Kartikeya Desai
Verified Expert in Finance
Management Consulting Expert
Bern, Switzerland
Toptal member since May 26, 2022
Kartikeya is an experienced healthcare and pharma executive with over 10 years of experience. He has led diverse teams across five countries in roles spanning from driving complex post-merger integrations to building biotech pipelines from scratch. Drove value creation programs like M&A, operating model design, go-to-market strategy, and OpEx leading to a $3 billion cumulative value generated. He is excited to freelance to help organizations build transformative products for society
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
Work Experience
Head of Portfolio Strategy and Operations | Precision Medicine
Novartis
- Established an organizational blueprint from scratch and set up eight workstreams to deliver a strategic roadmap of the new organization with 130 FTEs and a $120 million budget.
- Led portfolio management of the diagnostics and biomarker portfolio, driving value creation initiatives across 50 molecules with a cumulative expected NPV of $70 billion.
- Delivered a 5-year roadmap to the CEO of a San Diego-based diagnostic subsidiary with 180 FTEs and an $80 million budget. Identified technologies, capabilities, and investments to drive future growth strategy.
- Drove over 10 business development projects of $300 million deal value by managing deal sourcing, due diligence, and term sheet finalization.
Associate Director of Portfolio Strategy and Management
Novartis
- Led initiatives to increase recruitment of underrepresented minorities in clinical trials. Obtained a $20 million commitment to scholarships for black students in healthcare fields and a $14 million investment for a research center at Morehouse University.
- Established a post-acquisition integration roadmap for gene therapy player acquired for $8.7 billion. Identified synergies that were cumulating to $120 million in savings.
- Led the Pipeline of the future program. An enterprise initiative to build the R&D pipeline of the future.
- Established a strategy and an operating model for an R&D center of excellence for digital health products, managing 30 FTEs and a $40 million budget.
Strategy Lead | Operations
Novartis
- Delivered savings of $1.1 million through an initiative driving the automation and off-shoring of non-core activities across seven manufacturing sites in Austria, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, and Switzerland.
- Led the rollout of an analytics tool mapping inventory data, $3 billion+value across 60 production sites and 120 countries.
- Created the blueprint and organized a worldwide hackathon to co-create the 3-year quality transformation plan.
- Established the Quality Venture Fund, an in-house incubator that injects $1 million per year into high potential ideas across the network.
- Nominated by Novartis Quality community for the Quality 2018 Award to win two out of the seven awards given at the year-end Townhall to associates for exceptional performance.
Strategy Associate | Task Forces
Novartis
- Acted as the program manager for task forces and tiger teams deployed to solve critical issues across the network. Led cross-functional teams spanning manufacturing, commercial, legal, communications, R&D, and supply chains.
- Scaled the Nitrosamine task force, a task force responding to carcinogenic impurities detected in key products from 5 to 90 FTEs within a year while managing a budget of $19 million.
- Led the batch release workstream of a critical tiger team by implementing actions to improve the batch release throughput time by 30% enabling inventory savings of $24 million.
Sandoz Talent Excellence Program
Sandoz
- Accelerated rotational program with 9-month assignments in R&D, quality, and manufacturing at different locations worldwide. I was one of the 10 applicants chosen out of around 1,000.
- Deep-dived past product write-off data and presented an improvement plan to site management.
- Led the creation and endorsement of the 2017 quality strategic plan. Consolidated a plan to drive initiatives across 60 manufacturing sites and 120 countries.
Strategic Assistant to CEO
Heubach
- Drove due diligence activities in joint ventures and M&A deals.
- Head project manager for a green-field pigment manufacturing plant with an investment value of $20 million.
- Managed term sheet finalization for the acquisition of a Belgian pigment manufacturing player with an acquisition value of $90 million.
Equity Derivatives | Pharmaceuticals
Morgan Stanley
- Managed research coverage for Gilead Sciences (GILD), BioMarin Pharmaceuticals (BMRN), and Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ).
- Compiled detailed reports on industry trends through primary research, industry surveys, KOL interviews, and conference poster analysis.
- Provided timeline information and impact analysis to traders on catalyst events, upcoming trial readouts, and FDA positioning.
Education
Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering
ETH Zurich - Zurich, Switzerland
Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering
University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Skills
Finance
Valuations, Financial Modeling, M&A Modeling, Due Diligence, Equity Derivatives, Equity Research, Value Creation, Private Equity
Output Software
Office 2016
Data & Analysis Software
MATLAB, Microsoft Development
Other
Biotechnology, Design Strategy, Portfolio Management, Partnership Management, Change Management, Operational Excellence, Program Management, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), Operations, Digital Marketing, Business Transformation, Turnaround, Launch Strategy, Excel VBA, Diagnostics, Transactions, Term Sheets, Digital Health, Medical Devices, Post-merger Integrations, Offshoring, Manufacturing, Restructuring, Quality Management, Crisis Management, Production & Quality, Post-merger Integrations, Miro Development, Canvas, QlikView, Renewables, Startup Development, Strategic Planning, Joint Ventures, Sourcing, Target Sourcing, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI), Virtual Coaching, Digital Marketing Product Management
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