In early April 2020, Lavindra de Silva and Karthiga Ratnam, we decided to create a new digital platform that brings together pundits from across the globe to discover, debate, and debunk issues that are at the forefront due to this pandemic. We felt that having a panel of experts sharing their perspectives and prescriptions on how we can best survive if not thrive in this new Pandemic World would inspire others to do the same.
Co-Host – Lavindra de Silva
Lavindra is a sales innovator and advisor to disruptive startups and companies looking to rapidly expand into new markets. Lavindra believes that we need new sales models that redefine how companies: attract buyers and acquire customers, compensate and incentivize sales teams, and properly position and market their wares.
Companies looking to pivot need to build scalable Sales Engines and adopt evolved Sales Leadership practices. In an expansive global career, Lavindra has held sales leadership roles at several technology companies where he was credited with conceptualizing and building sales teams that generated exponential and rapid topline growth. Lavindra lived in the United States for over 20 years where he worked for Fortune 500® companies like Sallie Mae, PwC, Red Hat, and smaller technology startups. Since his return, Lavindra has built robust and scalable sales engines for a variety of different technology companies in both Sri Lanka and India. Lavindra is also a Venture Capitalist.
Lavindra has an undergraduate degree in Economics & Geography (minor in Computer Science) from Clark University, Worcester, MA, and has completed graduate work in Geography at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. Lavindra has also completed a certificate program on MIT’s Approach to Design Thinking.
Co-Host – Karthiga Ratnam
Karthi is a marketer laser-focused on converting customer engagement and experience into tangible revenue. Very conversant and comfortable with cutting-edge and emerging technologies across multiple domains. Established track-record working with various stakeholders like Board Members, CXOs, and Business Leaders across Software Product and Service companies, VCs, Mobile Telephony, Financial Services, F&B, Customer Care, Co-Working, and eLearning. First-hand experience working with Start-ups, SMEs, MNCs, and Large Corporates. Track-record of achieving multi-million-dollar sales targets, rapidly growing sales pipelines, and creating recurring revenue streams from multiple channels.
She is a CMO that maximizes spend by growing revenue almost immediately to justify quantitative and qualitative ROI. A strategist that fixates on execution and believes that speed of delivery is essential in establishing market dominance. Karthi is also Head of Marketing at Hatch and Veracity AI.