AM

Arun M. Kumar

Managing Partner, Celesta Capital

San Francisco Bay Area

Invests in

Stages:

Locations:

  • Min Investment:

    $100,000.00
  • Max Investment:

    $5,000,000.00
  • Target Investment:

    $1,500,000.00

Skills

Business Strategy
Business Development
Management Consulting
Strategic Planning
IT Strategy
Start-ups
Mergers & Acquisitions
Business Process Improvement
Program Management
Strategy
Business Transformation
Mergers
Leadership
Change Management
Cloud Computing
Management

Education

  • B.Sc.

    University College, University of Kerala, Trivandrum, India

    (1969 - 1972)

  • ISC

    Lawrence School, Lovedale, India

    (1961 - 1968)

Work Experience

Dr Reddy's Laboratories

2022

  • Independent Director on the Board; Chair of the Audit Committee

    2022

  • Managing Partner

    2022

    Celesta Capital is a leading deep technology venture capital firm with offices in San Francisco and Bangalore. Celesta leverages synergies between the main centers of innovation in the US, India and Israel to create globally impactful enterprises.

2017 - 2022

  • Chairman & CEO

    2017 - 2022

    Director on the Global Board of KPMG as well as the Board of KPMG EMA. KPMG has one of its largest presences in India. KPMG India, which is among the highest growth firms in KPMG globally, has a significant position in the Indian market and also actively engages with clients in Africa, Middle East and Asia. Led the firm through a period of extraordinary growth in revenues, profits, people -- and organizational transformation.

  • Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the US Commercial Service

    2014 - 2017

    Leader of the global export and inward investment promotion efforts for the U.S. Government; lead official advocating for better market access for U.S. exporters. Chief executive of the U.S. Commercial Service with offices in 78 countries and over 100 U.S. cities and a workforce of over 1600 professionals.

1995 - 2014

  • Retired Partner

    2013 - 2014

  • Partner; Member of the Board of Directors

    1995 - 2013

    Member of the Board of Directors (2008 -- 2013) of KPMG LLP and KPMG Americas Chair, Audit, Finance & Operations Committee; Member, Compensation Committee, Partnership and Employer of Choice Committee, Partner Rights Committee, Professional Practice and Ethics Committee. • Leader, Management Consulting/ Finance Management, West (2005 -- 2013 ) Started management consulting services in the West when KPMG re-entered the area after it had spun out its Consulting activities (as KPMG Consulting/ Bearing Point) in 2000. o Member of global leadership team for Business Performance Services and national leadership teams. o Thought leader in planning, forecasting, management reporting, business intelligence. Launched the firm into practice areas of planning, forecasting and management reporting incorporating new technology solutions. o Clients include the largest and most successful global high technology corporations as well as leading financial services, manufacturing and utilities firms. o Led a number of landmark complex transformation engagements for global clients involving shared services/outsourcing, offshoring, business intelligence and analytics, core process improvements, and organizational transformation. • Partner in Charge, US India Practice (2007-2013) Founded practice to serve Indian corporations with cross border tax, advisory and audit services as they invest and operate in the US and US corporations and PE/ VC funds as they invest and operate in India. Market leader in US India business advisory services. • Leader for new strategic alliance. Launched a major alliance with a global IT services firm. This tenure covers KPMG LLP and KPMG Consulting, (which was renamed BearingPoint and spun out). I retired from KPMG LLP in September 2014.

Planning & Logic Inc. and others

1989 - 1995

  • Founder, CEO, CFO in Silicon Valley entrepreneurial ventures

    1989 - 1995

    Founded planning software company. Advised and assisted other new ventures in areas ranging from network management software to semiconductor devices. Prior to that spent a year at Silicon Graphics as Director of Planning & Management Information.

Cydrome Inc.

1984 - 1988

  • Co-founder, CFO, VP Operations, and Member of the Board of Directors

    1984 - 1988

    Pioneering minisupercomputer company. Established and managed financial processes, manufacturing operations and MIS. Acquired by HP which incorporated Cydrome technologies into the PA-RISC architecture.

Elxsi

1980 - 1984

  • Controller

    1980 - 1984

    Controller. Venture funded minicomputer company. Led Finance & Administration. Worked with investment bankers on major placements. Established MRP processes and ERP infrastructure.

Tata Administrative Service (TAS)

1973 - 1978

  • TAS

    1973 - 1978

    Selected into central management cadre of the Tata Group, leaders of Indian industry. Initial training and assignments in the Group’s automotive, steel, exports and beverages companies. Assigned to Nelco, the electronics company of the group. Worked directly for Mr Ratan Tata, later the Chairman of the Tata Group, assisting with various assignments and duties ranging from new product introductions, management development activities and Government relations.