Meet the Team

Bharat Shah

Executive Director, ASK Group
Mr. Bharat Shah, is an Executive Director of our Company. He holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Bombay and a post-graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a member of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India. He has been on the Board since 2008. He has over 24 years of experience in the field of investment management and has previously worked at Birla Capital International AMC Limited and Asian Paints (India) Limited.
 

Nimesh Mehta

Director & Head – Sales & Products

Mr. Mehta heads the Sales and Products function and has played an instrumental role in building the distribution network for ASK’s PMS and AIF business in India. He has over 23 years of experience in industries such as NBFC, Equities & Asset Management. He is a Commerce graduate, MBA, and Certified Financial Planner (CFP). Nimesh has previously worked with Motilal Oswal AMC, GE Money, and Godrej Appliances Ltd. He is a TEDx speaker and has authored the book – Sales Booster.


 

 

Sumit Jain

Deputy Chief Investment Officer

Mr. Jain has over 16 years of experience in Indian equity markets. He was actively involved in the conceptualization of the Indian Entrepreneur strategy and currently manages the Indian Entrepreneur Portfolio with total assets of over USD2.5 billion. He has been instrumental in building the proprietary valuation models at ASK. He is also engaged in investment research, identifying new investment opportunities, and tracking their performance at regular interval. In the past Sumit has worked with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and First Global Securities. He is a Post Graduate in Management from Mumbai University. 

Sandip Bansal

Associate Director

Sandip has joined ASK as a Senior Portfolio Manager. He has over 18 years of experience and prior to ASK Investment Managers Ltd., he has worked with SBI Life Insurance as Equity Fund Manager & Head of Investment Research. He has also worked with UBS Securities, Kotak Securities, KPMG and Citibank. Sandip is a Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary, and has completed his MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad.

 

Chetan Thacker

Senior Vice President - Portfolio Manager

Chetan works as a portfolio manager at ASK Investment Managers Ltd. He has over 12 years of work experience beginning his career with McKinsey & Company and he has also worked with HSBC InvestDirect (India) and Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd in different capacities across various industries and geographic clusters. Chetan holds a CFA (ICFAI University) and PGDBM from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS). 

Kiran Valanger

Head - Customer Experience & Operations

Mr. Valanger is the Head for PMS and AIF Operations as well as the Customer Experience team at ASK Investment Managers Ltd. He is responsible for overseeing the digitization and transformation of the back-office processes and has been instrumental in launching the digital initiatives for clients & distributors.

Prior to ASK, he has worked with Deutsche Asset Management India Pvt Ltd as Assistant Vice President - Operations as well as PwC overseeing Statutory Audit of various Asset Management companies. He is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Post Graduate Degree in Commerce from Mumbai University.

 

 

International Team

Chandrashekhar Kekane

Managing Director (GCC & Africa)

Mr. Kekane is responsible for the ASK Group operations in the Middle East and Africa within the broader International team. He works closely with ASK Group's Head of International Operations and other colleagues on managing key relationships and being an important knowledge partner with  Institutions & Corporates, High Net Worth Investors, Regional Distributors and Family Offices. Mr. Kekane has over 25 years of experience in Indian Capital markets and has lived & worked in the Middle East for 20 years, possessing a deep understanding of the GCC & African markets. Before joining ASK Group in 2001 to start the Middle East foray, he worked with Investmart India Ltd and JM Morgan Stanley in India for over 3 years focusing on wealth management Ultra High Net Worth resident Indian investors & corporate entities.