Venkat Sharma, Founder & CEO
Venkat Sharma is the Founder and CEO of Sentient.
He has significant experience in building technology-enabled businesses having successfully founded two enterprises – Advantum Health and iMedX – where he sourced, negotiated, and closed over 15 acquisitions. In addition, as a member of the leadership team, he took Acorn Information Services from start-up through to a successful IPO.
His prior corporate experience includes IBM and 3M.
Mr. Sharma earned a Bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (India), and a Master’s degree in Management from Clemson University in South Carolina.
He serves on the boards of Advantum Health, The JJ Metta Foundation, and Passport Health (as Vice-Chairman).
David Cohen
David Cohen has a diverse set of experience in Financial Services, spanning almost 35 years.
He invests in venture capital firms and entrepreneurial businesses as a limited partner – including iMedX – the startup built by Mr. Venkat Sharma (Founder & CEO).
Previously, he had served as the VP in a Private Equity and Venture Capital firm – LRF Investments Inc. and Shawmut National Corporation, a bank based in New England. He had also served as the CFO of Legal Sea Foods, Inc. (a seafood restaurant chain).
Mr. Cohen earned a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
David T. Richardson
David T. Richardson has over 30 years of operations and financial leadership experience focused on early-stage growth companies. He is currently the CEO and board member at Cognision, an early stage FDA approved medical device producer. He is also on the Board of Louisville Collegiate School & other community boards. Previously, he was the CEO and board member of The Learning House Inc., an online education technology & services company, where he led the company’s rapid growth and subsequent acquisition by a KKR-backed company. He remained a board member through to a subsequent sale to John Wiley & Sons for $200mn.
He also founded Capture Higher Ed, which provided proprietary software and services to colleges and universities to identify, engage, and enroll prospective students, and served as the CEO of a web listing company Rentalhouses.com where he grew the business and sold it to KKR-owned PRIMEDIA’s Consumer Source division yielding strong investor returns.
His early experience included being a VP (Finance) at Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures, senior auditor at PwC, and various roles at Wachovia (now owned by Wells Fargo). Mr. Richardson earned a B.S. in Finance from the University of Tennessee, an MBA from the University of Virginia – Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, and a CPA.
Giridhar Rajagopal, President & Country Manager
Giridhar Rajagopal, President and Country Manager at Sentient Solutions is a cross-Cultural Leader who has experience in setting up and scaling large scale offshore operations, creating Centre of Excellence for clients and best in class employee work culture and high levels of engagement. He has worked as an auditor in his early years and then performed key roles in the past 2o years at the offshore centres for Aviva Insurance PLC, Intacct Corporation and First American Financial corporation in the Accounting, Insurance and Technology domain. He has managed business with over 5000 people supporting global business across the US, Canada, UK & Australia. He has been featured in 2 News Articles, 3 Industry Panels and CEO Round Tables as a voice of the industry and has featured in the 2019 Forbes India & Business Outlook Magazines as a People Leader. He has been awarded the Data Science Transformer Award as India’s Top 100 influencers award in 2023 by Analytics India Magazine, a leading publication that deals with AI and Machine Learning in India .
Murthy Mantha, CTO
Murthy Mantha is the CTO at Sentient.
Backed by decades of experience in building innovative technology-enabled business solutions for some of the leading financial institutions – such as JPMorgan Chase, Charles Schwab, and Shinsei Bank in Japan, he believes in looking at technologies from the customer’s perspective to add to its service delivery capabilities. He also has hands-on expertise in Artificial intelligence, Machine Learning, Mobile, Big data, Web Technologies, and cloud computing.
Mr. Mantha earned his graduate’s degree from the National Institute of Technology, Warangal, and Master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Vijay Damodara, Vice President of Operations
Based in India, Vijay leads the operations of Sentient Solutions. A Chartered Accountant, with over 16 years’ post qualification experience in audit & finance, he is responsible for managing and scaling up Sentient operations. After 9 years with Deloitte & Touche (D&T) working with clients in USA, Vijay got the entrepreneurial bug and ran his own CFO consulting company for a few years until he saw the Sentient vision. His D&T experience was preceded by stints with Deloitte India and E&Y India in Audit.
With 20+ years of experience, significant of which is with Public Accounting/ Big 4 in audit, assurance and accounting services, he comes with a unique blend of experience comprising of client service, technical accounting, special projects, and people management. He works with our clients to have deeper understanding of the businesses, their processes and mapping them to better the accounting systems. His experience working with a variety of entities ranging from very small start-ups to multi-national conglomerates help him determine cost effective solutions that are scalable.
Vijay has experience of being stationed in the US in his prior experience along with frequent travels for US based client visits. In his past experience, he has led diverse, multi-locational teams helping their success. He is a member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Nathan Carter, Vice President of Customer Success
Experienced Customer Success & Professional Services leader responsible for driving Sentient’s Customer Success department, cultivating excellent client relationships, and ensuring our clients meet and exceed their goals in a partnership with Sentient. As Vice President of Customer Success, I help align the client’s needs and goals with the Company’s to drive client’s operational successes, improve client satisfaction rates, retention, engagement, and growth. I’m responsible for the department’s strategic vision, innovative approach, and execution of Sentient’s customer success plan. I enjoy helping clients achieve their goals through product and service utilization, business transformations, and revenue expansion.
Prior experience as a senior assurance associate with a Top 100 regional accounting and consulting firm. Experience in providing assurance services, financial reporting, and internal controls.
Karthik Bandi, AVP – Client Accounting Services
Kartik Bandi is a certified Chartered Accountant with over 12 years of post-qualification experience and 3 years of Articled training. He holds a wealth of experience in Audit, Accounting, Financial Consulting, and implementing Financial Controls & SOPs.
Previously, he worked as a Partner and Lead Financial Consultant at ARKS & Associates Chartered Accountants for almost a decade, where he built the practice ground-up, leading the firm in offshore accounting and back-office practices, shared CFO services, and financial controls and process SOPs.
Kartik’s corporate experience includes working as an Audit Senior at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, where he managed end-to-end statutory audits of financial statements for AICPA and PCAOB engagements, reviewed internal controls by performing tests of design, implementation, and operating effectiveness, and performed reviews of critical revenue contracts, operating/capital leases, and debt agreements.
As a member of the ICAI – FCA and a Certified FAFD (Forensic Accounting and Fraud Detection), Kartik brings unique skills and expertise to their role. He has also played key leadership roles in the past, building off-shore and on-shore practices while mentoring teams to contribute to the practice’s overall success.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and is passionate about innovation and implementing new technology in accounting. He is committed to creating wealth, increasing employment opportunities, and staying connected with colleges and universities to build employable skills among students.
With his experience, skills, and passion, he is poised for continued success as AVP of Sentient. His goal is to build the CAS Practice with a sustainable model, helping US firms find the right talent on one side and creating employment for Indian talent on the other side.
Sai Giridhar Jinka, Tax Practice Lead
With dual Post Graduate Degrees (MBA and Mcom) and 19+ years of experience serving clients across the US and UK, Sai Giridhar has proven expertise in developing, mentoring, managing, and training teams.
Sai Giridhar has spent significant time transitioning from US offices to India and developing teams in the business area of US Taxation for Big 4s. Sai Giridhar has even traveled to the US three times to lead the learning, transition of work, and develop teams in India.
Before joining Sentient Solutions, Sai Giridhar was Senior Tax Manager at PwC-SDC and Tax Manager at Deloitte Tax services India Pvt. Limited. Sai Giridhar also worked as a Process Associate at GECIS and as an Articled Assistant at Adusumilli and Associates, Chartered Accountants.
Sai Giridhar is an Enrolled Agent with Internal Revenue Services and holds an MBA in Finance and Banking from SMU and a Mcom from Osmania university specializing in accounting.
Sai Giridhar prefers spending quality time with family, traveling, and watching movies outside of work.
Madhu Sudan Gaggar, AVP, Audit
Based in India, Madhu leads the Audit practice of Sentient Solutions. A Chartered Accountant with 11+ years of experience serving various United States and Canadian Public and Private clients. Madhu has significant experience in serving the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB) clients. He has proven expertise in delivering high-quality audits in Financial Services – Insurance and Investment Management, Transportation, Hospitality & Services (TH&S), and Employee Benefit Plans (EBP) industries.
Madhu has significant experience in leading larger groups of professionals, is actively involved in recruiting tomorrow’s top talent, delivering modernized learning and development programs, and is involved in strategic integration between US/ Global and India-based firms to provide meaningful integrated client services in an innovative, cost-efficient manner.
During his tenure at Deloitte & Touche, KPMG, and EY, Madhu has also led the EBP (Canada) Centre of Excellence, led teams subject to internal or external inspections, and participated in client pursuit process by developing proposal content including enhanced importance of delivery centers and related economic benefits.
Madhu has experience being stationed in the United States and Canada in his prior experience and frequently travels to these countries for client and business-related visits.
He is a member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has graduated from the University of Delhi.
Outside of work, Madhu prefers spending quality time with family and friends.
Troy Hawkins, CFO Consultant
Troy Hawkins is a CFO consultant at Sentient.
He has vast knowledge and experience in tax planning, consulting, and compliance. He founded Beacon Advisor Group, a tax consulting firm, where he is currently the CEO. He previously worked as a Senior Tax and Business Specialist at AGRI Financial Group and as an Accountant at various CPA firms.
Mr. Hawkins holds a Bachelor’s in Accounting and Marketing from the Western Kentucky University.
Lance Cornell, CFO Consultant
Lance Cornell is a CFO consultant at Sentient.
With 25+ years of experience in corporate finance and M&A, he provides M&A transaction support, strategic planning, performance improvement, and part-time CFO services.
He was the CFO of Transcend Inc., a tech-enabled healthcare company, which went public and was sold to Nuance (NASDAQ: NUAN). He continued at Nuance as VP-Finance before going back to his entrepreneurial roots, founding Cornerstone Financial Consulting, bringing high-end corporate finance expertise to small businesses without the cost and overhead of a full-time CFO.
Mr. Cornell holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Mike Walton, Vice President of Growth
With more than twenty-five years’ experience in business development, sales and marketing, including twelve specializing in professional services, Mike understands the needs and challenges of accounting firms and is dedicated to providing value and increasing efficiency in firms. His core philosophy is grounded in the importance of developing relationships and gaining a true understanding of the needs of the client and bringing together a team to help achieve their goals and increase profitability. His previous successes working with a fast growing, Top 100 CPA firm demonstrate his passion to deliver results to the marketplace.
Mike is a graduate of Montana State University – Billings.
Kenneth West
With over 40 years of experience in both start-ups and large corporations, Kenneth West has served as the CFO of Marvel Entertainment, McIntyre Group, and Martha Stewart Living, aside from several smaller companies, many with operations in India, He had also served as the Senior Manager at Ernst & Young for more than 15 years.
Known for his hand-on lead-by-example style, he has a proven track record of success and leadership. He was instrumental in helping set the long-term strategy for Sentient and continues to advise on matters relating to deal-making, finance, and strategy.
Mr. West earned his B.S. in Economics and Accounting from the Carnegie Mellon – Tepper School of Business and is a CPA.
Mark Carter
Mark Carter has nearly forty years of professional experience in Accounting, Finance, and Management Consulting, having been a Partner at Ernst & Young, BKD, LLP, and Director/Shareholder of Dean Dorton Ford.
He brings extensive experience across many disciplines including strategy, revenue cycle, contracting, performance improvement, supply chain, technology, and financial planning amongst others.
Currently, he’s serving as an Executive Advisor within the Kentucky Department of Health focusing on the Commonwealth’s COVID-19 response.
Mr. Carter earned his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Kentucky and is a CPA.
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