Chelakara Ramnath

Education

• 2013 Certified Professional Coach, Center for Contextual Coaching
• 2011 Enneagram Level Four Certification, The Enneagram Institute
• 2004 – 2006 Masters in Business Administration, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
• 1996 – 2000 Bachelors in Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

Professional Experience

2008 – present    Co-founder, UPBUILD (anticipated LLC status in March 2015)
• Established ongoing partnership ventures with multi-national corporations and start-ups, such as
Novartis, L’Oreal, CARE, BNP Paribas, Etsy and General Assembly to structure personal
development education for their leadership teams
• Conceptualized the format and structure for personal development education in the context of the
work environment, and co-created 180 hours of content to provide a transformational experience for
individuals
• Developed the financial model and pricing strategy that encourages companies, both newly formed
and established to experience Upbuild’s services, while simultaneously ensuring Upbuild’s
sustainability and growth
• Co-created an intrinsic diagnostic model to measure organizational and team health that has been
incorporated into L’Oreal’s ongoing personal development program
• Co-created a coaching model focused on building resilience and working through the “shadow side”
of corporate leadership; currently this model is being utilized by 6 start up CEOs
• Featured speaker at conferences such as SXSW, The Work Revolution Summit, Hello Etsy, Social
Media Week, and TEDx
• Featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNN Money, NPR, PBS show Need To Know
and Huffington Post’s The Third Metric

2009 – 2012    Executive Director, The Bhakti Center, New York
• Head of operations, finance and strategy for a not-for-profit cultural arts center, founded in 2006.
• Single-handedly drafted a one-year, two-year and five-year strategic business plan for the organization
which resulted in the annual revenue increasing from $45,000 to $130,000 in three years
• Established a fully functioning organizational structure composed of finance, operations, marketing,
fundraising and education departments and staffed each accordingly
• Created training/internship programs attracting young professionals and resulted in growing the
organization from 6-21 people working full time in three years
• Met with the board of directors on a quarterly basis to provide comprehensive reports and answer
questions related to the day to day functioning of the organization
• Strategized with law firms and worked closely with the NYC housing court in order to win a four-year
legal dispute related to the organization’s six story building

2008 – 2009     VP of Business Development, MindTeck, Inc, Harrisburg
• Set up and staffed an off-shore team composed of 23 individuals who formed the pre-sales team
for the technology start-up
• Created a long-term marketing plan and identified specific measures of success for three products

2006 – 2008     Investment Banking Associate, Bank of America, New York
• Led the data analysis and financial modeling of three buy-side M&A acquisition transactions for a
Special Purpose Acquisition Company (“SPAC”) focusing on B2B software
• Led valuation and financial analysis for the $850 million IPO of RHI Entertainment, a leading global
provider of mini-series and long-form television content. RHI went public in June 2008
• Provided ongoing financial and strategic consulting, including potential acquisition targets and
related valuation, divestitures, capital structure, and financial impact of new businesses for OpenText,
a $960 million Canadian business-intelligence software company
• Performed preliminary valuations and sensitivity analysis for an M&A advisory engagement and
secondary offering using Discounted Cash Flow models and comparables analysis for DIRECTV
• Performed analyses of various prices for the spin-off of a major division of Time Warner Cable

2000 – 2004     Strategy Consultant, Deloitte LLP, New York
• Led a team of 6 analysts on multiple technology integration projects that resulted in $96 million cost
reduction across eight separate departments of the State Government of Pennsylvania
• Interfaced directly with senior client management (CIO level) when pursuing new business
opportunities at the State Government of Pennsylvania
• Was handpicked to work on an advisory team for a two-month engagement for the IT department of
the United Nations (UN). Recommended a future strategy road map for technology integration that
was officially presented at the 57th Session of the General Assembly in 2003 and implemented
• Designed a major component for the technology system of a global investment bank resulting in 35%
faster data processing and annual cost savings of $19 million