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Soumya Rajan
Founder and CEO
Soumya is the founder and CEO of Waterfield Advisors, which is the largest multi-family office and wealth advisory firm in India. With over 25 years of experience in private banking and wealth advisory, Soumya commenced her career at ANZ Grindlays Bank, which later became Standard Chartered Bank. She worked for 17 years with the Bank in both India and Singapore, with her last role being the head of the Private Banking division of Standard Chartered in India. In 2011, she established Waterfield Advisors.
As one of the earliest advocates of fee-only investment advisory in India, Soumya founded Waterfield on the principles of an alignment of interests with clients in the wealth advisory space. Today, Waterfield advises on financial assets exceeding $4 billion on behalf of India's leading and some of the most iconic business families. She also provides guidance to these families on non-investment issues such as succession planning, corporate and family governance, business strategy, and philanthropy. Soumya's leadership has contributed to Waterfield's reputation as one of India's largest and most-awarded wealth management firms.
In recognition of her contributions to the wealth management industry and as an entrepreneur, Soumya has received several awards and honours. She was awarded Woman Entrepreneur of the Year (Finance Category) by Financial Express in 2023, listed in Forbes India's Most Powerful Women’s List in 2021, won the Private Banker International's Outstanding Private Banker (Asia Pacific) award in 2021 and served on the global jury of the Euromoney Global Private Banking Awards in 2023.
Soumya is a member of the Advisory Committee of BASL, the regulatory and supervisory body for Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) in India and serves as a Board member of several non-profit organizations in the education and healthcare sectors. She was awarded the Radhakrishnan Scholarship to study at Oxford University, UK, where she earned her Masters in Mathematics, in addition to holding a B.A (Hons) in Mathematics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi.
Education- Masters in Mathematics, Oxford University
Expertise- UHNI Advisory
- Fund Raising
- Entrepreneurship
- Asset Allocation
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Kartik Kini
Chief Operating Officer & Brand Custodian
With over 25 years of experience, Kartik has worked with some of the largest financial services firms including Avendus, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch, India. Kartik brings with him a robust operational background and has enhanced the firm’s operating model by leading the process and technological changes.
Education- Certified Chartered Accountant, ICAI
Expertise- Operations
- Digital Transformation
- Talent Acquisition
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Sharad Mendon
Senior Managing Director, Origination & Client Coverage
Over 23 years of experience at some of the reputed financial services firm such as ABN AMRO Bank, Birla Sun Life and Religare Macquarie Private Wealth. In his diverse roles across these wealth management platforms he has led product, advisory and business development teams. His all-round experience of product and relationship management helps in sharing a very unique perspective with several of Waterfield’s key clients in the West and South India. Sharad specialises in collaborating with key partners and the various stakeholders to structure portfolio solutions for clients.
Education- Bachelor of Commerce, University of Mumbai
Expertise- UHNW Advisory
- Investment Outlook
- Client Relations
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Nakul Beri
Senior Managing Director, Global Client Origination & Coverage
With over 26 years of substantive experience across the wealth management spectrum, Nakul is leading Waterfield's crucial global wealth segment. He started his career in investment and corporate banking and progressively moved to become a pioneer in wholesale/institutional banking. He has worked in organisations such as InCred Wealth, Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) and Barclays Wealth amongst others. His vast experience in onshore and offshore wealth management, deep promoter relationships and leadership prowess are valuable fillip for Waterfield’s strategic expansion plans.
Education- Masters of Business Administration, University of Bradford
Expertise- UNHW Advisory
- Global Investing
- Client Relations
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Sadaf Behbahany
Managing Director, Origination & Client Coverage
Having worked with Standard Chartered and Credit Suisse, Sadaf brings with her over 18 years of thoughtful and analytical experience. She assists family offices and enterprises in achieving their family and business goals. Some of her responsibilities include designing and implementation of family governance, education and training of family members for future roles, preparation of the next generation, succession transitions.
Education- Bachelor of Commerce, University of Mumbai
Expertise- Global Investing
- Offshore Allocation
- NRI Advisory
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Rohan Paranjpey
Managing Director, Head Alternative Investments
Rohan has over 11 years of diverse work experience spanning across global investment banking at Deutsche Bank, a startup leadership role at Carbon Clean Solutions, and early stage investment experience at Blume Ventures. At Waterfield, Rohan assists clients with their strategy for the unlisted space, along with sourcing and evaluation of startups.
Education- B.Tech, Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
- Masters of Business Administration, Indian School of Business - Hyderabad
Expertise- Deal Sourcing
- Private Placement
- PE/VC Fund Investing
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Siddharth Jhunjhunwala
Executive Director, Head - Waterfield Fund of Funds
Siddharth comes with a wealth of investing experience across fund and direct investments and has a very deep understanding of the PE/VC ecosystem in India. Siddharth’s career spans across leading organizations like Asia Alternatives, Aditya Birla and Ernst & Young.
At Waterfield, Siddharth has been instrumental in setting up the Fund of Funds platform right from designing the strategy, portfolio construction, fund economics, due diligence processes and investor communication.
Education- MBA – Indian School of Business
- Certified Chartered Accountant - ICAI
Expertise- PE/VC Investing
- Direct Investments
- Deal Sourcing
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Himanshu Maheshwari
Executive Director, Business Support
Himanshu, a Chartered Accountant, has over 20 years of experience working for global wealth management businesses including DSP Merrill Lynch, JM Financials and Julius Baer. Himanshu was also responsible for developing the Managed Services business at Miles Software, a premier wealth management product company. Himanshu is an expert in establishing strong and reliable operations, processes, technology, software applications and financial product implementation.
Education- Certified Chartered Accountant, ICAI
Expertise- Business Operations
- Digital Transformation