TiE NEW JERSEY TECH CEO SIG 

EXECUTING M&A GROWTH STRATEGIES SUCCESSFULLY

MAR 24th 2021, 6:00 PM 

Topic: Orion Innovation: Executing a high-velocity organic growth strategy fueled by aggressive M&A combinations Quadrupling with a global footprint in less than 5 years

TiE New Jersey will hold its next call in its series for the Special Interest Group of Tech CEOs on MARCH 24th at 6 PM over Zoom.  

Raj Patil, the CEO of Orion Innovation, was one of the speakers at a TiE-NJ Event in June 2018 regarding “Acquisition or exit for IT/data businesses with revenue in the 50 M range”.  Having been a repeat entrepreneur with experience of being both on the buy and sell-side, Raj shared some of his learnings on how to be prepared for a successful exit.  

Raj is back with his team to share the growth journey of Orion Innovation, which under his leadership, has quadrupled in size and revenues in less than 5 years and emerged as a leader in the new breed of digital transformation players.

Raj will share insights into a successful growth strategy that included a combination of acquisitions followed by seamless integration to fuel high-velocity growth.
Two members of Orion’s leadership team, who came in as part of recent acquisitions, will provide their perspectives on the drivers that were attractive to them as part of their decision to be acquired by Orion.

Dr. V. “Bala” Balasubramanian was the former CEO of Cabeus, NJ-based high-end boutique solutions and services firm with their RegTech SaaS platform.

Guy DelGrande was the former CEO of Tekmark, a well-established NJ services provider with deep relationships for over 30 years. Both will share their insights into pre-and post-acquisition activities and their contributions to the growth of the integrated platform.

The interactive Fireside Chat will be moderated by Charter member Anjan Lahiri, (Founder and CEO Navikenz Inc., ex CEO BirlaSoft & Co-Founder MindTree), Chairman TECH CEO SIG, TIE NJ

This program will be interesting for both those who want to be acquired and those who are looking to scale. Some of the areas of discussion will be:

• Role of relationship building and networking. Learn what happened when Dr. Bala met Raj Patil at TiE NJ Event in 2018.
• Identifying opportunities and crafting M&A as a Strategy.
• How M&A yields value for both the parties involved.
• How to structure your company so that you are ready to be acquired when opportunity knocks.
• Challenges to look out for post a transaction.

AGENDA:
6:00 - Welcome by Raman Kapur
6:05 - TiE Charter Member Introductions 
6:10 - Fireside Chat
6:45 - QA 

SPEAKER PROFILES 

Raj Patil, MBA – CEO, Orion Innovation

Raj is the Chief Executive Officer of Orion Innovation (“Orion”), a fast-growing, global technology firm that enables digital transformation with solutions rooted in digital strategy, engineering, and experience design. With over 5,000 associates across the US, Europe, and Asia, the firm delivers automation solutions to Fortune 1,000 companies in the financial and professional services, communications and media, professional sports and entertainment, and healthcare industries.  Over the past 5 years, Orion has rapidly expanded to be a leader in the new breed of pure-play digital players. 

With over 25 years of experience, Raj is a seasoned executive who has successfully led the growth of major global technology services companies, as well as rapid transformation and scale-up of mid-size players to industry leaders. Prior to joining Orion, he was the President and COO of LiquidHub (acquired by Capgemini). In his previous roles, he was a Co-founder of aSpark, a Company focused on developing technology solutions for large enterprises in the digital interaction space. He has also spent several years with MphasiS (formerly an HP company), playing key roles of President and Global Head of Sales in its growth to over 40,000 employees.

He received an MBA from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business, MS in Computer Science from Villanova University, and a BS in Computer Science from Mysore University, India

Guy DelGrande – Chief Sales Officer, Orion Innovation

Guy is Chief Sales Officer at Orion Innovation. As CSO, Guy is responsible for strategic sales leadership and revenue delivery for the company across all lines of business. Additionally, he manages the sales’ team strategy and plays a significant role in leading the verticals, sales channels, and services for the company. 

Prior to joining Orion, Guy was CEO of Tekmark Global Solutions where he successfully directed the growth of the company since acquiring the company in 1997, imparting his own brand of energetic leadership, vision, and spirit over the years. Guy’s innovative guidance led the company’s expansion by doubling the revenue and increasing its domestic and international footprint. He was instrumental in transforming Tekmark from a staffing company into a full-service technology partner offering staffing/consulting services, IT and telecom solutions, managed IT and security services and products. He has directed more than seven acquisitions to further enhance Tekmark’s portfolio of services and geographic presence.

Guy serves as an executive member and advisor to a number of non-profits, including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® (LLS), Per Scholas, NPower, Marty Lyons Foundation.  DelGrande graduated from Rider University 

Dr. V. “Bala” Balasubramanian - Senior Vice President, Life Sciences, Orion Innovation 

V. “Bala” Balasubramanian is Senior Vice President and Head of the Life Sciences Division at Orion Innovation.  Bala is responsible for defining the strategy and direction for the Life Sciences division, exploring digital transformation initiatives to further the needs of clients, and providing thought leadership to the industry. Prior to Orion, Bala was the Co-Founder and CEO of Cabeus, a niche Life Sciences services firm where he was responsible for strategy, leadership, and vision for a cloud platform called ReALM® to transform the regulatory value chain for Life Sciences.  Bala was the recipient of the Albert Einstein Award for Innovation as part of the NJ Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards in 2016.

Bala has more than 30 years of experience in developing and delivering innovative information management solutions for companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Aventis, Roche, Merrill Lynch, AT&T, Bell Atlantic, and IBM.  He is an accomplished author, presenter, and speaker on various emerging topics shaping the Life Sciences industry.  Bala also serves as a Member of the Industrial Advisory Board for the Masters in Business and Science program at Rutgers University.

Bala has his Ph.D., and MBA, from Rutgers University, M.S. in Computer Science from New Jersey Institute of Technology, and B.S. in Electronics Engineering from India.

Anjan Lahiri, (Founder and CEO Navikenz Inc., ex CEO BirlaSoft & Co-Founder MindTree), Chairman  TECH CEO SIG, TIE NJ. 

Anjan Lahiri was a co-founder of Mindtree and set up operations for the startup in the US in 1999. Then he established Mindtree in Europe from 2003 to 2008 and led Mindtree’s IT Services business globally from Bangalore from 2008 to 2013. He then became the CEO of Sasken, a Telecom Products company in 2013, and led the revitalization of that business, tripling the stock price in one year.

In 2015 he took over as the CEO and Managing Director of Birlasoft, a $150M company, that was struggling with growth and was dependent on one dominant customer for 65% of its revenue. By the time he left in 2019, Birlasoft was a $500M public company with a diversified and stable customer base in a successful turnaround, recognized by the industry. Anjan’s vast career also includes experience at Cambridge Technology Partners, a Boston-based consulting company, and Wipro. Prior to doing an MBA from the University of Florida, he earned a degree in Electronic Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra where he is recognized as a distinguished alum.

In 2019 (https://www.thesoftwarereport.com/top-50-tech-services-ceos-of-2019/) the software report rated Anjan as among the top 10 CEOs in IT Services companies globally.