Amitabh Das - CEO.

Amitabh has over 20 years of experience in Managing Organisations, Recruiting & Human Resources. He worked for organizations like Aditya Birla Group, HCL Perot Systems and Wipro Technologies (from 1995 to 2003) and then founded Vati in 2003. In November 2012, Vati merged with Ignis Group. He is an alumnus of Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS), Ranchi.

Amitabh is well known in the industry and is regularly covered for his thoughts on Business Trends and Human Resources.

A. Sadhasivam - Advisor

A. Sadhasivam, joins us with 40 years of IT industry experience and carries significant experience of building organizations from scratch. He has spent 10 years of his career at ECILin Design; Development and Testing. He was instrumental in developing Automated Testing Systems (ATS) for in-house needs and also for Indian Navy. He was the head of micro-computer design and manufacturing activity for a premier IT organization at a time when computer was just a buzz word for all of us.

Subsequently, he had joined Wipro and contributed unmatched value to the company for over 20 years. He is one of the first three people to join Wipro and played stellar role in shaping Wipro’s future in IT industry. He was responsible for bringing out the first computer from WIPRO and subsequently managed the Engineering and Manufacturing operations for next 10 years. He was a key member involved in technology transfers from USA, Taiwan and Japan for various IT products.

Sadhasivam was CEO of Wipro's System Engineering Division catering country’s Defense, Space and Atomic Energy units and built it to be one of the most successful and profitable business unit. He has worked on several strategic programs of Defense, BARC and NAL. He is regarded as the pioneer in popularizing barcodes in the country.

He was also CEO of Peripherals division of Wipro, wherein he brought in significant operational efficiency and introduced many new products in the Peripherals Market.

He was the key brain behind establishing the Testing Division of Wipro and nurtured it for 3 years. This division, as strategic business unit of Wipro, has bloomed in to US $ 500 Million revenue and 7000 employees.

His stint as the Founder, Director and COO of Majoris Systems was quite remarkable. He has developed first smartcard based payment systems, resulting in a business of Rs 30 Million in a year.

He is a BE from Coimbatore Inst. of Technology and holds MBA degree from Mysore University. He is also honorary member of The Board of Studies of MBA for Mysore University He is a recipient of Visveshwariah Award by Institution of Engineers for contribution to Computer Engineering. He is widely respected in the industry as an able administrator and nurturing green field organization and building them to international size.

Prahalad Agiwal - Finacial Advisor

Prahalad Agiwal (Agiwal) has nearly 3 decades experience in Finance, Commercial, Corporate Planning and Systems functions in leading IT and Software services companies. Prior to joining Ignis, Agiwal was a promoter and chief financial officer of Majoris Systems (P) Ltd. (subsequently Valtech India Systems (P) Ltd.), a Bangalore, India based software development company). Agiwal also led the CRM and ERP practice there.

Agiwal has served as Business Head-ERP Consulting Services in BFL Software Ltd. The responsibilities included setting up PeopleSoft Consulting Practice as an independent profit center in addition to in-house implementation of the same. During his 15 plus years tenure at Wipro, Agiwal successfully implemented company’s diversification in to Computer Peripherals and it’s spurning in to a separate independent division and subsequently in to a company. As Head of Corporate Planning, Agiwal led strategic relationship discussions with global majors culminating in to joint ventures with Acer and British Telecom.

Agiwal holds a Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering with Honors from University of Rajasthan, India and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) from Indian Institute Of Management, Ahmedabad, India. Agiwal had been Guest Faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Visiting faculty member at several management institutes viz. TASMAC, IFIM, ICFAI, ITM, Mount Carmel, Goa Institute of Management Studies etc.

M K Govind, Advisor

Govind brings with him an illustrious career of 45 years where he has had rich and wide experience encompassing design, development, quality, commercial and management functions in various Aerospace related industries.

Govind joined HAL in 1965 after obtaining BE degree from Viswesvariah College of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka. He worked on Aircraft programs such as HF-24, Ajeet and HJT-16, when he was deputed to Cranfield Institute of Technology, Bedford, UK for M.Sc (Engineering) course in 1973. He was assigned to the Advanced Avionics Project team in 1978, wherein he developed breadboard models of advanced controllers, etc. He joined the LCA Avionics team in 1984 and was heading the team that developed the Brake Management System for LCA with an adaptive logic for the controller. This was a new concept and was tested on Kiran Mk II first. He took over as the Chief of Avionics in 1992 and in addition was responsible for installation design and release of drawings. He was designated Project Director (Integration) for the Light Combat Aircraft Program in 1995. He set up the Integration Lab at HAL for the LCA programme and was the chief architect of the System level checks on LCA prototypes to obtain clearance for flight. As the Additional General Manager (Avionics), he was responsible for the Avionics and Electrical systems of the Intermediate Jet Trainer, HJT-36. This assignment included architecture finalization, assessment and selection of equipment, installation and wiring for the HJT-36.

Recognising his abilities as a demanding task master and a good team leader, he was appointed the Chief Executive Officer for BAEHAL Software Ltd (A Joint Venture of BAE SYSTEMS and HAL) in 2002. During his leadership at BAEHAL, the Company surged ahead taking up new assignments in Aerospace services. A strong relationship was forged with many tier-1 suppliers to Airbus and complicated software programs for different series of Airbus fleet were delivered. During his tenure, his team at BAEHAL developed sophisticated software for PSLV (Launch Vehicle made by ISRO).

Prior to joining IGNIS, in 2008, to head the Aerospace Design team, he has been Vice President (International Operations) for Macmet Technologies and a Principal Consultant for Infosys Technologies Ltd. He is Member of the Aeronautical Society of India and Institution of Electronics & Telecom Engineers of India.

A Mohan, Specialist Consultant – Aircraft Structures

Mohan is an acclaimed specialist in the design of aircraft structures using metallic and composite materials, with over 39 years of experience. He joined HAL as a Design Trainee in June, 1971 after completing B.E. (Mechanical) from REC Tiruchi. His initial assignments included design tasks on aircraft such as HF-24, HJT-16, HA-31, HPT-32, etc.

In 1979, he was inducted into Design Programmes (Composites) group, which initiated experimental programmes for aircraft structures using composite materials, laying the foundation for its application in future projects. In 1983, he started work on the Light Combat Aircraft. He was trained in Alenia, Italy on composite wing design and manufacture. He became the Chief of Wing group in 1987. He was awarded Aero Society of India’s National Aeronautics prize for his contribution to LCA wing programme.

It was under his leadership that major CAD facilities were established at ARDC for the Intermediate Jet Trainer programme and PDM was implemented for the first time in HAL. He was also responsible for the layout and design of wing, horizontal tail and vertical tail of IJT. A natural leader and a strong team member, he was a natural choice to lead most of the important activities in the Division.

In August 2005, he was appointed Chief Designer (Structures) and in Oct 2006, he took over as General Manager, Aircraft Research & Design Centre of HAL. Many important milestones were achieved during his tenure, with a strong emphasis on the Human aspect. He superannuated from HAL in July 2008. He is an active founder member of ISAMPE. An avid bridge player, he has won many tournaments at National level.

R Jayaraman, Specialist Consultant (Flight Control Systems)

Jayaraman is a specialist in Flight Control System (FCS) with nearly 39 years experience behind him. He is a BE (Mech) from Madras University. After joining HAL as a Design Trainee in 1971, he worked on MiG-21 Ground Support System, HA-31 (Agricultural aircraft) Solid dispersal and Micronair Spray, Control systems of HF-24, Ajeet, HPT-32, HTT-34 and Ajeet Trainer aircraft.

In 1984, he started work on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Flight Control System. He has been responsible for the installation of all the actuators, stick and rudder pedal designs of all the variants of LCA. He was responsible for the setting up of the second iron bird test facility for checking out the FCS of LCA.

In 1999, he took an active role in implementing the CAD / PDM system for the Intermediate Jet Trainer programme. He headed the FCS Group and was the Chief designer of the IJT Control system. In 2005, he took the responsibility for Design and Manufacture of Boeing 787 FCS Actuator Rigs for MOOG. It has been successfully commissioned at BOEING test facility.

He has been deeply involved in implementation of UG/NX4, CATIA V5, Teamcentre 2005 PLM, Enovia VPM1.6, MATLAB/Simulink, DELMIA / SIEMENS Digital Manufacturing initiatives at HAL and data migration on UG and CATIA systems. In 2008, he had prepared a large scale revamping of the CAD systems at ARDC. He was also involved in Project Management activities of HPT-32 Productionisation, MOOG Rig, etc.

Deeply interested in Engineering Mathematics, he has guided his team members in carrying out research in the field of Aircraft Handling Qualities, especially using C* criterion. He superannuated from HAL in Mar 2009. Prior to joining IGNIS, he had been involved in FNPT Simulator Design for CAE Canada at Mahindra Satyam.

P. Jayasimha, Specialist Consultant (Aerodynamics)

Mr P Jayasimha is a specialist in Configuration Aerodynamics with nearly 38 years of experience in the Aircraft Design field. B.Tech.(Aerospace) from IIT Madras and ME(Aerospace) from IISc, he joined HAL as a Post Graduate Design Trainee in 1972. He was assigned aerodynamic problems of HPT-32, HTT-34, Kiran Mk II, HSS-73, HF-25, high angle of attack aerodynamics and external store trajectories of HF-24, Ajeet and Ajeet Trainer aircraft.

He joined the New Projects Team in 1978 and was involved in the Concept studies of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Advanced Jet Trainer(AJT)-Indian option and the New Generation Trainer. He was trained at BAe, Warton on Jaguar aerodynamics in 1981. From 1982, he was fully involved in the preliminary discussions and assessment of reports submitted by Foreign vendors and the Indian Feasibility study of LCA. He has worked on various aspects of Aerodynamics of LCA that included Performance studies, Configuration sizing, Wind tunnel testing and analysis, Intake design and testing, Loads estimation, Combat simulation, Aero Data Set definition, Spin and high angles of attack testing, Feasibility of Naval variant, Flight testing, Clearance for flight and Ground effect studies.

He became Chief of Aerodynamics Group, ARDC in 1997. He was appointed additionally as the Project Manager of the Intermediate Jet Trainer programme in 1998. He was fully involved in all aspects of this project till superannuation in Apr 2010. He was appointed Chief Designer (Aerodynamics) in 2005 and assumed charge as General Manager (ARDC) in 2009.

A keen teacher (nick named “Prof” by colleagues), he has delivered a number of invited talks and contributed technical papers in Conferences and Journals. He joined IGNIS in Jul 2010 as a Specialist Consultant. In addition he is an Adjunct Professor at IIT Bombay (Dept of Aerospace Engineering) and Consultant to ADA for Configuration Aerodynamics in their new programme. He is the recipient of the SODET award for innovation and a Distinguished Alumni of the Aerospace Department of IISc.

CDD Kanwa, Specialist Consultant (Stress and Structures)

Kanwa joins with 36 years of vast experience in stress and structure in aerospace engineering field. A graduate in aeronautical engineering from MIT, Chennai, he started his career with HAL in 1974 as a design trainee and was absorbed in 1975 as an aeronautical engineer in ARDC after being trained in aerospace engineering department of IISc, Bangalore.

He has worked on almost all the prestigious aircraft programmes like AJEET-Trainer, KIRAN, IJT, LCA (both IAF and Naval variants), JAGUAR, HAWK, TU-142 and Boeing-737 before retiring as HOD of Stress and Structure in 2011.