Udday Kumar Krishnan - Managing Director An MBA in Marketing from Pennsylvania, USA, Udday Kumar Krishnan worked as the sales & marketing manager for a hotel group in California and was in charge of coordinating all the functions of the marketing department there. He has also worked as assistant manager of marketing in the rooms division of a popular hotel. His work profile put him in charge of a team of ten sales assistants with the aim of marketing rooms, food & beverage outlets and banquets of the hotel. It also involved promoting tours, special packages and also promotional advertising & brand building across media. This 2 year experience armed him with an in depth market knowledge and brand acumen. His goodwill and expertise has been recognized by his peers, leading to an affiliation with the American Marketing Association. At Auromatrix, he is actively involved with all the Aloft Hotel projects apart from handling other responsibilities.

S. Rajasekaran - Director A postgraduate in Business, he has an experience of over 20 years in the field of Interior Designing. Rajasekaran has handled prestigious projects, predominantly in the hotel industry, in the USA, UK & India. His association with Auromatrix has added great value to the design, development and project execution aspect of various hotel projects. He specializes in deft co-ordination between architects, designers and the final execution team. He continues to handle these aspects with finesse, apart from overseeing the sourcing and installation of fit outs.

S. Radhakrishnan - Director S. Radhakrishnan‘s academic credentials include an MBA from Nevada, USA, in Management Information Systems; a Diploma in Business Communication & Management from Madras Christian College in India; a Certificate of Achievement in Credit & Financial Analysis from Dun & Bradstreet, New York, USA and several certification courses in Software Development and Networking. Starting his career with Auromatrix, today he heads the MIS functions of the entire organization. He was responsible for planning and implementing India’s first automated hotel room-reservation referral system – HotLink (Hotel Link). Using a dial-up private email network, he developed an intra office electronic mail, an on-line communication system and a comprehensive computerised reservation system as early as 1991. To ensure smooth flow of work and to maintain productivity, Auromatrix strictly adheres to compliance norms, both internal and external. Radhakrishnan’s multi-capability is attested by being at the helm of this sensitive profile, with the responsibility of maintaining project and management compliances, relating to various hotels executed and managed by the Auromatrix team. He also heads the team, which sources the various land sites up to closing and co-ordinates with the teams that execute the various Due diligences. He contributes in various other aspects like customer & corporate relations, research and analysis, budgeting, technical problem solving, policy and procedure implementation, recruitment & training, administration of corporate & branch offices, maintaining hotel MIS operations and the implementation & customization of hotel management systems.

Sushil K. Sharma - Director Sushil K. Sharma, an MBA from IIM, Bangalore is a Chartered Accountant with over 18 years of experience in the field of Asset Management, Private / Corporate & Retail Banking, General Management and Insurance. He was previously with ING Vysya as the Chief Marketing Officer and also with BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, and in the venture capital industry.

H. Srinivasan - Senior Vice President - Finance/Company Secretary  H. Srinivasan, an associate member in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and an Associate Member of the Institute of Company Secretary of India, he has worked with leading infrastructure companies, publications and pharmaceutical companies in various capacities with rich exposure in secretarial, legal, finance, accounts and taxation.

Bala Kamallakharan - Director Bala Kamallakharan is one of the founding partners at Auro Investment Partners LLC, which was established to invest in the development of the hospitality sector in the United States of America. Before founding AIP, Bala Kamallakharan was part of the M & A team that built a Nordic Investment bank for Glitnir, deploying $750 million in capital. His team was responsible for developing the international strategy of Glitnir and also establishing Glitnir’s capital market and asset management presence in the Nordics through acquisition in Sweden, Norway and Finland. As a part of the Strategic Growth team, Bala Kamallakharan played many leadership roles; he was the integration manager to integrate Glitnir and FIM, after being part of the acquisition team. Bala led the project to investigate and develop the Indian market for Glitnir and in continuation of that role he was appointed the Head of India for Glitnir’s operations. Prior to joining Glitnir, Bala Kamallakharan was a Manager in Cap Gemini in the US, formerly Ernst & Young Management Consulting. He worked with Cap Gemini for 7 years in strategy development and deployment of projects for Fortune 500 companies like Swiss Re, Williams Gas Pipeline, HP, Toyota and GMAC. Bala Kamallakharan's academic credentials include a management degree from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, a Masters degree in Economics and another Masters degree in Information Systems & Decision Science from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA. Recently, Bala Kamallakharan has been accepted into the University of Iceland’s PhD program in Economics in fall 2009. His area of focus will be on Risk Management, Uncertainty and Randomness.

Sonny M. Khalil - Director Sonny M Khalil brings with him 16 years of experience in the Real Estate industry. Sonny was Chief Financial Officer of a property management company where he helped restructure $350 million in debt capital and raise equity capital. In addition, he was part of the due diligence team that acquired several types of real estate for the company. He has worked for three top Chicago real estate companies like Sudler and Company (now owned by Sotheby’s Residential) in the field of Finance and Accounting. Presently, apart from fully devoting his time to further the group’s efforts to form a private equity fund and acquire hospitality properties, he is the Founder and President of First Real Estate Co. (FRE), LLC, an Illinois company, which has real estate ownership in U.S, U.A.E and India. Before he emigrated to the U.S, Sonny earned a Masters degree in Commerce from the Osmania University, Hyderabad and successfully completed the intermediate exam for the Indian CPA, Chartered Accountants. He added value to these accomplishments by gaining a Masters in Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Management (Chicago) and a certification in a course specializing in “Hotel Real Estate Investments and Asset management” from Cornell University. Even today, he continues to enhance his knowledge by pursuing other certifications and accreditations.

Kadir Andavan - Director - Food & Beverage Kadir Andavan passed out of the Institute of Hotel Management in Chennai with a Diploma in Hotel Management & Catering Technology in 1982 and after a year’s training at the Oberoi’s School of Management in Delhi, he joined the Taj Coromandel Hotel in Chennai, rising to become a Sous Chef, in charge of the flight catering operations. During the 3.5 years at the Taj he had the opportunity to oversee and handle VIP movements such as that of the Queen of England, the President and the Prime Minister of India. Kadir Andavan's career highlight was his 15 year tenure as a Personal Chef for the Ruler of Dubai. Kadir joined HH Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum at the royal palaces in the UK, in 1987. During the 15 years that he was with HH, he travelled the globe and was in charge of the kitchens based in the UK, USA, Europe and Africa. Catering to a wide section of distinguished international guests of HH and to be able to meet them, provided both a challenge as well as an honour. This extensive international exposure has made him one of the most coveted chefs across the globe. With Auromatrix since 2006, he has been involved in various new hotel and resort projects. Currently, Kadir Andavan is the Director - Food and Beverage for Auromatrix Hotels and has been fully involved with the all its entities. He has been instrumental in the planning and implementation of the various kitchens, restaurants, bars and banquets as well as procurement of the allied requisites such as crockery, cutlery etc. Menu planning for the various outlets, staff selection and training also fall within his scope.