Sandeep Kalra

CEO & Executive Director at Persistent Systems; IIM Calcutta Distinguished Alumni

Morrisville, Pennsylvania, United States

About

Sandeep Kalra is the CEO and a Member of the Board of Persistent Systems. A graduate of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Sandeep spent over 16 years at HCL, holding various leadership positions, such as Outsourced Product Engineering, extending HCL Technologies' presence in LATAM and Canada, and leading the Pharma industry vertical. Subsequently at Symphony Teleca Sandeep was instrumental in its growth and successful acquisition by HARMAN. Sandeep aspires to make Persistent Systems an industry leader that retains its impressive legacy while fostering creativity, collaboration, and diversity. Over the past three years, Persistent has more than doubled its revenue crossing the B$ mark, and was acknowledged as a 2021 “Forbes Best Under a Billion” company. Additionally, Persistent has been included in prestigious indices on the National Stock Exchange of India, such as the Nifty IT Index, Nifty Midcap 50, and Nifty Midcap Liquid 15 as well as the MSCI India Index. Forbes recently spotlighted Persistent as one of four midcap firms reshaping the Indian IT landscape. Sandeep was recently awarded the “Best CEO in IT/ITES Industry” amongst India’s Best CEO’s for 2023 by the respected business magazine Business Today.

Experience

  • Persistent Systems (7 yrs 2 mos)
    • CEO & Executive Director
      Oct 2020 - Present · 5 yrs 9 mos

    • Executive Director & President
      May 2019 - Oct 2020 · 1 yr 6 mos

  • SVP & GM at HARMAN International(A Samsung Company)
    Jan 2015 - Apr 2019 · 4 yrs 4 mos

    Part of the Leadership team at Harman Connected Services, the services division of Harman International formed through the combination of Symphony Teleca, Redbend and Harman's automotive services business.

  • EVP & GM at Symphony Teleca
    Oct 2013 - Jan 2015 · 1 yr 4 mos

    Responsible for Symphony Teleca’s Software Products and Platforms (SPP) P&L globally across software development, analytics and mobility including overseeing Strategy, Sales, Delivery & Client Engagement management.

  • HCL America Inc. (14 yrs 1 mo)
    • Vice President - Healthcare and Emerging Markets
      Oct 2011 - Oct 2013 · 2 yrs 1 mo

      Dual responsibility for leading the Lifescience vertical for HCL in the Americas and for managing Latin America as a geography.

    • Vice President, LATAM and Canada
      Apr 2010 - Sep 2011 · 1 yr 6 mos

    • Associate Vice President, LATAM and Canada
      Oct 2008 - Mar 2010 · 1 yr 6 mos

      Responsible for setting up LATAM and Canada presence for HCL Technologies. Responsibilities include incorporation of HCL's subsidiaries in the LATAM countries, hiring local sales team(s) and setting up Nearshore delivery centers in these countries.

  • Business Manager at Samsung Electronics
    1997 - 1999 · 2 yrs

    Responsible for launching Samsung IT products - Hard Disk Drives and CD-Rom Drives, establishing the Sales and Services channel for these products in the Indian Market. Took Samsung products from launch to a 30% plus market share in India within 2 years of product launch.