Management Team
Mr. Suresh Katta: Founder and CEO
Mr. Katta founded Saama Technologies in 1997 with a clear vision: to make actionable intelligence more accessible, more useful and more specific to the business constituencies that need it most. Since the company’s launch, he has led the development of solution sets that blend technical expertise, functional knowledge and patented technologies to serve Fortune 500 corporations and public sector agencies.
Mr. Katta’s long history of launching startups that produced innovative solutions makes him uniquely qualified to the task of creating and building a company that helps organizations uncover the value in their operational data streams. He previously co-founded GVI, which developed groupware applications and was sold to Netscape in 1995. He also founded Multisoft, which developed and marketed high-end graphics products for the Indian market. He also spent several years at Silicon Graphics, a pioneer and innovation leader in high-performance computing solutions. His work has earned him industry-wide recognition, and he has been a discussion panel member and featured speaker at numerous IT conferences.
Mr. Katta earned his M.S. in Computer Engineering at the University of Southwest Louisiana, and his B.S. in Electronics Engineering at the University of Bangalore in India.
Mr. Sagar Anisingaraju: Chief Strategy Officer
Mr. Anisingaraju brings both depth and breadth of experience in the software services industry—his 25-year career spans PS, engineering, IT, marketing and sales. He won the 'Applications Development Trends Innovator Award' for designing a web-based Reporting Warehouse System, and his recent work includes product innovation and vertical applications for the CIO office to manage the business value of IT. His current passions include the development of a Value Innovation strategy framework that enables companies to identify blue oceans, and building collaborative and predictive Business Intelligence applications. He was a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and served on the board of the Silicon Valley chapter of ISACA, a global IT standards governance institution.
Mr. Anisingaraju came to Saama from InfoSTEP, where he served as CEO for 11 years until Saama acquired the company. Earlier, he was instrumental in helping MIC Electronics Ltd., the parent company of InfoSTEP, launch a successful IPO in India in 2007. He previously worked as an International Manager for CMC Ltd. and was responsible for managing several successful global projects, with engagements in the U.K., Switzerland and the United States. Before that, he earned recognition for his work designing solutions to generate Indian-language fonts and transliteration systems. He has been a featured speaker and contributor for several industry associations, including the Institute of Internal Auditors, the Asian Institute of Technology, and Bangkok Business Objects User Conferences.
Mr. Anisingaraju has an M.S. from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, and a B.S. in Engineering from Andhra University in Visakhapatnam, India.
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Rajeev Dadia: General Manager
Mr. Dadia brings 20 years’ worth of experience to his role at Saama. He has created BI and Analytic strategies for large organizations and managed large-scale deployments of data warehousing, analytics and applied data mining/predictive analytics systems in diverse business environments. He has also been in involved in analysis, design and deployment of both B2C and B2B solutions in different vertical industries. In addition, he led the development of a Business Intelligence Center of Excellence operation to provide offshore development capabilities. In his current position, he focuses on developing strategies, methodologies, and partnerships that enhance the solution sets offered during each client engagement.
Before joining Saama, Mr. Dadia worked at SGI in Corporate Information Systems. He has an MS in Computer Science at California State University, Chico.
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Shirish Netke: EVP Business Analytics Solutions
Mr. Netke is EVP of Business Analytics Solutions at Saama. He has extensive experience in general management, sales, marketing and global operations in high-growth companies.
His recent roles include EVP – North America at Microland Ltd., CEO of Microland Inc., President of Absolute Quality (AQ) and President of Enterprise Solutions of Aztecsoft Ltd. His roles entailed P&L responsibility for all business operations including, sales, marketing, finance and operations. While at AQ, he led the transition from console gaming services to social gaming services. At Aztecsoft, he executed a strategy to position the company as a leader in Outsourced Product Development for software companies and grew revenues three-fold in 24 months, with a corresponding 10-fold increase in market capitalization.
Before joining Aztecsoft, Mr. Netke held leadership positions at Sun Microsystems for over a decade in the areas of International Sales, Marketing and Channels Management. His roles included channels director for a $700M business unit and strategic sales director for software. As a part of Sun’s international sales team, he worked with customers and channel partners in 35 countries in Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa. He was also the founder and chairman of the SchoolTone Alliance, a non-profit industry consortium to provide digital content to schools in the US. Earlier, he was one of the first 25 employees at Wipro Technologies.
Mr. Netke has been quoted as a thought leader in the New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily, Information Week, Chief Executive Magazine and Asia Times. He has been invited to speak at a variety of international gatherings, including Seoul Digital Forum, GITEX, CFO Rising and Oracle OpenWorld. He has testified as an industry expert before the California State legislature and the US Congressional Web-based Education Commission.
Mr. Netke has an undergraduate degree from IIT Kanpur and an MBA from the University of Rocheste.
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Robert O. Hersh: Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Hersh recently joined Saama as the Chief Financial Officer. He has over 25 years of Finance and Operations experience and brings a wealth of knowledge and sophisticated executive leadership expertise in the area of Global Finance Management. He has extensive experience in international business and has made numerous acquisitions and managed finance for global operations in India, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Ireland. At Saama, Mr. Hersh oversees the global support services functions of the company including Finance and Accounting.
Before joining Saama, Mr. Hersh held key management positions in Finance at Sierra Atlantic, Oak Technology Inc., Network Peripherals, SEEQ Technology, Alps Electric. He began his career as a Senior Manager at KPMG before serving as Chief Financial Officer and directing the initial public offering of Widcom Communications. Mr. Hersh is a CPA and holds an M.B.A. from California State University, Sacramento.
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Dr. E. J. Sarma: Global Head, Human Capital Management
Dr. Sarma is an industry veteran with three decades’ worth of experience in Human Resource Management. During his time at Saama, he has managed the implementation of world-class HR systems, tools and processes in a variety of business environments.
Among many industry distinctions, Dr. Sarma has been certified as a Lead Assessor for ISO by the British Standards Institute-Quality Analysis, and is also a certified trainer for Leadership Challenges. He has published papers on a range of issues in trade journals for Human Resources specialists.
Dr. Sarma has a Ph.D in Business Management and MBA degrees from The University of Bombay.
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Practice Area Leaders
Haranath Gnana: Practice Area Leader
Mr. Gnana’s career spans 18 years in Information Systems in multiple disciplines. At Saama, he has helped drive ‘labs’ initiatives that explore cutting-edge technologies to derive additional value for customers. He built Savii (Smart Audience Viewing Intelligence & Insights, an enhanced variation on Nielsen ratings) and PSL (Predictive Store Locator, which small retailers use to identify optimal store locations) by leveraging syndicated public datasets, along with open source data mining and predictive modules. (He received a patent for his pioneering work in PSL.) He also helps clients adopt and leverage cutting-edge technologies such as BI Appliances and Mobile BI.
His technology skill sets include the development of complex web applications, portals and Content Management Systems, along with a broad swath of the Information Management lifecycle, from formulating BI roadmaps and strategy to building operational realities. At Saama, he helped create the Life Sciences practice, which he now oversees, and the Healthcare practice.
Mr. Gnana has been published in leading outlets such as Information-Management.com, b-eye-network.com and Office of the CIO.
He completed his MBA with Honors at the Lucas Graduate School of Business at San Jose State University and earned his B.S. in Electronics Engineering from Bangalore University. He is a Certified Business Intelligence Professional (CBIP) in "Leadership & Management" at the Mastery Level from TDWI (tdwi.org).
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Murali Krishnam: Practice Area Leader
Mr. Krishnam’s extensive experience encompasses more than 16 years of experience in R&D, product development and consulting in industrial automation, telecommunications and BI. He has led the development of mission-critical systems in both hardware and software and been intricately involved in every phase: evangelizing the technology, managing production, building hybrid models of Agile and SDLC product development life cycles. He has also specialized in engineering customizability into generic software platforms in order to facilitate re-usability, encourage broader adoption and speed time to market. During his time at Saama, Mr. Krishnam has also created and run the Open Source BI Business Group.
As an advocate of change, he remains passionate about emerging and disruptive technologies that enable newer business models. In his current position, he manages client operations in the High-Tech and Emerging Client space.
Before joining Saama, Mr. Krishnam’s work spanned engagements at and with both global conglomerates and smaller companies, from Hughes Software Systems to Kirloskar Electric and Trillium Digital Systems (subsequently acquired by Intel).
He has a B.S. in Engineering in Electronics and Communications from Bangalore University.
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Sanjeev Kumar: Practice Area Leader
Mr. Kumar has been working in the software services and Business Intelligence for more than two decades, and has won wide recognition for his innovation.
He was previously Chief Operating Officer and on the board of directors at InfoSTEP—overseeing Strategic Direction, Business Planning, Key Account management and Strategic Partner Relationship—when the company was acquired by Saama. Before joining Saama, he spent time at industry leaders such as Sun Microsystems, SGI, and Applied Materials.
Mr. Kumar completed his Engineering degree with distinction from M.S. University, Baroda, attended JBIMS in Mumbai, and earned a Masters Certificates in Computer Application from CMC Ltd. He was a recipient of the Application Innovator Award, and has spoken at numerous Business Intelligence and other industry conferences. He is member of the board at Multiple Myeloma, Bay Area Chapter.
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Murali Pabbisetty: Practice Area Leader
Mr. Pabbisetty has built up a base of more than 14 years’ consulting experience in Business Intelligence and Data Management solutions for Fortune 100 companies in the financial, telecom and high-tech domains. His areas of expertise include Mobile BI, high-performance analytics and data visualization. Mr. Pabbisetty leads the Mobile BI Practice at Saama and champions the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiative .
Before joining Saama, Mr. Pabbisetty worked for Tata Consulting Services and General Electric. He regularly presents at industry conferences and has been published in leading industry journals.
Mr. Pabbisetty has a BS in Information Science from Bangalore University.
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Balaji Rajagopalan: Practice Area Leader
Mr. Rajagopalan brings over 17 years’ worth of industry experience to his position, including more than a decade in leadership roles across IT, engineering and professional services organizations. He has extensive, experience in BI, data quality management, information architecture and ERP and CRM implementations.
At Saama, Mr. Rajagopalan manages client operations in the areas of high-tech and financial services. He has been instrumental in building strong relationships with clients and leading large BI implementation projects involving roadmap and strategy for Data Warehousing and BI, Enterprise Data Quality & Governance, BI & Data as a service, BI Appliance evaluation and implementation, Master and Meta data management and Mobile BI solutions. His focus is squarely on solving business problems by aligning IT and business strategies with a specific focus on user experience, data quality, adoption and faster time to solution.
Mr. Rajagopalan has a B.S. in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix and currently pursuing an MBA at San Jose State University. He has been a presenter at several Business Object user conferences.
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