Why PeakAlpha

Meet the Dream Team!

PeakAlpha is unique. We are a sincere, reliable, intelligent and passionate team that wants to make a difference in the lives we touch.

We are recognized as the country’s best individual financial advisor.

Our power comes from a work ethic of simplicity, clarity and integrity.

Meet the management team who plan for success, every single day!

Shyam Sunder

Managing Director and Co-founder

Priya Sunder

Director and Co-founder

Alexander Varghese

VP – Strategy

Majid Khan

VP – Real Estate

Sujeet Dhanuka

VP – Sales

Sharath Sharma

Associate VP – Operations

Portfolio Managers

Our Portfolio Managers keep a sharp eye on your investments, everyday

Kiran Riyaz

Certified Financial Planner

Aparna M

Portfolio Manager

Dipshi Sharma

Portfolio Manager

Sayi Krishna

Portfolio Manager

Customer Advocacy Team

The Customer Advocacy team is a bridge between you and PeakAlpha

Geetha R

Manager – Customer Advocacy

Spoorthi M

Executive – Customer Delight

Deepshika Singh

Senior Executive – Customer Advocacy

Operations & Execution Team

The Operations and Execution team does all the heavy lifting so you can rest easy

Vijayendra Mohanty

Manager - Operations & Execution

Shruthi B M

Manager – Execution

Papiya Das

Senior Manager – Insurance

Kalaivani J

Senior Manager – Insurance

Marketing | Tech | Quality Control Team

The Marketing, Tech and Quality Control teams are our backroom crew

Anupama Bijur

Head - Marketing

Thanuj DR

Senior Manager - Technology

Abhinaya Satyakumar

Senior Manager - Quality Control

HR | Finance | Support Team

HR, Finance and Support – the glue that keeps us together

Roopa Dwarkanath

Manager - HR

Kiran M

Executive – Finance

Sakthi M

Administrative Officer

Karthik

Office Executive

Be a part of our dynamic team.

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Shyam Sunder

Managing Director and Co-founder

Like the Dashavatara in Hindu mythology, Shyam, the Managing Director and Co-founder of PeakAlpha, is in his third avatar as the Managing Director and Co-founder of PeakAlpha.

As Master Mariner and navigating officer, Shyam spent the first part of his career sailing some of the world’s largest oil tankers around the world. Then, equipped with an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Shyam helped some of the world’s leading financial services companies with business and technology challenges as a Strategy Consultant with Accenture and Mphasis.

Shyam’s passion for doing the right thing straddles all of his relationships and shapes the culture at PeakAlpha. Clear in his communication and innovative in his thinking, Shyam’s ability to come up with new and challenging games enlivens team outings and sales meets.

Shyam may have won the President’s gold medal, but no amount of eye rolls and groans stops him from telling us the story (for the 250689th time) of how he won the Vidaylin Baby Contest for the most beautiful baby in 1970!

Priya Sunder

Director and Co-founder

Priya believes that financial planning is the best way to make seemingly impossible money dreams come true. She also believes passionately that women cannot be empowered in the true sense of the word unless they are financially empowered.

Armed with a Masters degree from Northwestern University, and the experience of working with one of the largest corporate law firms in the United States, Priya demands nothing but the best from her team.

An ardent animal lover, Priya once rescued an entire crate of chickens from certain slaughter and set them free in her garden! That the chickens multiplied ten fold is another story for another day!

Though Priya would like nothing more than to curl up with a good book on a Sunday, her family manages to coax her into stirring up something in the kitchen. For them, even a simple pepper rasam and potato roast has the stamp of a Michelin Star cook! Here’s a tip-if you are applying for a job at PeakAlpha, you’d do well to let Priya know you’re nuts about dogs. We’re pretty sure you’ll get an edge over the others!

Alexander Varghese

VP – Strategy

Alex is the moral compass of PeakAlpha. No wonder he is our Chief Compliance Officer. Alex makes sure that PeakAlpha, as a SEBI registered company, is truly fiduciary, and always acting in the best interests of our customers.

Alex wears many hats at PeakAlpha. He heads the technology and customer advocate team. He strategizes and implements key initiatives. Alex is a terrific presenter and conducts financial literacy programs. And he is also a financial planner.

Sometimes his life gets crazy handling so many areas in the company, but we can’t figure out which one to knock off because he is so good at everything! Alex comes with 12 years’ experience in financial services and has an MBA from Ohio University. But the reason we love him to bits is because he is a terrific photographer and makes us all look way better than we actually are!

Majid Khan

VP – Real Estate

With his brooding good looks, Majid is often mistaken for a model. But we can vouch for the fact that he is a financial planner par excellence.

Majid has been with PeakAlpha almost from the outset, helping mould and build the company to its current levels. He has also been instrumental in creating the real estate wing at PeakAlpha, bringing attractive real estate projects and investments to our clients. As part of the leadership team, Majid actively mentors other financial planners, constantly chiselling away at their raw edges, and shaping them into sparkling diamonds.

Majid is the office jester, and none of us are spared his witty tongue. Majid likes to sing, but, cannot remember the words of any song. Not to be deterred, he adds his own nonsensical lyrics, which is all well, except it makes us forget what the real lyrics are!

Sujeet Dhanuka

VP – Sales

Sujeet is a Kolkata boy, who, like a veritable 10-handed Goddess Durga, manages sales, operations, planning, training et al. His master’s degree in finance and marketing sure helps juggle all these multiple functions.

Sujeet heads our Kolkata outfit. He has, through his eagle-eyed focus, expanded PeakAlpha’s presence in Kolkata, and got us all excited about increasing the team there. Apart from being an excellent financial planner, Sujeet also heads our general insurance vertical.

When Sujeet is not busy using all his ten hands, he puts his feet to equally good use. A certified dancer, he can put Prabhudeva to shame with his jaw-dropping dance moves-be it the moonwalk, salsa, tango or high-voltage Bollywood. His most electrifying performance yet-yesteryear star Helen’s ‘Piya Tu Ab To Aaja…” We’re still going “A ha ha ha…” in aha-stonishment!

Sharath Sharma

Associate VP – Operations

Most employees walk into office. Sharath roars in on his monster bike with flame decals. He’s reached his cool quotient level because his teenage daughter approves his hairstyle. But aside from his flamboyant side, Sharath heads the Operations Team and is our trouble-shooter, shoulder-to-lean-on and trusted team member. He’s a firm believer in whatever happens, happens for the best. Sharath would love to meet his heroes, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli and learn how to be patient and how to stay focused from them respectively. We love it when Sharath is in office during lunch time because his mother’s pickles and South Indian food are the best we’ve sampled so far.

Kiran Riyaz

Certified Financial Planner

With seven-plus years of progressive experience in Financial Planning and Wealth Management, Kiran manages a large chunk of clients and does what we do best – aims to make each one of them financially independent. Kiran believes that the only way to deal with life’s curve balls is to stand on your own two feet and hit it out of the park. We love having Kiran in the office because her desk is a survival kit for life. Colour coordinated sticky notes, a menu of scented wipes – it’s all there. If you’re going to be marooned on an island, you need a Kiran. She’s also pursuing an MBA is Entrepreneurship and Leadership while trying to tame her tresses.

Aparna M

Portfolio Manager

Aparna’s pool of clients may know her as a quick thinking, competent Chartered Financial Analyst but her colleagues know her as the office Sheldon. You want to have her on your team to win quizzes. Aparna brings to the table her experience of working across corporate accounting and audit domains and says financial planning gives her the opportunity to help people during good times and bad. Aparna loves the three Rs – reading, writing and arithmetic and excels at all three. We look to her for a different take on complex issues and her wicked sense of humour when meetings get too serious. She spends her Sunday unwinding quietly and panicking that it’s going to be over soon.

Dipshi Sharma

Portfolio Manager

Every office has a livewire and Dipshi Sharma is ours. She is also that person whose hand was always up in class with a question and that habit continues, getting us answers to questions we hadn’t thought of. We suspect it’s something to do with the steady supply of masala chai she has at her desk. The day Dipshi is in the office, our fashion quotient goes up several notches. Her lively and spirited disposition belies her sharp intellect, forthright manner, questioning approach and quick assessment of a situation that her clients know and appreciate. With the power vested in her, Dipshi would like to put her MBA is Finance, Banking and Insurance to good use in helping people gain financial independence.

Sayi Krishna

Portfolio Manager

Much like his favourite movie, 3 Idiots, Sayi Krishna questions what we think is a given. Talking to him might seem like you’re playing 20 questions but Sayi believes God is in the details and his clients are most happy that he’s drilled down to the fine points to craft a wholesome financial plan for them.

He’s a tall man, our Sayi, but with the quiet air of a sage, choosing his words for maximum impact and insights that are memorable. If you hear the words, “predominantly’ and ‘consensus’ you know Sayi is in the room. Sayi’s interest in spirituality, along with his natural empathy for people make him a natural with senior citizens and he has a special interest in making them feel financially secure.

Sayi’s interest in anime, spirituality, martial arts, chocolate and music that ranges from Metallica to Linkin Park, should let you know that he’ll probably be the most interesting person at a party.

Geetha R

Manager – Customer Advocacy

Like many people from our team, Geetha has grown in and with PeakAlpha, going from a shy recruit who handled front office and admin, to helping HR and Finance departments when the need arose. We’re happy to see her now as a strong pillar of the Customer Advocacy team. She says she feels good when the team sees her as a dependable, safe pair of arms and she is. As a soon-to-be mom, Geetha juggles her office responsibilities without a hair out of place and a calm air of efficiency so that no appointment is missed, or a query goes unanswered. She says she wanted to be an engineer but opted to study Commerce in college and we’re not complaining, and we don’t think she is too.

Spoorthi M

Executive – Customer Delight

Spoorthi is a good example of why the quiet people in the office truly have rich inner lives. As she goes about her responsibilities in the Customer Advocacy team at PeakAlpha, you won’t guess that she has a penchant for surfing, is a trained make-up artist and hairstylist, has assisted in shoots too, loves Maroon 5 and is an ardent fan of Puneet Rajkumar. But as a customer support executive with a background in Commerce, Spoorthi is keen to learn new things at work and is happy when our customers thank the efforts of the team for making them debt-free. Nothing makes Spoorthi happier than when co-ordination between teams goes smoothly and she can spend some downtime with her colleagues.

Deepshika Singh

Senior Executive – Customer Advocacy

Deepshikha arrived in Bengaluru from Bihar to pursue her MBA and after she got her master’s degree in Sales and Marketing, she decided to stay back in the city with the best weather. After working at a bank as a relationship manager, she joined PeakAlpha’s customer advocacy team in January 2022. She makes it a point to tell you that she’s from Aurangabad in Bihar and not in Maharashtra and misses home terribly, especially festivals like Chhatpuja and all the celebrations with her family. She loves reading and travelling and aspires to be a financial planner someday soon. She always dreamed of becoming an astronaut and would love to visit Alaska at least once in her life.

Vijayendra Mohanty

Manager - Operations & Execution

Vijay is our film fanboy and if there’s an Avengers’ movie release around Christmas time, Secret Santa’s job is easy peasy. Vijay handles Ops and Execution at PeakAlpha and has a record of staying on top of his target for seven months in a row. He also loves cycling, travelling and singing and he’s learning to play the guitar. His greatest wish is to perform before a large audience and we’re calling first dibs on it. While he makes sure that his clients’ money is working hard for them, he puts himself through a tough routine at the gym too. We bite into our chips and prefer to applaud from the sidelines.

Shruthi B M

Manager – Execution

Shruti lives in Bengaluru but her heart is still in Manipal, Udupi. But while she waits to go back to her hometown and start farming, Shruti is not doing too badly as a city girl. At her desk, you might not find a lunch box during lunchtime but you’ll definitely find a Frappe or a smoothie. And to knock off the extra calories consumed at lunch time, Shruti makes up for it with her evening walks. Shruti is a quiet worker and if she seems reserved, she’s busy checking off her to do list with an efficiency we envy. And she has one quality we all aspire for – she never gets angry. We want her zen!

Papiya Das

Senior Manager – Insurance

For many years, Papiya was the voice of PeakAlpha, fielding calls from clients and reaching out to them to plan sessions with advisors, trouble shooting, and answering FAQs. No wonder that when clients walked into the office to meet their financial planners, they would often want to know, “Who’s Papiya?” She’s been with PeakAlpha since 2011 and says she loves the work culture here. At home, you’ll find her proudly displaying her craft projects and if Papiya has one wish it is that travel should be free. We couldn’t agree more. FYI: If there’s an adventure or sci-fi movie on, Papiya will not share the remote.

Kalaivani J

Senior Manager – Insurance

Kalai handles our Insurance queries and her assuring, friendly voice is just what you need to hear when you need to fill forms in triplicate and jump other hoops. You can hear her smile and her infectious cheer can immediately put you in a better mood. And that’s why we get many complimentary notes about how Kalai handled a particular situation. She has an interesting family history – she comes from a family of temple builders and if you’re lucky she will even point out a temple or two that her family constructed. When she’s stressed, nothing can calm her down as a quick visit to her hometown in Coimbatore where family, food and the small-town life is a balm to her senses.

Anupama Bijur

Head - Marketing

Anupama believes that fun is serious business and she’s trying to put the fun into finance. Many years in journalism have made her a deadline junkie. At work, she produces our Strobe Light Series on our client journeys, curates our social media handles and does internal and external communications. At home, she prods water lilies into blooming, crochets for a neighbourhood project, dabbles in water colours, and makes cauliflower upma taste good. Annoy her too much and she’ll make a caricature of you. It’s good to know that she can be plied with a cup of ginger tea.

Thanuj DR

Senior Manager - Technology

Thanuj is a licensed pilot who has many flying hours under his belt but he now leads our technology department, making sure there’s no turbulence due to tech glitches. Thanuj is the most soft-spoken and composed person in the office, and you won’t find a change in his cadence even if he’s talking about the most aggravating problem. Perhaps it’s because he has perfected the art of work-life balance. On the weekends you’ll find him ziplining or trekking. Aside from flying, music is the other passion that defines him. He can play the guitar, sax and the ukulele. A one-man band for sure.

Abhinaya Satyakumar

Senior Manager - Quality Control

With her keen powers of observation, Abhinaya is a natural for her role at PeakAlpha as a quality control manager. If she were not in the financial services industry, Abhinaya says she would have pursued a career as an archaeologist. Before she joined PeakAlpha, Abhinaya worked with CRISIL and Moody’s and she comes with expertise in equity, fixed income and credit research. She has also clocked a few hours as an independent financial planner. On her travel wish list, are historical sites and temples in India; the more obscure the better. When she’s not crunching numbers, Abhinaya is reading up books on history and crime fiction.

Roopa Dwarkanath

Manager - HR

Roopa’s bugbear is the automobile resources or lack thereof in the city. She’s had it with cab drivers cancelling on her. But her love for Bengaluru continues despite its mercurial transport and she has a particular fondness for the traditional neighbourhoods of the city. Roopa has a cumulative experience of 13 years in HR across industries, handling end-to-end responsibilities. Roopa is a book hoarder and her philosophy is buy now and read later. She loves to shop for exotic vegetables and try new recipes, with her daughter playing the judge. We hear the judge has no complaints so far.

Kiran M

Executive – Finance

When you’re Kiran M, numbers and a love for movies can harmoniously co-exist. Given a chance, Kiran would like to script a happy narrative for everyone in this world – eradicate poverty, remove strife, struggle and the scourge of the coronavirus. He loves to drive around at night, our very own Bruce Wayne, when there’s no traffic and finds much joy in spending time with his son. Kiran is a 110 per cent South Indian, from the food he loves to the movies he watches to his love for numbers. He’s quite tired of people saying he is a quiet man. But give him a chance to speak, will you, and you’ll be surprised.

Sakthi M

Administrative Officer

Sakthi is the strong silent type but give him a To-do list and you’ll have it done. Discipline is his middle name, and if he weren’t at PeakAlpha, he would have been in the army. As a new father, Sakthi is just getting acquainted with sleepless nights. It’s a good thing that he loves to help around the house. Sakthi loves to gym and he’s probably the only person at the office who sips green tea and seems to love it. His credo is “be on time, be polite and keep your word.” Currently, Sakthi is learning how to drive a car and nursing an ambition to meet his hero, Ajith.

Karthik

Office Executive

Karthik makes the office feel like home. He’s usually the first one at the office and he welcomes you with, “Have you had your breakfast?” He doesn’t stop there. He also shares his breakfast with you even if you’ve had your fill at home. When Karthik is at work, lunch times are a feast. His wife and mother send him delicious packed lunches and in large quantities that are sufficient to feed half a dozen people. Generous to a fault, give Karthik a job to do and consider it done.