Pankaj Vaish
Professor of Practice of Management
MBA (University of Minnesota)
+91.9886047790
Pankaj Vaish is a Professor of Practice of Management at Amrut Mody School of Management (AMSOM), Ahmedabad University. He is involved with Executive Education, industry collaboration, the University Career Development Center (CDC) and delivering a new course to help MBA students prepare for a career via hands-on experiential learning. He is also a member of the AMSOM Advisory Council.
He is based in Bangalore, with 35+ years of experience. He spent 28+ years with Accenture, where he built businesses from scratch and scaled them to global proportions, having held several regional and global roles. He has wide-ranging experience in Technology Led Transformation, Consulting, Strategy, BPO, Offshoring and Outsourcing.
He started his career in 1985 with Accenture and was a key member of the founding team for Accenture India. When he left as MD of Accenture in 2014, he was a member of the global leadership team of the Communications, Media and Technology (CMT) business, where he held various roles, including Asia Pacific CMT MD and Global MD of CMT Management Consulting. He founded Accenture's BPO operations in India, growing from zero to 6,000 people in 4 years, and then ran and grew the global BPO Delivery Network of over 20,000 people across 15+ countries. He was at the center stage in the transformation of Accenture India into a global powerhouse. He also contributed to the Accenture strategic agenda such as Horizon 2012, Human Capital Strategy and Leadership Careers Framework. He was the first India based employee to become part of Accenture's Global Leadership Council (GLC) way back in 2006.
He is actively engaged in the financial services and technology industries and is associated with companies across segments of these industries. He is a Board Director, a consultant and an advisor. In addition, as part of India's startup ecosystem, he supports various technology product companies in sharpening their market focus and scaling their businesses.
Currently, he is an Independent Director on the boards of KIMS Hospitals and IIFL Wealth Management Ltd (IIFLWAM) and a non-Executive Director on the Board of Indium Software.
He is a Strategic Advisor to ORI, a startup that delivers exceptionally effective, AI-powered, multi-lingual, next-generation cognitive conversation chatbots or Virtual Assistants. He is also the Senior Advisor to Insorce Operational Optimizers, whose software product (3-Cubed) helps business leaders arrive at operating model designs optimized for desired cost, customer experience and compliance/risk outcomes.
He was a Senior Advisor to SEWA, a social sector organization focused on empowering underprivileged women through enabling full employment and self-reliance. He was involved with setting up and growing various SEWA digital social enterprises and helping SEWA become more digitally enabled.
He was also a Nominee Director of WestBridge Crossover Fund on the board of Aptus Value Housing Finance India Limited (Aptus), a Chennai-based home finance company for low-cost housing and an Independent Director on the board of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB), a Chennai-based private sector bank in India (now part of DBS Bank India Ltd).
He has an MBA from Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA and a B. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from IIT-BHU (Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University). He was a Gold Medalist at IIT-BHU, and IIT-BHU Alumni Association has awarded him the Distinguished Alumni Award.