This episode is with Manvendra - Manny -  Saxena, founder and Executive Chairman of Mars Energy Group. Mars Energy Group is a private equity holding company that acquires renewable energy businesses and provides support after acquisition by utilizing technology, implementing systems, and driving process improvements. The main focus of Mars Energy is solar. Prior to Mars Energy, Manny grew a street sweeping holding company to be the second largest street sweeping business in the US. After this significant growth, the street sweeping company led by Manny was sold to Warburg Pincus, a large global private equity firm.  Manny's success is captured in a Northwestern Kellogg  School of Management business case entitled “Swept Up in Uncertainty at Power Sweeping”. Manny is an immigrant professional and he is originally from India. He  holds an engineering degree from IIT Varanasi and  received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.This episode was recorded in San Francisco. 

This is a thought-provoking episode with Professor Mohanbir Sawhney, a globally recognized scholar, consultant, speaker, and author in technology, innovation and marketing. He's a distinguished professor at the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University, and an advisor to global Fortune 500 companies.  We sat down with Professor Sawhney to delve into his impactful professional journey and explore his mindset, which has enabled him to stay ahead of rapidly evolving, cutting-edge technology trends. Professor Sawhney shared invaluable advice for both entrepreneurs and corporate career professionals seeking personal and professional development. Additionally, we discussed the future of business school education and the rapid growth of India's tech ecosystem.This episode is one you won't want to miss.

This  is a unique episode that was recorded with Kostas Poulakidas in Bangalore, India, featuring two amazing Indian female tech leaders.  Joining us are Sonia Arora and Preetha Menon. Both have over 15 years of impactful tech leadership experience in the United States in diverse industries. In this episode we are delving into their inspiring stories and their reflections during a visit to India with the Kellogg of School of Management. Sonia and Preetha are classmates from the Kellogg School of Management’s Executive MBA Program.  Sonia Arora is a seasoned technology leader in cloud and agile transformation, software development life cycle, and process improvement. She is currently leading digital transformation projects at Blue Shield, California to provide access to safe, quality and affordable healthcare.  Preetha Menon is an innovative business technology leader and a strategic product owner with experience in deep tech product development. She is currently at AbbVie where she is a leader in the delivery of innovative products to improve the lives of the patients.  

In this episode we are hosting Orie Browne, a distinguished physician, tech entrepreneur, and community service leader. As the Chief Medical Officer at Checkpoint Health, Orie plays a pivotal role in providing innovative health management solutions for people with chronic illnesses. His extensive career as a physician spans various locations in the US and internationally.Orie's remarkable educational and professional journey started at West Point, and advanced  with significant experiences in Israel, Germany and the United States. He holds an MD from the Medical School for International Health at Ben Gurion University in Israel, where he also earned his PhD in Neurophysiology. Orie is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Academy of Wilderness Medicine.Additionally, Orie is an alum of the Kellogg School of Management, where he completed the Executive MBA program. I was privileged to be his classmate at Kellogg. Beyond his professional life, he is a sailor with a deep passion for linking sailing to meaningful community service. We are recording this podcast in Tel Aviv, Israel, where Orie and I are visiting as Crown Family Israel Fellows at the Kellogg School of Management. 

In this episode, we are hosting Ashish Sinha, a distinguished non-profit  leader in the US democracy space. Ashish currently serves as the Chief of Staff at the Institute for Responsive Government, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. This organization is dedicated to assisting policymakers in finding solutions that enhance government efficiency, accessibility, and responsiveness to the needs of real people. Ashish is a fellow alum of the Kellogg School of Management. 

In this episode,  we are hosting Ardaman Singh, a senior executive of Axtria, a global provider of cloud software and AI-driven data analytics to the life sciences industry. The company officially became an unicorn with over $1 billion valuation  after raising $150 million from Bain Capital Tech Opportunities in 2021. Ardaman is a seasoned business executive and entrepreneur with experience in almost all continents.  He is is an alum of Kellogg School of Management's Executive MBA program at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. We are recording this podcast in Delhi, India. 

Hi from Evanston, Illinois. In this podcast Kostas Poulakidas and I, Volkan Emre, are hosting Oender Boyman, a fellow Kellogg Executive MBA and a seasoned venture capital investor. Onder is currently a  Partner at Swiss Venture Capital firm VI Partners. Vi Partners was founded in 2000 by ETH Zurich, McKinsey and ten Swiss blue-chip companies with the mission to stimulate entrepreneurship and foster the VC industry in Switzerland. Prior to joining VI Partners, he was the head of the Swiss Post Ventures, the venture investment arm of Swiss Post, the national postal service of Switzerland - consistently voted as the most innovative and best postal service in the world.Oender is an alum of the Kellogg School of Management's Executive MBA program.

Hi from Bangalore, India! In this episode,  Kostas Poulakidas and I, Volkan Emre, are hosting   Anant Vidur Puri, a technology and entrepreneurship enthusiast who is a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners’ India branch. Bessemer is one of the World’s leading VC companies, with more than 135 IPOs and 200 portfolio companies in the enterprise, consumer and healthcare spaces.  Anant is an alum of the Harvard Business School. 

Hi from Bangalore, India. Today,  Kostas Poulakidas and myself, Volkan Emre, are hosting Abhinay Choudhari, the founder of BigBasket.com, one of the largest and most impactful e-commerce ventures in the World. BigBasket was sold to Tata Group for over $2 billion valuation in 2021. Abhinay is also the founder of LaundryMate, a groundbreaking platform revolutionizing the way how laundry is done. We are at LaundryMate’s headquarters in Bangalore and thankful for Abhinay’s hospitality. Abhinay is an alum of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. 

Today we are hosting Linda Maclachlan, founder and current Board Chairperson of Entara, a Chicago-based leading Cybersecurity and  IT Managed Services company. Linda is also the Co-founder and CEO of Forecheck, a cybersecurity startup.  Linda is an alum of the Kellogg School of Management's Executive MBA program.