Convergent

Principal Advisor

Jasojit (Josh) has a career of 40 years in research, starting off as a trainee from FMS, Delhi University. He has deep expertise and passion for measurement in market research, evaluation and research methods with which he has been partnering clients.

Josh got his grounding at IMRB Calcutta Office, and then headed different business units at IMRB: Lanka Market Research Bureau, IMRB Calcutta Office, IMRB International Business Unit and finally the entire India Consumer Research business. During this period, he partnered with large corporates like ITC across all its divisions, Pepsi, Coke, Nestle, Tata Consumer Products, Pernod Ricard, GSK, TVS, Airtel, and Maruti. He also developed and managed Kantar’s largest client, British American Tobacco (BAT) giving him recognition as a global leader.

Working out customized research solutions for business problems is what drives him, leading him to head the development of different consumer research methodologies like Tracking, Innovation Testing, Pricing, Segmentation.

Chief Executive Officer

Surya has 26 years of extensive experience in designing and leading various research projects that have been feeding into innovative communication strategies. In the development sector, Surya was leading very successful and large-scale pan-India projects on various sectors including Public Health, Livelihoods, Education, Gender, Social Development, etc. His contributions through his research work include various campaigns in India in the areas of immunization (pulse polio vaccination for UNICEF), family planning, behaviour change communication in HIV/AIDS etc. More recently Surya was leading the research project on vaccine hesitancy in India funded by GAVI for Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

The project, which has a mix of qualitative and ethnographic techniques such as Human Centered Designs, was expected to throw light on the barriers for the behaviour change among parents related to the immunization compliances for their children. Surya also has significantly contributed to the family planning and sanitation campaigns through research projects funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID and Government of India. Surya has extensive experience of also working with various corporate clients such as Pepsi, Nestle, Honda R&D, EID Parry on various research projects that influenced their communication, product and distribution decisions.

Surya worked as MLE head of Safal Shuruat Project funded by GAVI in partnership with Group-M. The project has been a landmark in changing the behaviors related immunization and handwashing in India with innovative research & implementation methods. The role that was played by Surya in terms of designing and implementing actionable research was widely acknowledged by various stakeholders.

Surya has been working with many government organizations and their partners including Government of India (Ministry of HRD, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare) along with development sector organizations like BMGF, Packard Foundation etc. Surya also has played key research and advisory role for clients in the corporate sector (Pepsi, Unilever, Marico, Nestle, Honda R&D and Airtel).

Surya worked with leading multinational organizations like Nielsen and Kantar. He was working as CEO-South Asia at Kantar when he decided to set-up Convergent, his current organization.

Head - DP & Analytics

Hema is proficient in Quantum, Dimensions – IOM/ TOM, SPSS, Excel VBA Macros, C, and C++. She has 17 years of experience in the Market Research industry and has worked on several projects of varying kind. She has been involved in data processing and analysis of projects across Consumer Behaviour, Social sectors, Auto, and Retail. In addition, she has extensive experience of streamlining numerous tracks. She has played a key role in successful conversion of crucial and complicated historical data for dipsticks and tracks from Quantum to Dimensions.

Hema has worked with leading multinational organizations like Nielsen and Kantar prior to joining Convergent. Hema possesses a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM) in Marketing from IMT Ghaziabad.

She has been responsible for generating the resources for punching and its quality; conducting analysis activities and generating tables; and analyzing large data sets using software such as Quantum, Dimensions, IOM/ TOM, Excel VBA Macros, C, C++, FoxPro and social analysis packages such as SPSS for the following key engagements (in the states of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Chandigarh):

Assessment of Government Response to Covid-19 for specific schemes (pan-India covering 18 States) for MicroSave Consulting (MSC) Pvt Ltd
Evaluation of the Antara Program under the National Family Planning Program of Government of India (Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Karnataka) for Ipas Development Foundation (IDF)
Star Rating of Garbage Free Cities under Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (pan-India) for Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India
Coverage Evaluation Survey (CES) 2018 (pan-India covering 36 states/UTs) for UNICEF
India Iodine Survey (IIS) – 2018 (pan-India covering 36 states/UTs) for Nutrition International
Ranking of districts based on performance attained by Districts on Swachh Bharat Mission – Rural (SBM-G) (pan-India covering 34 states/UTs) for MJS-DDWS (Ministry of Jal Shakti- Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation) Government of India
National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS)-SBM (pan-India covering 32 states/UTs) for MJS-DDWS (Ministry of Jal Shakti- Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation) Government of India
Pre-test of Girl Child campaign (TO-9) (Rajasthan and Haryana) for FHI360
Annual Health Survey (AHS)- All Round (Odisha, Rajasthan Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh) for The Office of Registrar General of India

Household Survey to estimate number of out-of-school children in India (3 Rounds) (pan-India covering 36 States/UTs) for Educational Consultants India Limit (EdCIL).

Chief Executive Officer

Venugopal is a Survey Research Operations Management expert with over three decades of experience. He started as an Interviewer and climbed to all India Operations Coordinator with passion in the profession. He started working with MARG (currently Nielsen) and moved to IMRB (Currently Kantar) and worked there for 21 years before moving to current role of National Operations Management advisor in the dynamic start-up ‘Convergent View’.

In his long career he had conceptualized and implemented many operationally challenging projects with complete success and satisfaction to the clients. Few such projects are Pre-Surveillance Survey to IBBS (Integrated Bio-Behavior Surveillance). This study involved in employing about 60 Qual teams covering all the states and UTs of India to conduct about 1200 FGDs and over 2000 IDIs among all the stake holders of the survey in record time of 1 month to facilitate launch of main survey IBBS as per NACO’s plans. He was part of Main survey Operations Management for the larger portion of India which was won by IMRB.

Venugopal has travelled across all the states and UTs in India as part of his role and gathered fair amount of knowledge about the variety of challenges and work culture across the states which helped him planning tailor made Project Implementation strategies to get best quality data within the planned timelines and budgets

As in-charge for South Asia Operations in the latter part of his job with Kantar he had implemented data collection in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. He had also successfully completed few multi country studies across continents.

He is specialist in planning large scale Social, political and Consumer surveys with his proven record of conducting multi lakh sample sized Opinion polls and Health surveys (AHS for ministry of Health GoI). He had implemented large scale Consumer surveys such as General Consumer Survey, National Readership Survey etc. He has managed multiple Vehicle Clinics for popular Car and Two-wheeler brands. He has worked very closely with academicians with top International Universities in providing inputs while designing survey ‘tools’ and ‘methods’ to suit to Indian culture and topography.

In all Venugopal is a versatile Operations management expert with complete exposure with country and multiple subject surveys and had contributed his bit in the industry and continuing.

VP & Head- Public Policy

Dr. Prerna Kumar is a highly reputed Social Marketing and Research global expert in the industry. She has over 20 years of multi-country experience in advisory, strategic and research roles. Prior to joining Convergent View, she was with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) for 6 years in the capacity of Senior Technical Specialist.

She brings extensive expertise in implementation science research, impact measurement, program monitoring and evaluation, policy review, program implementation, social and behavior change communication (SBCC), capacity building, and advocacy with the Government and other stakeholders. In her long career, she has demonstrated exceptional skillsets and experience in MEL practices and programmatic analysis of data for generating insights to inform program design and strategy and program management. She has strong multi-sectoral experience and has led projects across thematic areas – Public Health, Maternal & Child health, Child Rights & Child Protection, HIV, SRHR, Family Planning, Gender & Women’s and Adolescent Girls’ Economic Empowerment.

She has worked across projects and regions in the advisory role and has provided critical inputs at all stages of the program and research to NGO partners, Foundations, International Development agencies and multi-national companies. Throughout her career, she focused on influencing policy and integrating interventions with the government system in India and across South Asia. She created and leveraged platforms for inter-regional and inter-organizational learning and nurtured collaboratives. Her work has been widely published and disseminated globally through international journal articles such as Journal of Youth Development, seminars and international conferences such as Symposium on Adolescent Girls in New York, Grand Challenges Meeting in Ethiopia and ICPD 25+ in Nairobi.

She has worked with organizations like Johns Hopkins University, Center for Communication Programs; BBC Media Action; International Planned Parenthood Federation; Clinton Health Access Initiative; Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development; Ernst and Young; Action Aid; and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

Dr. Kumar comes with a strong background in social work and population studies from JNU and DU. She holds a doctoral degree from TISS supported by London School of Economics. Trained in human research ethics, she is also on the Board of Independent Ethics Committees.

CORE TEAM

Our team brings in enthusiasm and passion to all that we deliver to you

Jasojit Mookherjea
Principal Advisor

Surya AV
Chief Executive Officer

Hema Adhikari
VP- DP & Analytics

Prerna Kumar
VP & Head- Public Policy

Venugopal K
VP & Head- Data Acquisition

Parveen Sharma
Regional Head - Data Acquisition

Prasanna Kumar Sinha
Sr. Manager- DP & Analytics

Vikas Kumar Chaudhary
Technology Lead

Kapil Kumar
Manager- Finance & Admin

Sreevatsa Panigrahi
Sr. Manager- Strategy & Insights

Meghana Akella
Sr. Manager- Strategy & Insights

Milan Sharma
Sr. Manager- Strategy & Insights

CORE TEAM

Our team brings in enthusiasm and passion to all that we deliver to you

Jasojit Mookherjea Principal Advisor

Surya AV Chief Executive Officer

Hema Adhikari VP- DP & Analytics

Prerna Kumar VP & Head- Public Policy

Venugopal K VP & Head- Data Acquisition

Parveen Sharma Regional Head - Data Acquisition

Prasanna Kumar Sinha Sr. Manager- DP & Analytics

Vikas Kumar Chaudhary Technology Lead

Kapil Kumar Manager- Finance & Admin

Sreevatsa Panigrahi Sr. Manager- Strategy & Insights

Meghana Akella Sr. Manager- Strategy & Insights

Milan Sharma Sr. Manager- Strategy & Insights