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Ajay Rajendran is the Founder and Chairman of Meraki Group. Under his leadership the Group started its operations in the UAE in 2005. In his capacity as Chairman, Ajay has helped shape the Group’s growth in the UAE and Singapore.
He is the Chairman of the Education business leading the three schools’ education portfolio – North London Collegiate School Dubai, North London Collegiate School Singapore and Hartland International School. He leads a team of more than 900+ staff in the education business with around 5,500+ students across the three schools.
He also acts as Chairman for mid income residential real estate businesses as well as contracting businesses in Dubai. The real estate project has been very well received with exquisite quality and finishing and is fully sold. Ajay is known for incisive industry analysis and team-building skills ensuring the Group projects throughout the region are delivered to the highest quality standards.
His experience in the entire spectrum of real estate, construction, facilities management, education operations, and business strategy and planning while keeping ‘customer’ at the centre of everything has led to setting up one of the top premium IB schools in Dubai and Singapore.
Ajay is a gold medalist in Chemical Engineering from M.S University Baroda and holds a post-graduate degree in Business Administration from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, University of Mumbai.
Bernard J. West has two decades of experience building investor-backed education businesses across developed and frontier markets in Asia, Africa and America. His work in the sector spans K-12 education, post-secondary training and online learning. Currently, he is an advisor to Meraki Education.
Bernard served as the founding CEO of Tadrees Education Holding in KSA, a K-12 education platform sponsored by the Safanad and NCB. He grew the school platform to serve more than 12,000 students in less than 5 years. Bernard’s previous work includes managing and advising several leading education companies, school acquisitions and public/private partnerships.
Bernard West is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and of Howard University.
Rohan Bhaskar leads the Investments and Strategy department for Meraki Group. He has over 15 years of commercial experience, primarily in real estate and education, including acquisitions, development management, capital raising, fund management and financial operations.
Rohan has closed transactions both internationally and in the GCC region worth more than AED 3.7bn (including UAE, UK, US, Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain and Singapore). He has led several sale and leaseback funding transactions for K-12 schools in the region and has been involved in both debt and equity capital initiatives.
Prior to Meraki Group, Rohan spent close to a decade in the region working at investment banking units in Qatar and Bahrain, and has also worked in India at PricewaterhouseCoopers and PepsiCo.
Rohan holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from S.V. Regional Engineering College, Surat, and holds a post graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, he is also a Chartered Financial analyst (CFA).
Vinod Nambiar is the Chief Financial Officer & Director and has been with the Group since inception. He oversees the Treasury and Finance functions for the real estate and related businesses of the Group. A seasoned finance professional, he has over 27 years of experience spread across various industries including Manufacturing, Power T&D, Treasury & Investment Banking, Real Estate, Education, Contracting and Wealth Management.
Prior to joining Meraki Group, Vinod worked in the region with the Sobha Group in UAE and Bank Muscat in Oman. Before moving to the region, he worked with ABB in India.
Vinod holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Madras. He is an Associate Member (AMCT) of the Association of Corporate Treasurers, UK, an Associate Member (ACA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and an Associate Member (Grad CWA) of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India.
Rohan Raj was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Meraki Integrated Contracting LLC in September 2018. He is a Chartered Civil Engineer and holds an MBA from London Business School in England, UK
He has 25+ years of Senior Management Experience in running companies successfully in the Construction and Structural Steel Sectors in the GCC (based in Dubai), CIS, US, UK , India, South-East Asia (based in Singapore/Malaysia) and Australia. He has vast experience in the Design and Build/Turnkey Projects for High Rise Buildings, Stadiums, Power Plants, Industrial Plants, Bridges and Offshore Processing Platforms
Prior to joining us, he was with Eversendai Corporation Berhard for a period of 15 years and his last position was as their CEO/Director. During his tenure, he led and oversaw the Public Listing of the Company at the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Stock Exchange and was responsible for establishment of their six Fabrication Facilities strategically located in the Middle East, India and Malaysia/South East Asia with an annual fabrication capacity in excess of 150,000 tonnes
He also worked with Kvaerner Cleveland Bridge for a period of 12 years in various countries and his last position was as their Managing Director of Indian Operations covering South Asia and as Director of Malaysian operations covering South-East Asia
Mr. Shahnawaz is a highly experienced professional with over 27 years of experience in the construction industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Shivaji University in India, as well as several other certificates related to project planning and business administration.
Mr. Shahnawaz began his career in civil works, where he worked as a Concrete Mix Designer and Management Engineer. He then moved on to the aluminium and glazing industry, where he has spent the last 24 years working in various roles from Site Engineer to Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Executive Officer.
Throughout his career, Mr. Shahnawaz has been involved in several projects in the Middle East, including in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. He joined Meraki Façade and Glazing Systems in 2015 as CEO for the company’s Glazing Division and has since been involved in operations and business management for both in-house and external projects.
