Collaborative Capital

Dr. Prith Banerjee is the SVP of the Simulation and Analysis Incubation Group at Synopsys, following the acquisition of Ansys, where he was the Chief Technology Officer responsible for leading the company’s next phase of innovation and growth. Previously, Prith was Senior Client Partner at Korn Ferry where he was responsible for IOT and Digital Transformation in the Global Industrial Practice. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer of Schneider Electric, Managing Director of Global Technology Research and Development at Accenture, and Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of ABB, a power and automation company in Zurich, Switzerland. Earlier, Prith was Senior Vice President of Research at HP and Director of HP Labs. Before his career in industry, Prith was an academic for over two decades and co-founded two startups in the semiconductor design space. He was Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Walter P. Murphy Professor and Chairman of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northwestern University and a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2000, he founded AccelChip, a developer of products for electronic design automation, which was acquired by Xilinx Inc. in 2006. During 2005-2011, he was Founder, Chairman and Chief Scientist of BINACHIP Inc., a developer of products in electronic design automation. His research interests are in electronic design automation, and parallel computing, and he is the author of about 350 research papers in journals and conferences. Prith has been recognized in the Fast Company list of 100 top business leaders. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, ACM and IEEE, and a recipient of the 1996 ASEE Terman Award and the 1987 NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award. He received a B.Tech. (President's Gold Medalist) in electronics engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana. At NewBuild VC, Prith advises the investment team on working closely with corporate LP partners, evaluates AI investments, and advises our portfolio on technology, product, and market strategy.

RD Deshmukh is a visionary Supply Chain executive with over two decades of experience spanning eCommerce, Distribution, Logistics, and Engineering. As Senior Vice President of Engineering and Innovation at ID Logistics, RD leads cross-functional teams focused on Innovation, Engineering, and Solution Design, driving transformative growth for global clients. Throughout his career, RD has collaborated with customers like Amazon, FedEx, P&G, General Mills, Hershey, BMW, Mann&Hummel, Bayer, Pfizer, Campbell, Mars, Kimberley Clark, Michelin Tires, Kraft, Clorox, Ferrero, Duracell, Brooks Shoes, Spectrum, L'Oréal, and many others with a focus on enabling accelerated customer growth. RD was also part of the Gartner Magic Quadrant Amazon focus team, where he provided his deep automation, digitalization (WMS, LMS, TMS, SIOP), logistics network optimization, and strategy background. Along with his robust functional distribution background, RD has a deep understanding of technology, which has helped him successfully implement greenfield and brownfield changes that benefit customers and stakeholders. Prior to ID Logistics, RD was a key leader at Amazon, driving end-to-end Solution design for Middle Mile Sort and Non-Sort operations, with full responsibility for Automation, Engineering, and Cost optimization. A servant leader at heart, RD is passionate about building expert communities across the Supply Chain and 3PL sectors. His commitment to mentoring and empowering teams has made him a respected figure in operational excellence and innovation. RD holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master's degree in Management. He resides in Atlanta with his wife and three daughters and enjoys staying active by working out with friends.

Scott is Co-Founder & CEO of 257.co, an energy data platform. Previously, he was SVP and General Manager of the platform business at Roku. Over 9 years at the streaming video leader, Scott led the development of the Roku Channel, Roku’s original programming venture, created and scaled the streamer’s advertising business and led partnerships, revenue, product, analytics, payments, and operations. Roku regards him a key player in their 2017 IPO. Previously, he was Founder/ CEO of Umami and held executive roles at Rovi & ReplayTV.

Aparna was the Chief Product Officer of AI Experiences at Microsoft leading agents for productivity.

Previously, she was Chief Product Officer at Robinhood, and was at Google for nearly 13 years, where she was the visionary behind Google Lens and VP in-charge of product development for several internet-scale AI products including AR, visual search, shopping, voice assistants and search. 

She is a board member at eBay and was previously a board director at Capital One. 

Aparna’s interests include consumer internet, business strategy, product management, design, network businesses, big data, public speaking (including a hidden talent for stand-up comedy!), leading cross-functional teams, and getting things done.

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Pankaj is SVP and GM, North America at AI21 Labs and an angel investor in enterprise Saas and AI startups. Previously, he was the Vice President of Product and Data Partnerships at Databricks, responsible for building over 100 successful partnerships. Prior to Databricks, he led the team at Google Cloud that was responsible for their most strategic cloud partnerships. Prior to that he was Founder and CEO of a location-based startup focused on bringing like-minded people together. He's also held a variety of senior roles at HP, Oracle, Cisco, McKinsey, Infosys and Booz-Allen. Pankaj graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in CS and has an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Partha has over 20 years of leadership experience in technology sectors, including cloud computing and logistics technology. Partha brings deep expertise in data architecture, cloud, & supply chain to medium & large-scale companies. Partha has held senior roles at Citrix, Nutanix, and currently Project44 where his expertise in data & cloud intersects with the supply chain. As the Chief Technology Officer at Project44, Partha is responsible for the tech stack that seeks to build the connective tissue of the supply chain, allowing all supply chain stakeholders the ability to visualize & collaborate on their supply chains through a single platform. Partha holds a B.Tech in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras as well as a M.S., in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He resides in San Francisco, California, USA.