Satish Jha
Satish Jha is a leading information technology management professional from India. He has supported more than 50 large corporations in developing their Information Strategy Plan and creating a digital business strategy. He was the President of Healthcare practice for a technology firm (2006 revenue $4 billion) to lead its global healthcare practice with more than 17 years of global corporate, executive and management consulting experience in the health care and pharmaceutical industries with a real passion for leveraging technology in these areas.
Background
Educated at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University, and the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University he began his executive career as the head of a prestigious national publication in India. He co-founded the first computer created newspaper in India and has since worked at the intersection of technology and management. Satish followed it up with a charter MBA in strategy, innovation and information technology from EDHEC/Theseus (Haute Ecole Commerciale) in France that was created to groom the managers of tomorrow with the joint efforts of MIT Sloan School, INSEAD and large European corporations.
A frequent expert source for CNBC and BBC, Satish is also a featured speaker on health care issues and entrepreneurship at MRI, TEPR, TiECon, Yale University, and George Washington University. He is also a Co-Chair of World IT Forum (WITFOR).
Personal History
He started his corporate career with pharmaceutical giant Roche at its headquarters in Switzerland where distinguishing himself early on, he quickly moved into a position as a divisional head of Global Information Systems, a department with an annual budget of $ 100 million and over 1000 employees. He later led Telos Consulting in the US market, chaired James Martin & Co and META Group in India and was subsequently invited to join the Advisory Board of Perot Systems.
Satish has also worked with the leading US Pharmaceutical Benefits Management company, Caremark, where he managed integration of application systems, and with several large US hospitals on assignments to improve information management and establish best practices. In recognition of his enthusiasm and keen insights, he was recently invited onto the boards of Maryland/District of Columbia RHIO and the hospital track of Maryland Health Care Commission.
Satish also advised a large number of Indian hospitals including Apollo, Escorts Heart, SGRH, health ministries of various states and the central government. He pioneered one of the earliest web based patient and hospital management systems which won national and international recognition. He has worked with the CEOs of several Indian pharmaceutical companies to develop their global business strategies
Satish was married to Dr. Amita, a medical professional, dancer, TV anchor, actress and social activist who studied at Lady Hardinge Medical College and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She founded the Polio Plus, the polio eradication program in India which later came to be known as Pulse Polio and later worked with the World Health Organisation in Geneva.
A significant part of Satish's life was spent in social movements. Starting with a coincidence that brought him to live in the vicinity of Gandhi Peace Foundation he got an opportunity to get to know and work with Jaya Prakash Narayan, the leading opponent of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty who brought the opposition forces together to form the first non-Congress government in independent India. He coordinated Youth Against Famine, worked with landless labourers, founded landless labourers cooperative bank at a village for educational purposes, co-founded PUCL Bulletin along with Arun Jaitley (later day Law Minister of India), Neeraja Chowdhary (later the Political Editor of Indian Express) and Smitu Kothari (later known for being a social activist). He worked with Hari Sharan (formerly the board member for technology of BHEL, also known as India's GE) to found DESI Power and FREND in Switzerland and with Tarahaat.com along with Ashok Khosla (founder of Development Alternatives and Tarahaat) and Baramati Conference along with Sharad Pawar (three time Chief Minister of Maharashtra and one of the most powerful cabinet ministers who is seen as a contender for India's future prime ministership.