With over a century's worth of combined leadership experience in the nutraceutical and supplement industry, our team fuses innovation with strategic thinking and implementation.
Sanjaya Mariwala is a seasoned entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in the natural food and supplement ingredients space. He is a founding member of OmniActive and provides strategic and financial oversight and guidance to the company’s global teams. He had served as Managing Director of Kancor Ingredients from 1990-2014. Sanjaya’s numerous professional and industrial affiliations include the India Pepper & Spice Trade Association, All India Spices Exporters Forum, Confederation of Indian Industry, Indian Merchant’s Chamber, TIE-The Indus Entrepreneurs and FICCI.
Sanjay holds a degree in tax management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and has completed executive training programs at the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Sanjay holds a degree in tax management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and has completed executive training programs at the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Sanjaya Mariwala – CEO & Executive Chairman
With a rich academic, research and business background, Arun heads up OmniActive’s R&D efforts. He is primarily responsible for establishing processes for quick turnaround of projects driven by customer needs, developing delivery platforms and improving existing products.
Arun has held positions as a Professor/Researcher at the Centre for Biotechnology, Anna University, Chennai, and as Senior VP for Screening and External Liaison of the natural products division at Piramal Lifesciences.
Arun holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry and a Master’s and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Madras.
With over 15 years of experience, Akshay has helped lead human resources for global commercial operations in various geographical locations for companies such as Cipla, Infosys, and TNT India. Akshay holds special expertise in talent requisition and recruitment, designing performance, bonus, and ESOP plans, and creating HR processes, systems and infrastructure.
Askhay holds a PGDM, HRD from the Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resources as well as licenses and certifications from IDEO (Insights for Innovation) and Korn Ferry (Job Evaluation Methodology).
As a seasoned pharmaceutical industry executive with a strong history in managing operations from raw material sourcing to end-product manufacturing, Chaitanya aligns, guides, and leads the operations, business and sales functions of OmniActive’s Specialty Botanicals and Extracts division. Over his almost 40 years of experience, Chaitanya has provided visionary leadership to illustrious corporations such as Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Unimark Remedies, Shasun Drug and Chemical, and Sanmar Specialty Chemicals.
Chaitanya holds Bachelor’s of Science diplomas from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai.
Jim has more than 30 years experience in diversified management and providing strategic direction at leading nutraceutical companies including Aspire Pharmaceuticals, Neptune Wellness Solutions and Nutra Manufacturing. A focused problem solver, he bring extensive experience in sales, marketing, procurement, operations and supply chain management. Jim will lead global sales at OmniActive with a specific focus to help build a best-in-class, customer-centric company.
Jim hold a BS in Management and an MBA from the University of Utah.
Kapil has 20 years of experience, mainly in consumer goods and pharmaceutical business. He has strong expertise in strategy development, analysis and planning, business performance management, corporate finance, cost optimization, M&A, joint ventures management, board governance, shared services and IT transformation. He is joining us from Sentiss Pharma, where he was Global CFO. Prior to that he worked with Cipla and Mondelēz International in various Indian and international roles.
Kapil has an MBA in Finance and Strategy from Manchester Business School in the UK and a Bachelor of Technology from the National Institute of Technology in Calicut, India.
Kapil has an MBA in Finance and Strategy from Manchester Business School in the UK and a Bachelor of Technology from the National Institute of Technology in Calicut, India.
Kimberly Smith has over 22 years of nutritional ingredient experience within the dietary supplement, food & beverage and personal care industries. She has held a variety of leadership roles in marketing, business development and general management with companies such as Roche and DSM in both North America and Europe. Prior to joining OmniActive, Kimberly was Vice President, Dietary Supplements and Pharmaceuticals for DSM Nutritional Products where she developed and led the business strategy and successfully established a new business channel for the division. She was a key member of the North American leadership team.
Kimberly brings an entrepreneurial approach and a passion for accessible nutrition to this role. Her demonstrated success in marketing and sales leadership, strategy development, and building collaborative teams will help drive the marketing and growth strategy for OmniActive. Kimberly holds a B.S. in Integrative Biology from the University of California at Berkeley.
Sanjaya Mariwala – Executive Chairman
Sanjaya Mariwala is a seasoned entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in the natural food and supplement ingredients space. He is a founding member of OmniActive and provides strategic and financial oversight and guidance to the company’s global teams. He had served as Managing Director of Kancor Ingredients from 1990-2014. Sanjaya’s numerous professional and industrial affiliations include the India Pepper & Spice Trade Association, All India Spices Exporters Forum, Confederation of Indian Industry, Indian Merchant’s Chamber, TIE-The Indus Entrepreneurs and FICCI.
Sanjay holds a degree in tax management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and has completed executive training programs at the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Ketki Bhagwati
Ketki serves as the Chief Investment Officer in the Financial Institutions Group at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector financing arm of the World Bank Group. Prior to IFC, she worked at the Credit Rating Information Services of India (CRISIL) in Mumbai.
Naresh Patwari
Naresh focuses on investments in healthcare, pharma and consumer-oriented industries across India and various emerging markets. He serves on the Board of Directors of Indira IVF Hospitals, OmniActive Health Technologies, TCNS Clothing and Shilpa Medicare, and is actively involved in TA’s investment in Atria Convergence Technologies. Prior to joining TA in 2014, Naresh was a Principal at ICICI Venture in Mumbai, Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in New York and Field Engineer at Schlumberger in Norway, West Africa and Gulf of Mexico. Naresh received a B.Tech. degree, with honors, in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur and an MBA degree from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where he graduated as an Edward Tuck Scholar with Distinction.
Leendart Staal, Ph. D
Leendart has held numerous senior level positions within the DSM group: as President and Chief Executive Officer of DSM Nutritional Products from January 2008 to March 2013 and previously as President and Chief Executive Officer of DSM Pharmaceuticals. He has also served as Group Vice President of Quest International and was Chairman of Unipath (a wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever).
Dhiraj Poddar
Dhiraj heads the Indian operations of TA Associates Advisory Pvt. Ltd., focusing on investments in companies in India and other emerging markets. He has advised on over 11 investments across financial services, technology, healthcare and business services. He joined TA in 2010 and has more than 15 years of experience in the private equity industry. He received a degree from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and an MBA Degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Milind Sarwate
As an advisor and mentor, Milind has served as Director for several companies including Mahindra Finance, Mindtree, Glenmark, Metropolis, and Matrimony.com. In 2015 he established Increate to leverage his 36 years of experience to help organizations & individuals discover, develop & deliver business & social value.
