Resume
Email: rharsha [at] gmail [dot] com
HARSHA RAGHAVAN RESUME
SUMMARY
I have a unique background of working for both Inc 500 and Fortune 500 companies, allowing me to thrive in fast paced and ambiguous environments. My entrepreneurial background has helped me transition from an individual contributor to a dedicated “intrapreneur” where I constantly bring fresh ideas and strategic vision to any assignment. My extensive work experience and educational background has molded me to effectively communicate at all levels of management and with all types of stakeholders. I am an avid reader of a variety of business and management books ranging from Net Promoter Score, to customer happiness and team management. My experience is based on customer happiness, process improvement and service delivery.
- Inc 500 and Fortune 500 management professional
- Deep interest in multiple business and non-business topics (reading list on LinkedIn profile)
- Service delivery focused professional with strong process improvement mindset
- Honest and ethical communicator with keen sense in recognizing bright talent and opportunities
- Highly intuitive and able to work in ambiguous environments and make sound decisions
EDUCATION
Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in Management from Clark University, Worcester, MA
WORK EXPERIENCE
Delivery Specialist; Sapphire Technologies (division of Randstad; AMS: RAND); 2010 – Present
The “Corporate Accounts” team is a unique group within the company because it is built to focus on high volume and low margin clients on a national scale. A sampling of clients includes Accenture, Northrop Grumman, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), IBM Federal, CSC and Unisys, among others. I was hired primarily for my passion and understanding of service delivery to such clients, in finding talent for them and managing projects. My primary responsibilities include understanding a client’s staffing requirement and finding the right talent. I work with a team of 16 people, of which I am considered a senior member and recognized as the #1 performer.
Within 12 months of employment I delivered both management and financial results, generating over $1.4m in revenue with a 13% net profit margin. I have also been awarded multiple “Shareholder” plaques for financial performance and was also First runner-up in the “Big Idea 2011” contest.
Founder & CEO; ApplyGo.com; 2009 – 2010
- Founder of startup that recruited international students for US colleges and universities.
- Conceptualized service delivery methodology and developed the business plan, created the sales brochures, and presented to over 30 potential customers, on the web and in-person.
- Generated revenue but rate of growth was slower than expected and had to terminate operations
Director, VMS Practice Group; TalentBurst Inc. (Inc. 500 #294 in 2008); 2008 – 2009
By now, I became a recognized expert in the MSP and VMS markets with strong relationships at Guidant Group (formerly Comensura), WorkforceLogic, and PrO Unlimited among others. My work had secured the company top 5 preferred vendor status at these companies. I managed the core Line of Business by developing service delivery, marketing to clients and managing delivery. My efforts resulted in $3.5M in sales in 2008, continuing to lead the company in sales and customer happiness. I enjoyed extensive mindshare with top management and influenced corporate strategic planning by developing a new sales strategy, quality policies, and an employee-training handbook and also mentored new and existing employees. Some of our top clients included Visa, MasterCard, Pitney Bowes, Silicon Valley Bank, Yahoo! and The Hartford Insurance Group, among others. I understood technology to develop and efficiently deliver recruiting and staffing services and also authored whitepapers on vendor neutrality, wrote press releases for each milestone we achieved, and developed sales presentations and company performance reports. I led the senior leadership team on a number of strategic initiatives including planning and business development, service delivery, quality management and employee training and management. I also started to build the team for the company and interviewed, hired, trained and mentored recruiting and staffing personnel. All of these efforts were housed under a division I proposed and wrote the business plan for, called VMS Practice Group and I launched http://www.vmsmsp.com – an industry first and a cutting edge website for the company. Working for a startup also helped me foray into other areas like streamlining the corporate brand image through unified online and social media marketing and PR messaging. I continued to refine our sales strategy, quality policies and employee management and also focused mainly on expanding relationships with MSP and VMS clients. Ultimately, by the time I left, my service delivery methodology and other efforts continues to remain in use by the company serving its clients today.
Account Manager; TalentBurst Inc.; 2006 – 2008
I was quickly promoted to Account Manager to develop more relationships with MSP and VMS customers and I grew account sales to over $1 million in the first 9 months of employment, besting the company’s annual goal. I gained recognition for the company as a preferred vendor status at Guidant Group, a leading MSP, and correctly identified them as the primary client and developed a sales and marketing plan to grow the relationship with them. For my efforts, I was rewarded performance accolades in 2006 and 2007 and had started delivering consistent results from day one with deals averaging $100K. I also developed the company’s first and only customer focused service delivery methodology. I also worked on a number of RFP and RFI, winning the company more clients.
Recruiter; TalentBurst Inc.; 2005 – 2006
I was hired as employee #3 after graduating with my MBA, into an IT staffing startup focused on the Managed Service Provider (MSP) and Vendor Management Systems (VMS) markets. In 2005, this was still a new business model in the staffing industry, in which larger companies were unable to thrive. In this role, I developed my first service delivery by finding talent for clients like Guidant Group (Comensura), WorkforceLogic, PrO Unlimited and Yoh. My work helped build the company into a top level preferred IT services vendor. Within 6 months, I had built the relationship with the company’s #1 client in terms of revenue, and held that spot until my departure. The relationship I had started building with the Guidant Group at Visa eventually became the #1 account (20% of sales), where I guaranteed and delivered responses to client within a 24-hour window and placed over 100 consultants.
Advisory Associate (Intern); Eduventures Inc. Boston, MA; summer 2004
- Recruited for MBA internship with industry leader in e-learning and education market research.
- Conducted secondary market research for market-sizing and estimation exercises for a mid-size market research and consulting organization in e-learning and education.
- Identified $35m-$45m opportunity for Fortune 1000 client in the continuing education market
- Communicated with industry organizations like AAES, AICHE and ASME to map demand to supply of products/services serving continuing education needs of professional service providers
- Developed a market segmentation map and an extensive research report outlining use of study-materials in the $500M plus test-prep market across fifteen professional examinations. The report presented extensive analysis (SWOT, Five-Forces etc.) of data and documented recommendations to the client management team
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
- Co-founder, nett10 Digital Limited; 2000 – 2002
- ICourtesy.com; 2001 – 2002
THE NEW GLOBAL WE. 