Corporate Governance
Board of Directors

Aditya Puri
Non-Executive Director & Chairperson

Aditya Puri
Non-Executive Director & Chairperson
Aditya Puri is an iconic Banking and Financial Services industry leader. He was the Managing Director of HDFC Bank, India’s largest private sector bank and he was the longest-serving head of any private bank in India. Under his leadership, HDFC delivered tremendous growth and value creation for all its stakeholders and paved the way for numerous unprecedented milestones in Indian private sector banking.
Prior to establishing HDFC Bank, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Citibank Malaysia and has nearly two decades of banking experience across markets. Aditya has been conferred with many prestigious awards, accolades and titles for his exceptional contribution to the Indian banking industry, including successive appearances on “Barron’s Top 30 Global CEOs”. India Today ranked him at #24 in “India's 50 Most Powerful People of 2017” list. He was also inducted into the Chartered Accountants Hall of Fame by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and was the first member of ICAI to be honored with this award.
Prior to establishing HDFC Bank, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Citibank Malaysia and has nearly two decades of banking experience across markets. Aditya has been conferred with many prestigious awards, accolades and titles for his exceptional contribution to the Indian banking industry, including successive appearances on “Barron’s Top 30 Global CEOs”. India Today ranked him at #24 in “India's 50 Most Powerful People of 2017” list. He was also inducted into the Chartered Accountants Hall of Fame by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and was the first member of ICAI to be honored with this award.

Vineeta Rai
Independent Director

Vineeta Rai
Independent Director
Vineeta Rai is a former Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer and the first woman to hold the post of Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. Prior to being the Revenue Secretary, she worked as Secretary Banking and Insurance in the Union Ministry of Finance. She has held posts in the Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and in the Ministry of Home Affairs. In 2004, she was voted as one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Business in India. In addition, Vineeta has also worked in various Union Territories and State administrations.

Arun Kumar
Founder and Non-Executive Director

Arun Kumar
Founder and Non-Executive Director
Arun Kumar is a first-generation entrepreneur and known for his ability to identify great opportunities in “difficult to operate” business domains. He founded Strides Pharma Science Limited (Strides) in 1990 and has since then led the company in building a global reputation with a differentiated business model and delivering value for its stakeholders (over $5B value creation for shareholders, including distribution of the most extensive dividend by a pharmaceutical company in India).
Besides founding Strides, Arun’s family office (setup in the early 2000s) ran a differentiated set of investments spread across several companies with a combined revenue base of over a billion dollars and an invested capital of over half a billion dollars. Arun is credited to have co-founded and built India’s largest fully integrated Animal Health Company, SeQuent Scientific Limited, in less than five years. Arun’s stake in SeQuent was divested to the Carlyle Group in May 2020.
Arun is the promoter of Solara Active Pharma Sciences, a pure-play API company, targeted to become India’s second-largest API business in less than four years. Recently, Arun’s family office has entered a strategic partnership with marquee investors to build a global biologics CDMO, specialty injectable and vaccine business with capabilities across several technology platforms. The businesses run under Arun’s leadership and ownership have presence in 100+ countries with 7000+ employees and over 25 global manufacturing facilities worldwide.
Arun is a recipient of “EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award” in the healthcare sector in 2000, Business Today “India Best CEO Award” (in mid-sized companies category), and “The Best CEO in the Pharma & Healthcare Industry” in 2014.
Besides founding Strides, Arun’s family office (setup in the early 2000s) ran a differentiated set of investments spread across several companies with a combined revenue base of over a billion dollars and an invested capital of over half a billion dollars. Arun is credited to have co-founded and built India’s largest fully integrated Animal Health Company, SeQuent Scientific Limited, in less than five years. Arun’s stake in SeQuent was divested to the Carlyle Group in May 2020.
Arun is the promoter of Solara Active Pharma Sciences, a pure-play API company, targeted to become India’s second-largest API business in less than four years. Recently, Arun’s family office has entered a strategic partnership with marquee investors to build a global biologics CDMO, specialty injectable and vaccine business with capabilities across several technology platforms. The businesses run under Arun’s leadership and ownership have presence in 100+ countries with 7000+ employees and over 25 global manufacturing facilities worldwide.
Arun is a recipient of “EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award” in the healthcare sector in 2000, Business Today “India Best CEO Award” (in mid-sized companies category), and “The Best CEO in the Pharma & Healthcare Industry” in 2014.

Ankur Thadani
Non-Executive Director

Ankur Thadani
Non-Executive Director
Ankur Thadani is a Partner with TPG Growth and The RISE Fund, and co-heads their India office. He leads healthcare, consumer and energy investing across TPG Growth and The Rise Fund platforms in India and in the region. Prior to joining TPG in 2013, he worked with an Indian private equity fund, India Equity Partners, focusing on investments in consumer and healthcare sectors. Ankur received his MBA from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) and was awarded a Gold Medal for outstanding overall achievement. In addition to Stelis Biopharma, Ankur also serves on the boards of Steriscience Specialties, Solara Active Pharma, API Holdings, Asia Healthcare Holdings, Asiri Healthcare, Care Hospitals, Tata Motors Electric Vehicles and Fourth Partner Energy.

Mahadevan N
Non-Executive Director

Mahadevan N
Non-Executive Director
Mahadevan (Mahad) is a Senior Advisor to TPG Capital, a global private equity fund manager with > $100B assets under its management. At TPG, Mahad focuses on the healthcare and life sciences sectors, evaluating new investments in the sector and driving value creation initiatives in portfolio companies in India. He also co-founded Akna Medical, the leading hospital-focused medical distribution platform in India, which was acquired by API Holdings (Pharmeasy).
Prior to TPG, Mahad spent over 15 years in the UK and India with Grant Thornton and PwC, on M&A, IPOs, capital raising and performance improvement/restructuring, with a focus on healthcare, pharma, logistics and other sectors. Mahad started his career with Hindustan Unilever Ltd, where he worked on a number of supply chain improvement projects. Mahad is an alumnus of Indian Institute Technology (IIT), Madras and Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow.
Prior to TPG, Mahad spent over 15 years in the UK and India with Grant Thornton and PwC, on M&A, IPOs, capital raising and performance improvement/restructuring, with a focus on healthcare, pharma, logistics and other sectors. Mahad started his career with Hindustan Unilever Ltd, where he worked on a number of supply chain improvement projects. Mahad is an alumnus of Indian Institute Technology (IIT), Madras and Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow.

AK Viswanathan
Independent Director

AK Viswanathan
Independent Director
A.K. Viswanathan (Vis), a retired Partner from Deloitte, has over 35 years of experience building and coaching high performance teams across multiple geographies globally. Vis has a unique blend of business, technology and risk experience, having helped organizations understand and deal with their technology risk, especially in the cyber space. Considered a leader at Deloitte, he has built, coached, and mentored multiple teams, resulting in him being named as National Talent Partner for Deloitte Risk Advisory Services in India. Vis is an Executive Coach with COSM. Vis is also actively involved with NGOs such as MOHAN, MBA, and Agastya Foundations.

P R Kannan
CFO and Executive Director

P R Kannan
CFO and Executive Director
Kannan is a proven finance leader with over two decades of experience in corporate finance and taxation, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), public listings and Initial Public Offers (IPO), Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) and corporate fundraising. He is a results-oriented team builder, with an outstanding track record of scaling-up organizations. Kannan is a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant.
Kannan served in various key leadership positions in the Strides group for over a decade. He managed multiple investments and Investors while serving in an operating role across different companies from incubation to the growth phase. Kannan was the CFO for SeQuent Scientific Limited (SeQuent), where he led the company to sustainable growth through a combination of M&As and greenfield expansion programs. He played a significant role in the sale of SeQuent to the Carlyle Group in 2020.
Kannan served in various key leadership positions in the Strides group for over a decade. He managed multiple investments and Investors while serving in an operating role across different companies from incubation to the growth phase. Kannan was the CFO for SeQuent Scientific Limited (SeQuent), where he led the company to sustainable growth through a combination of M&As and greenfield expansion programs. He played a significant role in the sale of SeQuent to the Carlyle Group in 2020.
Policies
EHS
Composition of Board and Committees
AK Viswanathan- Chairperson
Aditya Puri - Member
Vineeta Rai - Member
Ankur Nand Thadani - Chairperson
Vineeta Rai - Member
AK Viswanathan - Member
Aditya Puri – Member
Arun Kumar – Chairperson
Mahadevan Narayanamoni - Member
P R Kannan – Member
Arun Kumar – Chairperson
Vineeta Rai – Member
AK Viswanathan – Member
PR Kannan – Member