Board of Directors

Tailwind Capital

Tailwind Capital is a private equity firm focused on investments in growth-oriented, middle market companies. Tailwind invests in targeted sectors within Healthcare, Business Services and Industrial Services. AST was added to Tailwind’s portfolio in January of 2017.

Gurvendra S. Suri

Board Chairman

Pravin Kumar

Vice Chairman

Pravin Kumar

Mr. Kumar is the founder of AST LLC. He has overseen strategic planning, marketing, and business development efforts, and set the bar for exemplary client service, ethics, and teamwork. Prior to establishing AST in 1995, Mr. Kumar was a Principal Consultant at Oracle Corporation and a Systems Analyst at Tata Engineering.

Mr. Kumar brings over 25 years of information technology and project management experience in the ERP industry and is the guiding force behind our excellent customer relations. He is responsible for establishing key account relationships and assisting with project management and execution across the Oracle product spectrum. He is active in trade circles, has delivered many presentations, and has moderated discussion panels at OAUG and other conferences.

In his work with the Oracle Applications Development team, Mr. Kumar was instrumental in achieving certification from the General Services Administration (GSA) of the United States Government for R10 of the Oracle Government Applications. As a key member of Oracle Corporation’s Vertical Applications group, Mr. Kumar helped to develop new functionality in R10, including budgetary control and FSG features. He worked with Oracle Government Services in implementing projects for large Oracle customers, including Fermilab, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Bechtel.

Mr. Kumar holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Birla Institute of Technology, India.

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

John J. Rando

Mr. Rando assists Tailwind in sourcing, evaluating and performing due diligence and portfolio oversight on business services opportunities. He serves on the boards of Tailwind portfolio companies AST, Cumberland, and Stratix. Mr. Rando has more than 35 years of experience in the IT industry. Formerly, he was a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Compensation Committee at Cognos Inc. (NASDAQ:COGN), a world leader in business intelligence and corporate performance management software, acquired by IBM in January 2008. Previously, as Senior Vice President and Group General Manager of Global Services for Compaq Computer Corporation and Digital Equipment Corporation, he was responsible for several billion in revenues and more than 27,000 service professionals worldwide. He was Chairman and President of Compaq’s Federal Systems LLC, a subsidiary responsible for Compaq’s U.S. Federal Government business.
Mr. Rando is a former director of Optimal, Cognos Inc. and several other public and private companies. He received a B.S. degree from Boston College and a Masters of Management from Northwestern University.

Shaji Zechariah

Board Member

Shaji Zechariah

Mr. Zechariah is responsible for AST’s financial performance and service delivery. Prior to joining AST, Mr. Zechariah was a senior member of Oracle’s Applications Consulting practice in the North Central region and a Senior Consultant at Tata Consultancy Services.

He brings over 25 years of industry experience in operations, project management, and ERP implementations in the service, government, manufacturing, and insurance sectors. He has served in various capacities throughout his career, including account and practice management, service delivery leadership, application solution architect, and as a functional implementer. He continues to play a key role in customer relationships and service delivery for AST.

Mr. Zechariah holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bombay (VJTI), India.

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