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Board of Directors

Senior Management

R L Mahadevan Iyer
Managing Director

Mahadevan is a visionary first-generation entrepreneur who founded Shield in 1995 as a multi-vitamin and nutrition company. Over the years, he has successfully transformed the company into a specialty organization focusing on gynecology and infertility, leveraging strategic initiatives and partnerships. Currently serves as the Managing Director and is an active member of the board, driving strategic initiatives and ensuring the company’s sustained growth and success. Mahadevan’s entrepreneurial spirit and strategic vision have been pivotal in guiding the company’s evolution into a specialty organization with a focus on gynecology and infertility.

G K Ramani
Investor Director

With over 35 years of distinguished experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Mr G K Ramani has brought his deep industry knowledge and strategic insights in steering several pharma ventures to success. A hands on leader with sharp focus on fundamentals of pharma operation, he has a passion to build successful pharma teams that is driven towards operational excellence within the industry.
His illustrious career is highlighted by successful launch of American Remdies, transforming the same into a successful Pan India company, before it was finally acquired by Dr Reddys lab. He was further part of yet another launch – A Curatio a Dermataology Specialty company. Ramani and his team ran the company for over 15 years, before it was finally acquired by Torrent Pharma. He also serves as the venture partner in Fulcrum Venture India, acting as strategic guidance and mentorship to investee companies’ of Fulcrum that are into pharma space.

Krishna Ramanathan
Investor Director

Krishna is and MBA from XIM Bhubaneswar and the the visionary founder of Fulcrum Venture India, a PE firm bringing over 20 years of experience as an investor to the table. Since its establishment in 2000, Fulcrum Venture India has carved a niche as a Chennai-based private equity investor, primarily focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Indian healthcare, wellness, and pharmaceutical sectors.
Krishna’s profound expertise and strategic acumen have been instrumental in the success and growth of Fulcrum’s diverse portfolio including Shield. Some of its other key successful investments include Curatio Healthcare, Manna Foods & Nobroker.com.
As an investor Fulcrum Venture India continues to support and propel SMEs towards achieving their full potential, fostering innovation and growth in critical sectors. Krishna continues to work with Shield in the capacity of investor director enriching its leadership team and its growth strategies.

Anand Natraj Venkatraman
Investor Director

Anand Natraj is a firm advocate of long-term sustainable objectives, complemented by prudent financial management. His expertise lies in identifying unique business opportunities and developing software products based on a profound understanding of various sectors such as BFSI, Pharma, IT and Retail.

Anand has had notable tenures at Ramco Systems and Mahindra Satyam. He was a founder member of Curatio Healthcare, a dermatology-focused company that was eventually sold to an Indian MNC in 2022 for a landmark valuation through a structured exit process. He also co-founded a software product company in the pharma domain, specializing in sales force automation.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from Vivekananda College, Chennai, and a Post Graduation in Management from IIM Calcutta. Additionally, he is a member of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India.

Magesh Ragaavan
Investor Director

A Chartered accountant with over 20 years’ experience spanning audits, process engineering, IT enabled operations, Investment Account management and corporate finance.
Magesh is also Chief financial officer at Fulcrum Venture India and supports the investee companies in achieving equilibrium via digitization and process improvements. Magesh focusses on leveraging technology in designing and implementing efficient processes to streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve overall business performance.

LN Sampath
Director

L N Sampath is a seasoned professional with a robust background in operations management and finance. He holds a postgraduate degree in Management from XIM Bhubaneswar. Prior to joining Shield, he had worked with illustrious IT companies such as TCS and Cognizant in business banking and financial operations.

S Viswanathan (Vishy)
Chief Strategy and Marketing officer

Vishy is a seasoned professional with a remarkable 40-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, currently serving as the Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer (CSMO) at Shield. His extensive experience and passion for pharma marketing have shaped his illustrious journey, marked by key roles in several renowned healthcare organizations. Such as Glaxo Ltd, American Remedies Ltd & Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories
Vishy was heading the marketing function in dermatology for Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, before joning the founding team of Curatio ( Now acquired by Torrent pharma) and was credited as the brain behind the highly successful derma portfolio of curatio.
Vishy joined shield in 2012 and became Integral part of Shield’s core team, driving the transition from a multi-specialty company to a gynaecology-focused entity.
Currently, as the CSMO of Shield, Vishy steers the company’s marketing strategy with a forward-thinking approach, ensuring sustained growth and market presence.

HR Balaji (HRB)
Vice President

HRB is a highly experienced professional with over 35 years of expertise in pharmaceutical sales and marketing. He holds a postgraduate degree in Management from IGNOU and has served in leadership roles in organisations such as Nicholas Laboratories and Auronindo Pharma. In his thirteen years at Shield as head of business of various BUSINESS UNITS, HRB has played a critical role launching and nurturing most of its successful brands in gynaecology and infertility segments.
HRB’s extensive experience and deep understanding of the pharmaceutical industry have been instrumental in shaping the success of Shield as a niche pharma company with a unique boutique of products in Gyanecology and Infertility.

Nityagopal Chakraborty
Associate Vice president

Nitya Gopal Chakraborty, a Science graduate in Chemistry from North Bengal University (NBU), brings over 25 years of extensive experience in pharmaceutical sales and marketing to Shield Healthcare. His career is marked by significant contributions to leading organizations, with impactful initiatives in the healthcare sector.
Nitya has held crucial roles at Cachet Pharmaceuticals (a division of Alkem Labs) and served as Chief Business Head at Sundyota Numandis, where he spearheaded the launch of products in the probiotics and nutraceuticals segments.
At Shield Healthcare, Nitya has demonstrated exceptional leadership as the Business Head of the Developmental Paediatrics Division. He has been instrumental in supporting doctors in Developmental Paediatrics and Neuropsychiatry, showcasing a strong customer orientation.
Nitya has also played a key role in shaping industry-supportive academic and training initiatives at Shield Healthcare. This includes the development of academic modules for paediatricians in association with AOPN, AIIMS, and the Indian Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health (IACAM).

Hemanth Kumar
Associate Vice President

Hemanth brings over 25 years of extensive experience in pharmaceutical sales and marketing across various specialties. His distinguished career spans notable organizations including American Remedies, Dr Reddys Lab, Glenmark, Fourts India and Intas. In his long career Hemanth has worked led sales teams to success across many specialities but has had a distinctive success in Respiratory and Ortho. His demonstrated focus on building and nurturing effective sales teams has helped in successfully launch new products and new geographies. Hemanth’s strong focus on data / analytics in operations management coupled with his proficiency in over 12 languages has played a key role in making him a people leader.
Hemanth is BSc graduated from Madras university with a Master of Marketing Management from Loyola College, Chennai. Hemanth further completed a certificate program in Management for Business Excellence Program (MBEP) from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kolkata.

LN Sampath
Chief Financial Officer

L N Sampath is a seasoned professional with a robust background in operations management and finance. He holds a postgraduate degree in Management from XIM Bhubaneswar. Prior to joining Shield, he had worked with illustrious IT companies such as TCS and Cognizant in business banking and financial operations.