Sanjay Adlakha

Sanjay is a seasoned professional with almost 14 years of experience in the industry and academia. He has worked in the areas of Equity Research, Portfolio Management and Client Servicing in the financial services sector. Prior to founding ZIFI, Sanjay was part of the finance faculty at IBS Bhubaneswar, where he taught Accounting, Financial Management, Investment Banking & Financial Services, and Financial Risk Management. He has also worked with companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and Transparent Value. Apart from academic responsibilities Sanjay is actively involved in building corporate relations and developing industrial tie-ups for corporate training and management consulting. He holds an MBA (Finance) from the ICFAI University and a B.E (Mechanical) form Utkal University. Sanjay is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from ICFAI.

E. Phanendra

Phanendra has 6 years of experience in investment research (both in credit & equity) and 2 years of experience in teaching. Prior to ZIFI, he worked as a Senior Associate at Adventity Research, Mumbai. He was responsible to conduct credit research on Investment Grade Bonds for a U.S. based hedge fund. He has done extensive research on various sectors such as Banks, Oil and Gas, and Utilities. Prior to Adventity, he worked at Trasparent Value, Mumbai as a Manager. He also undertakes visiting assignments in premier B-Schools of Bhubaneswar. He has completed MBA from IBS, Hyderabad. He is Level II CFA candidate

Bishnupada Patanaik

Bishnu has been associated with the Investment Research Outsourcing (IRO) industry since its nascent stages. He has seamlessly worked for close to eight years in credit and equity research, both on the buy- and sell-side. He has managed clients ranging from multi-strategy hedge funds to bulge bracket investment banks, set up research teams, and trained and mentored research analysts. At ZIFI, Bishnu looks after Corporate Strategy, Industry Interface, and Content Development. Prior to ZIFI, he headed the buy-side research practice at Sutherland (formerly, ‘Adventity’), where he was instrumental in setting up one of the strongest credit research teams in the IRO industry, members of which now form the core offshore credit research and strategy teams at global investment banks. Bishnu has also worked with companies such as Transparent Value and Zacks Investment Research. He holds a Master’s Degree in Finance from ICFAI University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from Ravenshaw College.

Sharmistha Panda

Sharmistha, currently the Centre Head, NASSCOM Foundation, Bhubaneswar holds responsibility for empowering skills to the youths in rural and semi-urban Orissa towards a better livelihood. Prior to joining Nasscom Foundation, she was associated with Don Bosco Tech, an organization with similar role in the society. She had also been with institutes like MIET school of Business management and ICFAI Business School,Gurgaon handling finance classes along with mentoring students for placements. She also has been the financial advisor to The Globe Trotters Unlimited, an organization promoting the Orissa handicrafts and handlooms. At ZIFI, she trains students on communication, leadership development and personality development.

Sarmistra is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from ICFAI. She also holds Masters Diploma in Computer Applications (MDCA) from ISM, Hyderabad. She has done her Bachelor in Commerce from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar.