Leadership

Jay P Desai is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Universal Consulting India Pvt Ltd. Jay has more than 22 years of management consulting experience and since 1994, has built Universal Consulting into one of the largest boutique strategy consulting firms in India.

The Firm has a team of more than 60 people, with offices in Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai. The Firm has conducted 740 cases for 285 clients across the manufacturing and service sectors, in industry verticals as diverse as Life Sciences, Healthcare, Industrial Products, Automotive, Capital Goods, Construction & Building Materials, Consumer Products, Financial Services and Rural Markets.

Prior to founding Universal Consulting with seed capital of just Rs 50,000, Jay worked with Accenture in Mumbai, from 1989 to 1994. He holds the AMP degree from The Harvard Business School, an MBA from Willamette University, an MS in Biology from Purdue University and a BSc in Life Sciences from the University of Mumbai. He has also attended a number of executive education programs at The Wharton School, INSEAD and the Harvard Business School.

Jay recently authored a book titled "Accountability: Angst, Awareness, Action", on India's governance systems, which was published by Pearson and released in March 2012. Based on this book, Harvard University (South Asia Initiative) organised a ‘Best of Harvard in India’ round table discussion on “Accountability & Governance” in July 2012 in New Delhi. Jay is a lecturer at The Wharton School on the Indian Healthcare System for the MBA class and at the University of Cambridge, on Accountability, based on a year-long research project that he directed. He has also spoken at many international conferences like the FICCI Global Indian Business Meeting 2009 in Munich, the Biotechnology Industry Organisation’s BIO 2009 in Atlanta, and Business Week in Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi.

Jay’s research interests are in the application of lessons from evolutionary biology and complexity science, to business strategy. Jay is an active student of Indian Classical Music, and has been playing the Sarod, for more than 20 years. Jay is also the first sarod player to have re-engineered this ancient and traditional Indian classical instrument, to allow it to be played while standing, and not sitting on the ground, in the traditional pose. This new method, allows for greatest sonic resonance, more freedom of movement and higher speed. He lives in Mumbai with his wife, Madhavi and son, Arjun.

Jagat joined UC in 1995 and has significant experience in the manufacturing and service sectors. Jagat has led and successfully concluded cases in the area of strategy definition, business plans and operations. He has advised clients in diverse sectors like Logistics, Construction, Energy, Industrial Products, Chemicals, Metals, Pharmaceuticals and Retail.

After graduating as a Bachelor of Engineering from DY Patil College, University of Pune, he completed a programme on Innovative Practices in Manufacturing Management at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Jagat  attended an Executive Program on "Stanford University, Graduate School of Business - Innovative Strategies for a Dynamic Economy, Mumbai" He has also attended the Leading Professional Service Firms program at the Harvard Business School.

In addition to being a Partner and Founding Director, Jagat also plays a role of Chief Operating Officer at UC and heads the Industrial Products practice. Jagat has a keen interest in engineering and scientific endeavours, which provide solutions to infrastructure and other development issues challenging India and other developing worlds like water and energy security.

A passionate cricketer, Jagat also loves to play the tabla.  He lives in Mumbai with his wife Nehal and son Aarav.

Ryan joined UC in 1994 and has led, and successfully concluded cases in the areas of strategy definition, business plans and operations. He has advised clients in diverse sectors including Telecommunications, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Logistics, Financial services and FMCG sectors.

After graduating as a Bachelor of Arts from Mumbai University, he completed his PGDBM from Xavier's Institute of Management. Ryan then went on to do an MBA from Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne. He has also attended the Leading Professional Service Firms program at the Harvard Business School.

Ryan is an avid reader of Literature, Economics and History. Ryan is keenly interested in developing out of the box solutions to challenges surrounding traffic, healthcare and education.

Ryan likes golf and soccer and he lives in Mumbai with his wife Iris and son Adam.

Samir joined UC in 1996 and has significant experience in the manufacturing and service sector. Samir heads our New Delhi office. He has led, and successfully concluded cases in the areas of strategy and operations. He has advised clients in diverse sectors including Financial Services, Life Sciences, Private Equity, Automotive, Retail Goods Industry, Industrial Equipments, Rural and Non – Profit organisations.

He is a graduate in Bachelors of Commerce from the Mumbai University. Samir has attended an Executive Program on "Stanford University, Graduate School of Business - Innovative Strategies for a Dynamic Economy, Mumbai" He has also attended the Leading Professional Service Firms program at the Harvard Business School.  

A highly talented individual, Samir is an active student of Indian Classical Music. He plays the sitar, tabla and renders vocal performances. Besides, Samir is an active student of art of drawing and painting. Samir represented the Mumbai Under-15 Cricket team and opened the innings with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar in the inter state level professional cricket tournament.

He lives in Delhi with his wife Sanjeevani and daughter Soumya

Shankar joined UC in 1994 and has led, and successfully concluded cases in the areas of strategy and operations. He has advised clients in diverse sectors including Pharmaceuticals, Biotech, Healthcare, Agrochemicals, Telecommunications and Paper manufacturing. 

After graduating as a Bachelor of Commerce from Mumbai University, he secured a Diploma in Computer Science. Shankar has attended an Executive Program "Stanford University, Graduate School of Business - Innovative Strategies for a Dynamic Economy, Mumbai". He has also attended the Leading Professional Service Firms program at the Harvard Business School.

Shankar is an avid reader of Literature, Economics and History.  Shankar is keenly interested in developing insights from world history including the conquests of Alexander and the rise and fall of the Spanish Empire.

A passionate Kanga League cricketer, Shankar often turns out on weekends to represent his club in the local leagues. Shankar has a deep and insightful knowledge of world history.  He lives in Mumbai with his wife Prabha and son Krish.