Company

As the founder of Milestone Technologies, Inc., Prem Chand served as CEO for 20 years. Rooted in Chico, CA, Prem grew up on his family’s walnut farm, handling machinery and managing operations from an early age. Eventually, Prem decided to venture from his hometown and migrate to the Bay Area to explore new prospects of a career in technology.

Prem began his career in IT at a logistics firm, High-Tech Logistics (HTL), where he served as General Manager, Vice President, and CFO. During his time at HTL, Prem drove organizational development through sales and operations, helping the business grow to eight times its original size. In his various roles, Prem was responsible for advancing client acquisitions and building robust delivery models, including financial planning and budget analysis.

From his experience with infrastructure and relocations at HTL, Prem was inspired to create a business model for an IT company that provided relocation services to Silicon Valley businesses. He invested all of his personal resources —$250,000 — into founding Milestone Technologies Inc. Starting as a company of two people, Milestone was able to achieve profitability by the end of its first year and grow at an astonishing rate of 927 percent within the first three years.

Since then, Prem has cultivated a company of over 1,800 employees worldwide by building upon a vision and culture of innovation, opportunity, and client success. His leadership is exemplified through his achievement as a semifinalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, as well as his recognition as “2012 Entrepreneur of the Year” by the North State Innovation Awards committee for his commitment to supporting economic growth and technology development in Northern California. Through his passion and unwavering commitment to quality, Prem continues to lead Milestone into the future of IT.

Sameer Kishore is the President & Chief Executive Officer at Milestone Technologies, a leading IT managed services provider, that uses technology intelligently to make IT Infrastructure smarter, streamlined and more successful.

Sameer is an accomplished business leader with more than 28 years of experience of driving exponential growth in the IT Services sector and leading business transformation.

Throughout his career, he has built global businesses and led many transformation initiatives. As a customer-focused and performance-driven leader, Sameer believes in personally establishing and nurturing key business relationships and has built global cross-functional teams that have exceeded corporate and business objectives. Sameer is a well-traveled professional, and has led and worked with diverse nationalities, backgrounds and cultures, and integrated them into one global team.

Sameer joins Milestone from IBM where he was the General Manager responsible for driving growth in the Financial Services market within the Global Technology Services business in North America. At IBM, he led teams across cloud, security, data center and other infrastructure services and drove strong transformation of business results which saw much improved revenues and profitability, higher customer NPS and increased employee engagement.

Prior to IBM, Sameer spent six years at Dell Services / NTT Data Services where he was President for their global financial services business and had P&L responsibility across cloud, infrastructure, digital, applications and business process services. Under Sameer’s leadership the business saw unprecedented growth and transformation from a provider of IT Services to a highly profitable, digital-led, outsourcing business. Sameer was also a part of the Dell Services executive management team which worked on divesting the services business to NTT Data.

Before Dell Services / NTT Data Services, Sameer spent nineteen years at Wipro Technologies where, among other things, he was part of the team that started the global Financial Services business and later the business technology services unit. In his last role at Wipro, Sameer served as President and Member of the Board at Infocrossing, an infrastructure services company that Wipro acquired in 2007. He is credited with Infocrossing’s metamorphosis from a fledgling provider of SME-centric data center services to a profitable, Global 1000-focused, outsourcing business.

Sameer holds a bachelor’s degree in math and statistics and a masters in management studies from leading universities in India.

Doug Tracy is Milestone’s Chief Operating Officer. With 30 years of executive experience, Doug has successfully led IT operations at several Fortune 500 global companies, including Computer Sciences Corporation, Dana Corporation, and Rolls-Royce North America. Doug has a proven track record of driving strategic change to build successful businesses in the technology, life sciences, financial services, health care, manufacturing, aerospace, and transportation industries.

In his role as Vice President and CIO of Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), a 71,000 employee, $14 billion IT and professional services firm operating in over 70 countries, Doug led a dramatic transformation of internal IT functions that focused on driving business development and supporting global operating models. During his time there, he implemented a robust cybersecurity infrastructure and led a refresh program for organization-wide applications, while managing high-value global alliance relationships as an executive sponsor.

Most recently, Doug served as President of Xform Digital, LLC., where he provided management consulting, IT leadership, and board advisory services to global firms. In this role, Doug was responsible for guiding sales and marketing strategy and driving business development for a cybersecurity startup, NormShield, and a global IT service desk product company, Wolken Software, Inc. During his time there, Doug also served as interim CIO for $1 billion global medical devices firm, Ascensia, throughout the duration of its separation from Bayer, establishing a new IT strategy that reduced operational costs by >15 percent while improving business efficiency.

As Chief Operating Officer, Doug is responsible for Milestone’s service delivery, technology and service strategy, partnerships and alliances, and internal IT operations. As part of this role, he is introducing new approaches to enhance Milestone’s services, such as automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning technologies.

Doug has served as an Officer in the United States Air Force and holds an MS in Software Development and Management from Rochester Institute of Technology, an MBA with Honors from Duke University, and a BS in Electrical Engineering with Distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy.

Arjun Nagar is Milestone’s Chief Revenue Officer. As CRO, Arjun is responsible for the strategy, alignment, and performance of all our Go to Market activities. Arjun is an accomplished business leader with more than 20 years of experience in driving business growth and transformation in the Information and Managed Services sector.

Throughout his career, he has helped shape and build global businesses and lead sales, product and marketing teams to help customers in their digital and cost transformation journey. As a customer-focused and data driven leader, Arjun believes in personally establishing and nurturing trusted business relationships to deliver business outcomes. Arjun has extensive international experience having lived and worked in the US, EMEA and APAC and had the privilege of leading and managing cross functional teams with diverse backgrounds and cultures.

He joins Milestone from IBM, where he was the Head of US Sales for the Financial Services sector within their Infrastructure and Cloud business. In that role, he led solutions across Cloud, Workplace Services, Data Center, and other infrastructure services. He drove strong transformation of the business leading to improved sales and increased customer and employee engagement.

Prior to IBM, Arjun spent 15+ years at Thomson Reuters, where he led Enterprise Information business for the financial services sector across the US, EMEA, and APAC. Arjun holds an MBA from Loyola University Chicago.

Anish Shah serves as Milestone’s Chief Financial Officer. With over 15 years of experience in Corporate Finance & Accounting, Anish has held a variety of leadership roles with strategic and operational responsibility for global companies including SunPower Corporation, SunEdison, KPMG and building venture backed start-up companies such as EchoFirst (acquired by SunEdison) and Nexant.

With specialized skills in financial planning, execution, and cost-profit analysis; capital planning and cash management; accounting and financial operations; and ERP implementation, Anish began his career with KPMG in 2003 as a Manager/Senior Associate in Risk Advisory Services practice, where Anish managed various projects around financial controls & processes for mid- to large-sized information and technology companies. Anish joined SunPower Corporation in 2006 and was responsible for Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis and later Controller for a $1B Residential & Commercial Business P&L.

After SunPower, Anish served as Vice President of Finance for EchoFirst, a venture backed solar start-up, which was acquired by SunEdison. Following EchoFirst’s acquisition, Anish continued with SunEdison for integration and later became the Chief Financial Officer for SunEdison’s Asia Pacific Region driving initiatives from streamlining joint ventures, project acquisitions, integrations and project capital planning of ~$750M.

Prior to joining Milestone, Anish served as the Chief Financial Officer at Nexant, Inc., a venture-backed energy consulting and services company based out of San Francisco, California. During his tenure at Nexant, he led a transformational restructuring that created a lucrative company, driving a $5M EBITDA increase and improving working capital by over 30 percent year-over-year.

Anish holds a Master’s Degree in Finance with Honors from Santa Clara University and earned his Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting & Economics from the University of Mumbai. Anish is also a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Arlene LaBorde is Milestone’s Chief People Officer and is responsible for leading the Human Resources team while also overseeing all employee programs as well as HR operations internationally. A leader in Human Resources with expertise in thoroughly understanding business needs and priorities, designing programs that fit company culture, and ensuring that recruiting practices function at peak efficiency, Arlene holds over two decades of varied experience through working with international companies of all sizes.

Beginning her expansive career at DHL Airways as an HRIS Manager and later at Documentum/EMC, Arlene joined JD Edwards as a Senior Systems Consultant in 2005. There, she implemented applications for HCM, payroll, and time accounting, as well as a self-service time entry system. Most recently, she assumed the role of Chief Human Resources Officer at MobiTV, Inc. after holding the position of Director of Human Resources. Through her guidance, MobiTV saw a 20 percent increase in their workforce, with significant future growth anticipated, and reduced systems costs by over 50 percent by changing cloud-based application systems.

Arlene graduated magna cum laude from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Relations, and received an Associate of Science in Travel Administration from Bay Path Junior College. She is also currently an instructor at San Francisco State University’s College of Extended Learning and teaches in the Professional Certificate in Human Resources Program.

Bala Ramakrishna is the Chief Technology Officer at Milestone. Responsible for discovering and implementing new technologies that help create and harness a competitive advantage for both Milestone and its customers, Bala is an expert in creating robust and differentiated service offerings that have the power to add value to Milestone’s customers.

With over 20 years of experience in the manufacturing and technology industry, Bala is well versed in architecting and implementing solutions for customers. Before joining Milestone, he was first a Client Engagement Manager at Wipro, a leading global information technology, consulting, and business process services company, and would later become General Manager and Chief Solution Architect.

In that role, Bala built, sold, and executed solutions that were related to new and emerging technologies and focused on manufacturing, technology, and startup companies. He was also responsible for collaborating with startup companies that have market capitalization of $1 billion, adding value to them by implementing Wipro services. Bala ensured customer success through delivering superior solutions and services while also measuring metrics in order to retain existing customers, working to create success for each and every customer.

Bala holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Computer Science from CMC Limited and a Master’s Degree in Manufacturing Management from S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research. He also has a background in Financial Technology through his time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Olivier Crene serves as Milestone’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Customer Experience and Infrastructure Services. He has full P&L and operational responsibility for Milestone’s Core Business which includes Data Center, Service Desk, Contact Center, ALM, End User Device Management, AV/VC, Security and Network related services. Carrying over two decades of extensive experience in the Information Technology Sector, Olivier is a leader whose expertise lies in managing client accounts and Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) Outsourcing Services.

Prior to joining the Milestone team, Olivier gained experience as a Software Developer, System & Network Engineer, and Architect for such companies as EDS, Nortel Networks and Atos before moving into pre-sales. There, he leveraged key partnerships with large technology companies like Microsoft or Cisco to on-board new clients. Olivier later joined Deutsche Telecom and its French outsourcing enterprise entity T-Systems France, to create a complete Service Desk and Desktop Operations Service for a leading Aeronautic, Defence and Space Company, and eventually accepted the role of Board Member / Vice President ICT Operations.

Most recently, Olivier assumed the position of Vice President of International Accounts and Service Management at T-Systems International. Specializing in global oversight of long-running multi-million-dollar ICT outsourcing contracts, he led up to 15 countries and 400 associated Service Delivery Managers and Account Managers across the Americas, APAC and Europe towards managing over 1,600 existing contracts that ranged from $100K to $70 million. Through Olivier’s leadership customer satisfaction scores and revenue increased significantly.

Olivier holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science and Electronics from Paris’ ESME Sudria Engineering School, for which he is currently a mentor. He is also a Board Advisor and investor for the Chicago-based startup company Solaroid, Inc., a pioneer in drone technologies and aerial surveys.

Natalie Heroux serves as Vice President and General Manager of Professional Services, a newly created role that represents Milestone’s continuing investment in its ability to grow with and serve its global customers. Natalie is the executive responsible for overseeing the launch, growth, and operations of multiple professional services offerings, including Transition and Transformation Services, Milestone’s new “Analytics as a Service” offering, and Milestone’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Automation Center of Excellence, which deploys the company’s machine learning and cognitive technology capabilities.

Natalie brings over 20 years of experience in the IT Services industry to Milestone. Prior to joining Milestone Technologies, Natalie developed a broad and diverse skillset as an executive running $1B+ businesses within global system integrators, such as ATOS, IBM, in both its Global Technology Services (GTS) and Global Business Services (GBS) Divisions, and Unisys.

Natalie holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science specializing in Artificial Intelligence from Michigan State University and a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering specializing in CAD & PCB Systems Design from The National University of Ukraine. She is a Project Management Professional (PMP) with her Master’s Certification from George Washington University.

Nadia Dessouki serves as our Vice President of Sales for our Technical Staffing and Managed Services business. She brings an exceptional focus developed over nine years of experience in the IT services industry. Nadia is responsible for optimizing Milestone’s initiatives in staff augmentation and managed services by expanding Milestone’s footprint amongst their current and future key accounts.

Prior to joining the Milestone team, Nadia worked for Advantis Global, a significant player in technical staffing based in the Silicon Valley. There, she grew through the ranks quickly, eventually spearheading the highest producing office for the company at a national level. Nadia later joined Standav Corp. where she led both Sales and Recruiting teams on a global scale. Similar to Advantis, Nadia had to start the journey of building a new service offering for Standav Corp. from scratch leading to an extraordinary preferred vendor status at key accounts including some of the leading names in the technology industry.

Nadia is a bay area native and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Marketing from San Francisco State University.