Has the internet changed the nature of the way shopping occurs in stores these days? more
To a society fascinated with the process of buying and consumption, a great retail experience should be of significant importance; yet despite the fact that 90% of dollars are spent “in store,” the media are crowded with stories and analysis of “online experience” but scant mention is made of the ways in which we can improve the “in-store” experience for consumers.
Novitaz's management team and advisory board consist of seasoned executives with deep domain knowledge in enterprise software development combined with retail and financial services company experience.
Our global team, headquartered in Westport, Connecticut, integrates both startup and Fortune 500 expertise. Veteran U.S. software industry experts head our talented engineering team based in Mumbai, India.
Suni Munshani brings to Novitaz a unique blend of venture capital and operations experience. Previously, he was a general partner at Persephone Investments, a venture capital firm focusing on early-stage technology investments. At Persephone, he set investment strategy and generated deal flow in technology services and software companies, as well as enterprise software and services providers. Suni also served as chief executive officer of Synetics, a services company in which Persephone was the largest shareholder. Synetics was acquired by ACS Inc. in 2002; Lockheed Martin subsequently acquired the division of ACS that included Synetics.
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email: suni@novitaz.com
Phone: 203.261.1375
Fax: 203.227.3009
Jayant Ramchandani gained significant early stage start-up experience as vice president of engineering and chief technology officer at Shop911, as VP of engineering at Commerce Events, and as an early member of the Rasna Corporation team. Shop911 was acquired by SaleMinder, and Rasna was acquired by Parametric Technology Corporation (now PTC) (Nasdaq: PMTC). A graduate of Stanford University and the Indian Institutes of Technology, Jayant has more than 20 years of product development, software engineering, and management experience.
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email: jayant@novitaz.com
Phone: 408.887.6759
Fax: 415.520.0850
Navin Advani brings to Novitaz more than 20 years of product development and management experience, including executive positions in large Indian companies. He is a former systems engineer at IBM, where he designed software for the company’s multilayer ceramic chip production line. He also cofounded and served as chief technology officer of EPS Consultants, an Indian IT consultancy for workflow automation. He now serves on the board of Elektromag Devices, Mumbai. Navin holds a bachelor of science from Polytechnic University in New York.
Robert A. Young, Ph.D. is a Managing Director of Mirador Capital LLC, a private equity firm investing in venture capital companies. Prior to Mirador, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Curl Corporation, an Internet infrastructure software company. Dr. Young was also the Managing Partner of Dillon Read's venture capital funds and subsequently was head of Technology Banking in corporate finance. Prior to Dillon Read, he held a number of management and executive positions in sales, marketing, development and general management at IBM Corporation. His last position at IBM Corporation was as President, IBM Instruments, Inc. Dr. Young presently serves on the board of directors of several private information technology companies including Novitaz. He received a B.S. with honors in chemistry from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ron Phillips was instrumental in the formation of Oilsands Quest, an AMEX listed company. He is a hedge fund investor and manager, with a focus on energy, for the past 12 years – including running a fund at DKR Capital for the past six years with peak assets exceeding $600 million and numerous public and private holdings. Formerly an attorney with Wachtell Lipton in New York City, JD from Stanford Law School and BS from Brown University, Member of the New York Bar Association.
Madhav Dhar is Co-Founder, with Barton Biggs and Cyril Moulle-Berteaux, of Traxis Partners, and he is a portfolio manager for Traxis Capital, a hedge fund with a focus on global, multi-asset class investing. Mr. Dhar was a managing director for fifteen years at Morgan Stanley, where he was a portfolio manager for Emerging Markets Equity (1991-98), Active International (1986-97) and US Equity (1985-86). He also served as a member of the executive committee of Morgan Stanley Asset Management, Co-Head of the Global Asset Allocation Group, Global Strategist and Head of the Emerging Markets Group at the firm.
Rajat Gupta has been a senior partner at McKinsey & Company since 2003. He was McKinsey’s worldwide managing director from 1994 to 2003 and prior to that held a variety of positions after joining the firm in 1973. Rajat currently serves as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on UN management reform. He has been a director of Goldman Sachs since November 2006 and also serves on the boards of Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Genpact Limited (NYSE: G).
Skip Sack started in the restaurant industry in 1951 while a freshman in high school. He received a bachelor of science from the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration at Cornell University in 1961 and the same year joined the Howard Johnson Company as an advertising assistant. Skip spent 16 years in a direct operations role during his Howard Johnson tenure. He developed the Ground Round restaurant chain, taking it from one restaurant to 65 units in seven years. For four years, he served as vice president of Specialty Restaurants, which included the Ground Round restaurants and Red Coach Grills.
Paul Dunay has spent more than 20 years in marketing, creating buzz for leading technology companies such as Google, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Avaya, and Cisco. He also has delivered work for American Express, Motorola, Genzyme, Novartis, Citigroup, Cendant, and Ernst & Young. Paul currently is a global director of Integrated Marketing for BearingPoint. His unique approach to integrated marketing has been recognized as a 2007 and 2006 finalist and 2005 winner of the Driving New Demand award of the Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA). He also received BearingPoint's Best Overall Marketing Campaign award in 2004.
Romi Mahajan is President of KKM Group, an Advisory company focused solely on Strategy and Marketing in the Technology, Media, Agency, and Luxury Goods sectors. Prior to joining KKM, Romi was Chief Marketing Officer of Ascentium Corporation, a leading digital agency with 96M in Sales in 2008. Prior to joining Ascentium, Mahajan spent over seven years at Microsoft Corporation where his last role was as Director of Technical Audience & Platform Marketing. Earlier in his career, Mahajan started two boutique consulting companies specializing in technology and finance joint ventures between U.S. and Asian companies. A well-known speaker on the technology and media circuit, Mahajan serves on a variety of Advisory Boards and speaks at over a dozen industry events per year. In addition, he has been published prolifically in the Technology press. Mahajan graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, at the age of 19 with a Bachelor’s degree in South Asian Studies. He also received a Master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
