When the infrastructure is built right, a contract is structured well, housing is affordable, and public services actually reach people, millions of lives improve quietly and permanently. Turning capital and ambition into infrastructure that lasts has driven every decision across my career.
As a teenager, I experienced a devastating earthquake in my home state of Gujarat on 26th January 2001, which left thousands dead and millions of houses cracked. That experience shaped my journey and helped me find my “why”.
I began as a civil engineer from Gujarat, with a B.E. from SVIT Vasad (Gujarat University) and won two gold medals for my M.Tech in Infrastructure Engineering & Management at CEPT University. My first decade was spent building and procuring real infrastructure. For 5+ years at GIFT City, India's first operational smart city and only IFSC, I ran procurement and contracts for everything from utility tunnels and a power substation to the city command center, on EPC and design-build contracts, managing a budget of roughly INR 1,200 crore (~US$141 million)*. Then a year as Chief Minister's Good Governance Fellow in Chhattisgarh, inside the state's urban administration.
The second act moved to the other side of the table. At EY, I rose from Senior Associate to Vice President, structuring a $400M housing finance model adopted into India's PMAY 2.0 National Mission Guidelines, raising institutional lending to financial close, and running FIDIC-based programs that transformed services for seven million citizens. At Deloitte, as Director, I delivered the feasibility study behind India's winning Commonwealth Games 2030 bid and led engagements across transport, road safety, and sanitation.
In July 2025 I took a sabbatical to join the Harvard Kennedy School as an Edward S. Mason Fellow, completing my MPA in 2026 with coursework spanning HKS, Harvard Law School, and MIT, including a Certificate in Management, Leadership and Decision Sciences. Alongside my studies, I worked as a Research Assistant at the Bloomberg Center for Cities, researching how AI and data science can make public administration faster, fairer, and more accountable. I was honored to deliver a speech at HKS Class Day 2026, the first person from my community, school, and colleges to reach that stage.
What makes my view unusual is dual fluency across two axes. Builder and adviser: I have procured and contracted infrastructure myself, and I have advised the governments and owners who commission it. Capital and delivery: I can structure the finance and close the transaction, then manage the contracts that turn it into an asset on the ground. I bring both to every room I am in.
Embedded delivery-unit advisor to the Office of the Mayor of Las Vegas on its multi-agency Downtown Homelessness Initiative; developing an AI-enabled delivery dashboard for live visibility into outcomes, risks, and bottlenecks.
Own business development, revenue delivery, and a 40-member advisory practice spanning urban, transport, and sports infrastructure, expanded into two new markets. Engagements: CWG 2030 feasibility, State Road Safety Authority, State Road Transport Corporation's Vision 2047 with P3 project development, Clean India Mission (Swachh Bharat) Technical Support Unit.
Applied research on GenAI deployment across US municipal governance; produced strategic frameworks adopted by city decision-makers.
Coursework across HKS, Harvard Law School, and MIT. HKS Class Day 2026 speaker.
Built the infrastructure advisory practice in a new market from inception, generating $10M+ in advisory sales. Structured the $400M Affordable Housing finance model to financial close; originated a state's first-ever Asian Development Bank engagement in the urban sector, securing a technical assistance grant and an MoU for long-term concessional financing; ran FIDIC-based programs serving 7M citizens; nearly doubled engagement margins and expanded the mandate sixfold; mentored nine team members through postgraduate degrees.
Designed statewide procurement governance across 168 urban local bodies, governing roughly $500 million in annual public expenditure. Nidaan-1100 citizen grievance system, statewide e-Governance, affordable-housing tenders worth INR 1,242 crore (~US$146 million)* for 26,725 units, model RFP for PPP housing, draft Slum Rehabilitation Policy.
Delivered a $200M+ capital portfolio for India's first smart city and only IFSC: utility tunnels, substation and PPA, water and power infrastructure, district cooling, Tier-4 data center and command center. EPC, design-build and FIDIC-based procurement, on roughly INR 1,200 crore (~US$141 million)* of annual budget, with zero disputes and zero litigation losses across 500+ contracts.
Municipal advisory, Sabarmati Riverfront infrastructure design, and QA/QC on one of India's largest steel plant sites.
* USD figures are indicative conversions at ₹85 = US$1.
Formal training across infrastructure engineering, procurement and contracts, infrastructure finance and PPP, public administration, and emerging technology, with a habit of continuous learning: 40+ professional certifications over the last decade.
I was honored to be chosen to deliver a speech at Harvard Kennedy School Class Day 2026, the first person from my community, school, and colleges to reach that stage.
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“The distance between where you are and where you dream to be is achievable.”HKS Class Day 2026 · the first speaker from my community, school, and colleges to reach that stage