT, Trichy, India and an MBA holder from Kelley School of Business, Indiana, US.
Jay Pillai
As Chief Technology Officer, Jay leads the Technology Architecture and Product Engineering Groups at Azentio and steers Azentio’s key engineering centres across the globe.
Jay is a seasoned technology and engineering leader, with over 30 years of global professional experience across banking and insurance domains. He has lived and worked in the US and India, and has managed large teams across engineering, product, cloud, and quality assurance.
Prior to joining Azentio, Jay was the Head of Engineering for Retail and Digital Banking at Finastra since 2018, where as a member of the core technology leadership team he steered a unit of over 300 members across multiple global locations. In his role at Finastra, Jay was focused on banks and financial institutions outside of North America and actively worked with neo-banking clients. Prior to this, Jay worked at Oracle for 18 years in the US and India where his responsibilities included the full life cycle management of core infrastructure components for Oracle Fusion Applications. He returned to India in 2010 to set up the Oracle Insurance business unit. After 18 years at Oracle, and before he joined Finastra, Jay started his own venture focused on technology & cloud consulting in the US, and then was assigned as CTO at Zoylo Digihealth.
Jay is based in Bengaluru, India with his wife and two children. In his free time, Jay travels across the globe, keeps himself updated with newer technologies, and listens to music.
As Chief Technology Officer, Jay leads the Technology Architecture and Product Engineering Groups at Azentio and steers Azentio’s key engineering centres across the globe.
Jay is a seasoned technology and engineering leader, with over 30 years of global professional experience across banking and insurance domains. He has lived and worked in the US and India, and has managed large teams across engineering, product, cloud, and quality assurance.
Prior to joining Azentio, Jay was the Head of Engineering for Retail and Digital Banking at Finastra since 2018, where as a member of the core technology leadership team he steered a unit of over 300 members across multiple global locations. In his role at Finastra, Jay was focused on banks and financial institutions outside of North America and actively worked with neo-banking clients. Prior to this, Jay worked at Oracle for 18 years in the US and India where his responsibilities included the full life cycle management of core infrastructure components for Oracle Fusion Applications. He returned to India in 2010 to set up the Oracle Insurance business unit. After 18 years at Oracle, and before he joined Finastra, Jay started his own venture focused on technology & cloud consulting in the US, and then was assigned as CTO at Zoylo Digihealth.
Jay is based in Bengaluru, India with his wife and two children. In his free time, Jay travels across the globe, keeps himself updated with newer technologies, and listens to music.
Suresh Gurumurthy
Suresh’s responsibilities at Azentio include achieving BFSI delivery related financial metrics, on-time delivery of projects, identifying upgrade opportunities, driving efficiencies and optimum utilization of resources across all customer implementations, customer and employee NPS.
Suresh brings over 27 years of experience and leadership in solutions, presales, and delivery. Previously, he worked for Hexaware Technologies where he was playing the role of a Delivery Head in the Consumer and Retail vertical. He was primarily responsible for driving delivery excellence and growth in his role there. Prior to Hexaware, Suresh spent more than 22 years at Mindtree playing multiple pivotal roles including solution architect, delivery partner and Global Delivery Head for the Data & Intelligence service line. He has played a significant role in several large deal wins and has contributed to revenue growth and delivery excellence in his portfolios.
Suresh’s responsibilities at Azentio include achieving BFSI delivery related financial metrics, on-time delivery of projects, identifying upgrade opportunities, driving efficiencies and optimum utilization of resources across all customer implementations, customer and employee NPS.
Suresh brings over 27 years of experience and leadership in solutions, presales, and delivery. Previously, he worked for Hexaware Technologies where he was playing the role of a Delivery Head in the Consumer and Retail vertical. He was primarily responsible for driving delivery excellence and growth in his role there. Prior to Hexaware, Suresh spent more than 22 years at Mindtree playing multiple pivotal roles including solution architect, delivery partner and Global Delivery Head for the Data & Intelligence service line. He has played a significant role in several large deal wins and has contributed to revenue growth and delivery excellence in his portfolios.
Savitha Ramakrishna
Savitha joined Azentio as Head - Contracts. She manages the entire Contracts Function (including clients, partners and vendor contracts) across Azentio Group. Presently, Savitha is the interim General Counsel spearheading the Legal team and providing legal support, advice and guidance across legal and compliance matters.
Savitha is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience, including as an Independent Lawyer & Partner of a mid-sized law firm. She is specialized in corporate & commercial laws and employment laws and has varied experience advising domestic and international clients, both start-ups and established companies in different sectors.
Savitha holds a BSc & LLB degrees from Bangalore University, Karnataka, India and an LLM (Business Law) from Kuvempu University, Karnataka, India.
Savitha joined Azentio as Head - Contracts. She manages the entire Contracts Function (including clients, partners and vendor contracts) across Azentio Group. Presently, Savitha is the interim General Counsel spearheading the Legal team and providing legal support, advice and guidance across legal and compliance matters.
Savitha is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience, including as an Independent Lawyer & Partner of a mid-sized law firm. She is specialized in corporate & commercial laws and employment laws and has varied experience advising domestic and international clients, both start-ups and established companies in different sectors.
Savitha holds a BSc & LLB degrees from Bangalore University, Karnataka, India and an LLM (Business Law) from Kuvempu University, Karnataka, India.
Vipul Sud
As a business growth specialist, Vipul’s role in Azentio encompasses developing and implementing effective sales, pre-sales and product delivery strategies for the Insurance vertical.
Vipul brings with him over 15 years of rich Insurance industry experience across multiple roles, starting from a developer to being an advisor to Apax Partners. As an advisor, he had a successful track record in providing guidance and assistance with respect to evaluating potential investments in leading BFSI businesses across Asia Pacific, India and Middle East.
He has held senior leadership positions in major IT companies, Majesco and Mastek, and played a pivotal role in setting up, building and expanding both companies’ Insurance practice in the Asia Pacific region.
An Electronics Engineer, Vipul hails from Shimla, a scenic city in the Himalayan foothills. He currently resides in Singapore with his wife and two kids.
Apart from his love and passion for the Insurance industry, he is also a technology geek. If there is anything else he is passionate about, it is Formula 1 car racing, of which he is an avid fan.
As a business growth specialist, Vipul’s role in Azentio encompasses developing and implementing effective sales, pre-sales and product delivery strategies for the Insurance vertical.
Vipul brings with him over 15 years of rich Insurance industry experience across multiple roles, starting from a developer to being an advisor to Apax Partners. As an advisor, he had a successful track record in providing guidance and assistance with respect to evaluating potential investments in leading BFSI businesses across Asia Pacific, India and Middle East.
He has held senior leadership positions in major IT companies, Majesco and Mastek, and played a pivotal role in setting up, building and expanding both companies’ Insurance practice in the Asia Pacific region.
An Electronics Engineer, Vipul hails from Shimla, a scenic city in the Himalayan foothills. He currently resides in Singapore with his wife and two kids.
Apart from his love and passion for the Insurance industry, he is also a technology geek. If there is anything else he is passionate about, it is Formula 1 car racing, of which he is an avid fan.
Gaurav Kedia
As Chief Financial Officer, Gaurav heads the finance, accounting, corporate development and commercial excellence functions at Azentio. He guides Azentio’s financial strategy, leveraging his strong growth mindset and extensive hands-on experience in transforming and scaling IT businesses, both organically and inorganically through M&A and strategic partnerships.
He was previously the Global Controller of Wipro Limited, responsible for driving excellence in external financial reporting, consolidation of financials, accounting compliance and controls, process simplification, running the Accounts Payable shared services and implementation of emerging technologies in finance. In his 20 years with Wipro, he has played multiple roles in the Finance function including Internal Audit, Large Deals, Business Finance Head in 4 different units responsible for driving revenue growth and profitability, M&A related activities and as Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Head.
Gaurav is a Chartered Accountant, a Company Secretary and a Certified Treasury Manager.
He is based in Bangalore with his wife and 2 children.
As Chief Financial Officer, Gaurav heads the finance, accounting, corporate development and commercial excellence functions at Azentio. He guides Azentio’s financial strategy, leveraging his strong growth mindset and extensive hands-on experience in transforming and scaling IT businesses, both organically and inorganically through M&A and strategic partnerships.
He was previously the Global Controller of Wipro Limited, responsible for driving excellence in external financial reporting, consolidation of financials, accounting compliance and controls, process simplification, running the Accounts Payable shared services and implementation of emerging technologies in finance. In his 20 years with Wipro, he has played multiple roles in the Finance function including Internal Audit, Large Deals, Business Finance Head in 4 different units responsible for driving revenue growth and profitability, M&A related activities and as Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Head.
Gaurav is a Chartered Accountant, a Company Secretary and a Certified Treasury Manager.
He is based in Bangalore with his wife and 2 children.
Rosie Kmeid
Rosie’s career spans all aspects of communications, marketing and public relations, with an extensive background, knowledge and expertise in financial services. Rosie joined Azentio as Group Head – Brands & Marketing. She brings to the post a wealth of experience in strategic positioning and campaigning having held various senior positions across a variety of sectors including IT, media and telecom.
Prior to joining Azentio, Rosie was VP Global Corporate Communications & Marketing at Path Solutions. She was responsible for creating and executing communication strategies that advance the company’s mission, corporate brand identity management, research and marketing strategy. Rosie had several publications in the areas of finance and fintech with special focus on financial market trends. Rosie holds a Master’s degree in International Law from the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) and a BA in Political Sciences and International Affairs from the Lebanese American University (LAU), and speaks fluent French, English and Arabic.
Rosie’s career spans all aspects of communications, marketing and public relations, with an extensive background, knowledge and expertise in financial services. Rosie joined Azentio as Group Head – Brands & Marketing. She brings to the post a wealth of experience in strategic positioning and campaigning having held various senior positions across a variety of sectors including IT, media and telecom.
Prior to joining Azentio, Rosie was VP Global Corporate Communications & Marketing at Path Solutions. She was responsible for creating and executing communication strategies that advance the company’s mission, corporate brand identity management, research and marketing strategy. Rosie had several publications in the areas of finance and fintech with special focus on financial market trends. Rosie holds a Master’s degree in International Law from the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) and a BA in Political Sciences and International Affairs from the Lebanese American University (LAU), and speaks fluent French, English and Arabic.
Abdo Chalhoub
Abdo, as Chief Information & Security Officer, sets the strategic course for the enterprise-wide technology infrastructure and information systems, including risk management and security of Azentio’s digital assets.
Abdo has over 30 years of diverse experience in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). His deep expertise spans across all ICT functions ranging from information security, disaster recovery, capacity building, enterprise digital architecture restructuring, development and integration of enterprise tools to improve process efficiency and visibility of resource utilization, costs and risks. Prior to Azentio, Abdo has been in leadership roles at Path Solutions – Kuwait, Cisco Systems in San Jose, California (USA), with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and at Texas Instruments – PACC in Lebanon.
An Electrical & Electronics Engineer by profession, Abdo is a certified and accredited trainer (from APMG/ISACA) in Information Security Management (CISM), Data Privacy (CDPSE), IT Governance (COBIT, CGEIT) and IT Audit (CISA). He is certified in Project Management (PMP & PRINCE2) and Cybersecurity (CSX).
Abdo is a Board Member and former President of ISACA Lebanon. He is a part-time instructor at École Supérieure des Affaires (ESA) – Institute for Finance and Governance (IFG) and at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Information Security.
Abdo, as Chief Information & Security Officer, sets the strategic course for the enterprise-wide technology infrastructure and information systems, including risk management and security of Azentio’s digital assets.
Abdo has over 30 years of diverse experience in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). His deep expertise spans across all ICT functions ranging from information security, disaster recovery, capacity building, enterprise digital architecture restructuring, development and integration of enterprise tools to improve process efficiency and visibility of resource utilization, costs and risks. Prior to Azentio, Abdo has been in leadership roles at Path Solutions – Kuwait, Cisco Systems in San Jose, California (USA), with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and at Texas Instruments – PACC in Lebanon.
An Electrical & Electronics Engineer by profession, Abdo is a certified and accredited trainer (from APMG/ISACA) in Information Security Management (CISM), Data Privacy (CDPSE), IT Governance (COBIT, CGEIT) and IT Audit (CISA). He is certified in Project Management (PMP & PRINCE2) and Cybersecurity (CSX).
Abdo is a Board Member and former President of ISACA Lebanon. He is a part-time instructor at École Supérieure des Affaires (ESA) – Institute for Finance and Governance (IFG) and at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Information Security.
Karthik VPB
As Chief People Officer, Karthik drives the function globally to build long-term value for Azentio by developing and executing scalable people strategies and practices. His focus is on making Azentio an employer of choice – one that helps people thrive in a high-growth environment.
A human resources professional with over 20 years of rich global experience, Karthik VPB is passionate about building organizations and harmonizing human capital with business growth. He has created and led high performing HR organizations. A believer and practitioner of “transactional excellence fosters transformations”, he is at his best while decoding complex ambiguous problems and implementing innovative and sustainable solutions.
Karthik joins us from Prosus Group (formerly Naspers), where he was responsible for building, leading and transforming high performing HR functions while consulting and nurturing talent across Prosus’ segments in APAC and in its Fintech segment globally. Earlier, Karthik held key regional and global human resources roles across business in leading companies, including Harman, CSC, Motorola and DuPont. He has also co-founded a successful HR consulting company. He is currently an honorary advisor to the RBI Innovation Hub.
Karthik is a human resource post-graduate from XLRI Jamshedpur and holds a Senior Executive Leadership Certification from INSEAD. He is a certified executive coach with a Mechanical Engineering degree from Annamalai University.
With roots from the shores of Tamil Nadu, India, Karthik currently lives in Chennai. Outside work, Karthik loves to explore exotic cuisines and ancient architecture and pursues sustainable farming and community service in his ancestral town.
As Chief People Officer, Karthik drives the function globally to build long-term value for Azentio by developing and executing scalable people strategies and practices. His focus is on making Azentio an employer of choice – one that helps people thrive in a high-growth environment.
A human resources professional with over 20 years of rich global experience, Karthik VPB is passionate about building organizations and harmonizing human capital with business growth. He has created and led high performing HR organizations. A believer and practitioner of “transactional excellence fosters transformations”, he is at his best while decoding complex ambiguous problems and implementing innovative and sustainable solutions.
Karthik joins us from Prosus Group (formerly Naspers), where he was responsible for building, leading and transforming high performing HR functions while consulting and nurturing talent across Prosus’ segments in APAC and in its Fintech segment globally. Earlier, Karthik held key regional and global human resources roles across business in leading companies, including Harman, CSC, Motorola and DuPont. He has also co-founded a successful HR consulting company. He is currently an honorary advisor to the RBI Innovation Hub.
Karthik is a human resource post-graduate from XLRI Jamshedpur and holds a Senior Executive Leadership Certification from INSEAD. He is a certified executive coach with a Mechanical Engineering degree from Annamalai University.
With roots from the shores of Tamil Nadu, India, Karthik currently lives in Chennai. Outside work, Karthik loves to explore exotic cuisines and ancient architecture and pursues sustainable farming and community service in his ancestral town.
