Gautam Khanna – Consulting Associate

Mr. Khanna’s professional track record includes significant experiences in developing new businesses in Asia, Europe and North America. He started his career as a Merchant Marine officer and reached the level of certified captain of ocean going vessels. He then joined a boutique consultancy to work in the erstwhile Soviet Union assisting western companies set up joint ventures & businesses within the Soviet Bloc. Clients there included companies like SmithKline Beecham, Mitsubishi Canada, Godfrey Phillips India among others.

After completing his MBA at the University of Virginia with a focus on International marketing and business development, Mr. Khanna joined Whirlpool Corporation in Europe, where he was instrumental in creating efficiencies in the European sales and distribution organization. Transferred back to the US, he was responsible for the development of a new product line of microwave ovens and for the creation of a new manufacturing line for these ovens in China. Later, he led the revamping of $500 million/ year US Whirlpool Cooking appliance product lineup. Also, during a short stint at Dell Computers he was involved in the support the $5 billion Latitude Business Notebook operation.

In 2000, he was recruited by Pentair Water Technologies to lead the turnaround of their ailing India business. The success of the turnaround exceeded corporate expectations as the unit quadrupled sales and became quite profitable. This led Pentair to establish a new global desalination business based in India, manufacturing and marketing desalination vessels and other related products to this fast growing global market. The Indian facility grew to become the world’s largest manufacturer of reverse osmosis membrane housings, with all functions including marketing, product development and global after sales support based in Goa, India. During his tenure, Mr. Khanna also led the establishment of Pentair’s Middle East offices and distribution in the UAE and the creation of a 120 engineer strong R& D facility in New Delhi, India.