Shankar Kumar
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Management Consulting Expert
Chicago, IL, United States
Toptal member since April 7, 2026
Shankar is a global business builder with 20+ years of experience in strategy, business development, and transformation across industrial, energy, automotive, and manufacturing sectors. As the executive leader of industrial giant Caterpillar's corporate strategy team, he advised the CEO and the board on strategic enterprise decisions, achieving $100 million in profit through growth strategies and turning around businesses with billions in revenue. He holds six US patents and is a 3x founder.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Case Studies
How Navigating Abstraction Makes You a Better Thinker and Better Do'er
"Strategy" and "Execution" Not Binary Opposites: They Are Inter-linked
Expertise
- Agentic AI
- Execution
- Growth
- Leadership
- Manufacturing
- Strategy
- Strategy Consulting
- Turnaround
Work Experience
Chief Commercial Officer
Clear Sky Innovations
- Closed an enterprise sale with a Fortune 8 customer within 7 months; we are currently executing a high-impact project for this customer and discussing a million-dollar pipeline for the coming year.
- Created a pipeline of nearly 20 companies, including 3 with whom we are negotiating terms and conditions. These collectively represent a $2 million revenue opportunity over the coming year.
- Crafted the story of our company working with the founders. At Clear Sky Innovations, we are building a Google Earth of the Earth's subsurface by fusing physics and artificial intelligence (AI) to reveal what’s hidden beneath the surface.
Managing Director
SOLVIT Consulting
- Advised an Italy-based, PE-backed power product manufacturing firm: Identifying a range of value creation opportunities that deliver a 25% cost reduction, realized within 1 year.
- Advised the Board and CEO of a Chicago-based e-chemicals technology on product-market fit, business strategy, pilot design, and customer acquisition, focusing on 20 strategic customers.
- Led the commercial function of a Pennsylvania-based electrical components manufacturer in the capacity of a fractional chief commercial officer. Grew revenue by nearly 10x within 6 months through the redesigned commercial strategy.
Senior Director, Corporate Strategy and Enterprise Risk Management
Caterpillar
- Turned a more than $1 billion business profitable after 40 years of losses. Directed a strategic shift toward higher-margin, high-growth products, increasing market share from 14% and improving profitability by 8% within 18 months.
- Led energy transition initiatives, including electrification, distributed generation, green hydrogen, and carbon capture. This work guided two key acquisitions valued at over $50 million and supported a $1.3 billion investment proposal to the board.
- Guided a high-quality strategic response of a $4 billion revenue business to respond to a price war that took market profitability from 20% to 7%; recommended actions around price and product swiftly ended the price war.
Director, Corporate Strategy
Caterpillar
- Co-led the creation of the corporate strategy function, overseeing 32 projects on growth, technology disruption, cost management, competitive response, and resource allocation.
- Developed team mission, led portfolio analysis, created inorganic development and strategic planning frameworks, and fostered a high-performance culture among 70 dispersed and matrixed employees.
- Restored growth at a $1+ billion power business in the EU: Formulated a channel strategy focusing on aftermarket growth.
Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer
Cummins
- Led the establishment of an innovative IoT startup in the automotive sector, incubated within Cummins.
- Created independent company and navigated startup challenges, achieving revenue growth milestones in a 6-month startup journey.
- Drove digital connectivity in the $50 billion US heavy-duty truck market, meeting regulatory telemetry and data requirements.
Operations Planner
TVS
- Generated budget plans to the tune of 20 million dollars every year for the entire division.
- Performed diverse planning activities towards capacity creation and augmentation, resource allocation, cost control and productivity improvements.
- Reported directly to the president of the business right after college.
Education
Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA)
University of Chicago Booth School of Business - Chicago, IL, USA
Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering
Ohio State University - Columbus, OH, USA
Bachelor's Degree (Honors) in Mechanical Engineering
Birla Institute of Technology and Science - Pilani, Rajasthan, India
Certifications
Six Sigma Green Belt
Cummins Inc.
Skills
Finance
Market Research, Pricing, Valuation, Pricing Strategy, Fundraising
Other
Microsoft, Google, Growth, Strategy, Turnaround, Industrial Innovation, Manufacturing, Strategy Consulting, Business Modeling, Customer Research, Competitive Analysis, Product Strategy, Go-to-market (GTM) Strategy, Business Strategy, Prototyping, Corporate Strategy, Corporate Portfolio Strategy, Market Execution, Leadership, Execution, Business Transformation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Consulting, Process Mapping, Supply Chain, R&D, Vendor Management, Growth Strategy, Product-market Fit, Vendor Selection, Business Development, Management Consulting, Business Process Analysis, Process Design, Project Management, Contract Review, Pitch Decks, Operating Models, Organizational Design, Operational Modeling, Risk Management, Engineering, Technology Transformation, Business Process Re-engineering, Contract Negotiation, Investor Relations, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Deal Execution, Sales Operations, Pricing Models, Global Operations, Risk Assessment, Risk & Compliance, Agentic AI, Entrepreneurship, Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Revenue Growth, Regulations, Creativity, Innovation, Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Value Proposition, Proposal Design, Marketing, Support, Software Sales, Six Sigma
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