Co-founder & CEO - SmartWheels Inc.
Head - International, Greaves Electric Mobility
15+ Years in Apollo and Cooper Tires in Leadership Roles
Amit is a tire expert with nearly 2 decades of deep domain experience across multiple regions around the world.
Having lived and worked for the tire industry in multiple continents, Amit has developed a powerful and dedicated global network, both with leading tire manufacturers, and the top regional distributors.
SmartWheels, Amit's goal is to revolutionize the tire industry by digitizing them. A real-time data extraction capability in tires coupled with contextual IoT and ML plug-ins, will alter on-road performance and catalyze multiple new use cases and business models. In the year 2022, Amit collaborated with his co-founding partner Vaibhav at 'The University of Chicago Booth School of Business' and drafted a paper on SmartWheels core technology as a project in the Innovation Management course, which was adjudged amongst the top projects in Innovation.
Amit holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, USA. He is also an MBA (Marketing) from Symbiosis, India and has done a PGD in Leadership from Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Co-founder & CTO - SmartWheels Inc.
Director, Accenture
15+ Years Data and AI at Accenture
Vaibhav is a serial entrepreneur with over 2-decades of experience in core technology and application innovation areas. He is also an active angel investor, focusing on climate, health and technology sectors.
Prior to SmartWheels, Vaibhav spent more than 15 years as the Director of Data & AI practice at Accenture, a global consulting firm.
In this role, he consulted with C-suite executives, spearheading AI modernization projects for United States government agencies and Global Fortune 500 companies. He also led several innovation practices in emerging data platforms, edge computing and AI.
Vaibhav leads the Technology & Innovation portfolio at SmartWheels and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is based out of Palo Alto in the USA. He also has an MS in Decision and Information science from University of Florida.
Head - Research - SmartWheels Inc.
Dept. of Electrical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
Power Management Integrated Circuits for Smartphones, Lighting, Servers, Energy Harvesting for loT
Qadeer is an assistant professor in the VLSI group of the department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He received the Bachelor's degree in electronics and communication engineering from Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India, in 1999 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA, in 2012. His Ph.D work, under the guidance of Prof. Pavan Kumar Hanumolu, was focused on developing integrated circuits for high performance switching DC-DC converters.
From 2012 to 2015, he worked as a Staff Engineer, Power Management Systems with Qualcomm, San Diego and from 2015 to 2016 with Qualcomm, Bangalore where he was involved in defining system and architecture of various power modules for snapdragon chipsets catering to different smartphone markets.
From 1999 to 2005, he worked with Motorola and Freescale Semiconductor, India, where his main responsibilities were designing mixed-signal circuits for baseband and network processors and full-chip integrated solutions for high-voltage motor drives.
He holds 16 U.S. patents and 20 IEEE publications in the area of analog, mixed-signal and power management ICs. His research interests involve high-performance switching dc-dc converters and power management ICs for portable electronics and energy harvesting.
Advisor, Phd - VLSI Expertise
Dept. of Electrical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
Architectural & Circuit Level Techniques for High Speed Circuits
Saurabh is an assistant professor in the VLSI group of the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He graduated with Ph.D. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2015.
At UIUC, he worked with Integrated Circuits and Systems Group under the guidance of Prof. Pavan Kumar Hanumolu. During Ph.D. he focused on architectural and circuit level techniques for energy efficient high speed serial links.
Between 2009 and 2011, he worked as a research assistant under guidance of Prof. Kartikeya Mayaram and Prof. Terri Fiez in the department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at Oregon State University, where he designed high speed discrete-time delta sigma modulators for baseband applications.
Saurabh graduated with B.Tech. and M.Tech. in Electrical Engineering, under dual degree program in IIT Madras, in 2009.
Co-founder & Chairman - SmartWheels Inc.
Ex-CEO Reliance, Raymond, Greaves, Ex-CMO Nokia, Ex-Unilever
COO, Adani Cement - Adani Group
Co-founder Nextqore - A Data Science / AI Company
Sanjay has 31-years of professional experience, with over 16-years as a CEO and Executive Director of mid to large sized companies.
He has designed, developed and led many consumer and enterprise products, services and applications across multiple industries.
He has also co-founded a U.S. based data science SaaS company with global footprint today.
Sanjay has successfully transformed and built many brands and businesses from 'Ground Zero' up - many times over. Active on many industry forums, he is currently the Chairman of CII's national committee of Leadership and also the founding member of strategic transformation committee at T-Hub, a premier innovation hub and ecosystem enabler in India.
Advisor - Co-founder's Office
Partner, M&A Corporate Lawyer, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, UK & India Qualified Corporate Lawyer
Represents Multiple Clients Including Adani, Zydus
Ravi Shah is a seasoned legal professional and Partner at a leading law firm in India. With nearly 20 years of experience and dual qualifications to practice law in both the UK and India, Ravi has cultivated deep expertise in corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and private equity and venture capital investments.
He specializes in cross-border transactions, providing strategic legal advice to a diverse client base that includes startups, domestic and international corporations, financial institutions, educational entities, and investment firms.
Ravi's sectoral expertise is particularly strong in Technology, Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Infrastructure and Defence. He has been instrumental in advising on complex commercial transactions, corporate governance, franchising arrangements, and dispute resolution strategies.
Having spent over a decade working in the UK, Ravi has successfully leveraged his international experience to build a robust network and client base in India over the past eight years. He is recognized for his leadership in managing complex legal matters, including M&A, joint ventures, VC/PE investments, corporate restructuring, and regulatory compliance, including FEMA advisory services.
Advisor (Partnerships & commercialisation)
Member of Global Advisory Board - DRC
Roger Zen is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience. Holding a Business degree from The University of Southern California, Roger has a proven track record of driving strategic business expansion in diverse sectors like automotive, blockchain technology, farming, mining and tires.
Roger has been instrumental in building various tire brands in the home market of Brazil along with the U.S. Over the past 25 years Roger has been responsible for direct / indirect procurement of over $10 Billion worth of tires.
He is on the Global Advisory Board of DRC, Vietnam - one of the world’s fastest growing tire brands. He also holds the position of CEO for DRC, USA.
Roger is renowned for his strategic growth initiatives, collaborative approach and developing partnerships.
Head - Product - SmartWheels Inc.
IC Design, Circuit Simulation and Programming
Karthik Padmanabhan is a highly experienced Design Engineer in the semiconductor industry, with over 14 years of expertise spanning the entire product life cycle - from conceptualization to release. His technical proficiency covers testing, characterization, design, simulation, 2D and 3D modeling, layout, verification, debugging and final release.
As the Head of Product at SmartWheels, Inc., Karthik leads product strategy and development, leveraging his deep expertise in power electronics. Previously, as Director of HV Design at Alpha and Omega Semiconductor, he managed the platform portfolio for multiple products, including Super junction MOSFETs (600-700V) and Fast Recovery Diodes (600-1350V), optimizing their performance for automotive, data center and power supply applications.
He was also responsible for R&D initiatives, collaborating with global foundries, application engineers and marketing teams to bring innovative semiconductor solutions to market.
Karthik holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Central Florida and is a recognized industry expert with 18+ patents and 10+ publications. His skill set includes Synopsys Design Tools, LEdit, Spice Modeling, Cadence Virtuoso and proficiency in Python, Java, and Verilog.
With a proven track record of delivering cutting-edge semiconductor solutions, Karthik continues to drive technological advancements, delivering impactful products to the industry.
