David Folk, Managing Partner

David is a passionate serial entrepreneur, venture capital investor and philanthropist. He co-founded two venture capital firms since he began his career in 1984 and backed over 50 entrepreneurial companies throughout North America with over $500 million in capital.

David is a founding member of the Task Force on Competitiveness and Prosperity (2001-2016) and past Chair of Kids Help Phone, one of Canada’s leading charities (1997-2000). He has been a director, advisor, strategist and coach for dozens of successful public and private companies. He is also the co-founder and CEO of NEXT Integrative Minds Life Sciences, a company that provides adaptive solutions to interpersonal problems using breakthrough technologies in neuroscience and human dynamics.

Richard S. Garnick, Managing Partner

Entrepreneur, leader, innovator and change agent, Richard currently serves on numerous company Boards and is an advisor to numerous private companies and private equity firms.

Previously, Richard was responsible for leading and building Wipro Technologies (NYSE–WIT) as Chief Executive, Americas & Global Business lines. During his tenure, Wipro went from a slow growth middle of the pack global services provider to one of India’s top 4 Global IT/Business Services companies. Mr. Garnick has been widely recognized as a key architect in changing Wipro’s go-to-market and delivery of an array of new business lines. The company grew at a CAGR of over 75% during this period from $140M/year to over $3B/year, while the organization grew from 4,500 employees to over 75,000. Market Capitalization grew from $2B to over $22B during the period.

As founder of The ConJoin Group, Richard architected the acquisition of the privately held PHNS, a leading independent healthcare provider in US for over $250M in partnership with Global Private Equity firm Actis Capital. The Actis transaction included the purchase of the ConJoin offshore operation which demonstrated the value of the BOT model. Richard also brings experience from 20+ years in various leadership roles at leading technology companies Texas Instruments (NYSE – TXN), Arrow Electronics (NYSE- ARW) and Avnet (NYSE- AVT).

Rich and David have worked closely together since 2007 on the board of Avotus, the acquisition of PHNS, and numerous other transactions.

Jayraj Chheda, CEO

Jayraj is responsible for strategic direction and driving operational excellence of Avotus Corporation. He also acts as the Chief Financial Officer of the company. He has been working with Avotus for over 8 years.

He is a certified Chartered Accountant from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has over 18 years of experience in operations, global finance and accounting, transition of accounting and financial processes, helping enterprises improve profitability, customer satisfaction, and competitive advantage in a broad range of markets including telecommunications, manufacturing, accounting and capital markets.

Prior to joining Avotus in 2009, Jayraj worked for State Street Syntel Sourcing Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of the world’s second largest custodian State Street Bank, and was managing assets under management of over $100 billion for US-based pension funds. He also worked for RSM McGladrey FPO India, one of the largest accounting firms in USA and several other organizations in various roles.