Propel

About the Company

At Propel we craft technology solutions to overcome business problems. We help our clients design and develop custom software solutions for today and tomorrow.

We lead and advance client thinking, and we collaborate to create digital solutions that have a bigger and more lasting impact.

We build technology companies love to use

In our years of experience in working with clients across domains, we see that it takes not just data and technology skills, but a certain kind of team to get things done and deliver results. That’s why we are focused on our people all the time. If you are a curious and motivated self-starter looking to lose yourself in generous enthusiasm and cooperate with others for common ends, Propel will be your ideal career destination.

Leadership Team

Bala Chandra
CEO/Founder
Bala Chandra
CEO/Founder

What are three words to describe you?
Long-term thinker, curious, caring.

What is your Superpower?
Solve problems by bringing the right people and resources together, inclusivity, understanding how things work, being present.

What do you nerd out over?
How to improve our thinking. Overcoming cognitive distortions.

What happens when you are in the room/on the team?
People feel heard/Seen. Team gets the confidence to solve the problem or face the challenge.

What were some reframing moments for you (in career and life) that changed the way you look at things?
Realizing that there is no speed limit to learning, team and talent building takes time and needs absolute focus. Being vulnerable is a strength not weakness. Every effort in defining the problem will always get rewarded. You can never be over prepared, live your learnings.

Jeff Keyser
Senior Advisor
Jeff Keyser
Senior Advisor

What are three words to describe you?
Thoughtful, creative, analytical.

What is your Superpower?
Patience.

What do you nerd out over?
In work – listening and coaching; outside work – golf, Italian wine and entertaining.

What happens when you are in the room/on the team?
I bring a fresh perspective and wide-ranging business experience to help craft creative solutions. I help encourage teams to think about the problem of the day with a wider angle and a longer-term lens.

What were some reframing moments for you (in career and life) that changed the way you look at things?
The wonder of becoming a parent taught me a lot about caring, patience and humility. Being a grandparent rekindles the sense of magic and possibilities.
Being Treasurer of my church taught me a lot about how to consider multiple points of view while building a consensus to move forward in constructive ways.
As Chief Strategy Officer of a major professional services firm, I honed a range of skills and problem-solving approaches that I bring to every endeavor.
An innovation-related leadership assignment at mid-career taught me a lot about intelligent risk-taking, the fundamentals of managing technology development and patience with creative ideas.
Early in my career, serving as an auditor taught me a lot about how businesses operate day-to-day, inspiring me to become a pragmatic problem-solver to help clients improve their businesses.

Malar Chandra
CHRO & COO
Malar Chandra
CHRO & COO

What are three words to describe you?
Patient, determined, hardworking.

What is your Superpower?
Kindness.

What do you nerd out over?
Coaching people and empowering them, helping them transform into their best selves. I am fascinated by the narratives we hold and how changing the narrative changes the person as a whole.

What happens when you are in the room/on the team?
I wear my coach hat and tend to be non-judgmental. This creates a psychological safe space for the team to be vulnerable, drop the armor and connect more authentically. This allows us to be open to experiences that create purpose and meaning.

What were some reframing moments for you (in career and life) that changed the way you look at things?
I am fascinated by how our thoughts can either hold us back or move us forward. I was able to take a step back and look at the narrative, beliefs and assumptions I hold, and I decided to look at them with kindness and curiosity and do a litmus test to figure out whether that serves me in the here and now. This allows me to provide the same space and time for others to understand and validate their beliefs and assumptions.

Nanda Rajasek
CIO
Nanda Rajasek
CIO

What are three words to describe you?
Loyalty, attention to detail, accountability.

What is your Superpower?
Seeing how to make the team think and grow.

What do you nerd out over?
Trying to think things through thoroughly for the long-term and consider all the possibilities before getting excited.

What happens when you are in the room/on the team?
I help people collaborate and contribute, welcome ideas irrespective of title or role, and make everyone feel part of team.

What were some reframing moments for you (in career and life) that changed the way you look at things?
Realizing you don’t have to do everything yourself, there are people around you who can do better than you.
Understanding how to engage the right member and get help for anything we do.
Recognizing everyone has their unique superpower – when I see it, I’m always amazed I never recognized it before!

Pritham Shetty
Pritham Shetty

What are three words to describe you?
Caring, honest, committed.

What is your Superpower?
Being observant about people, the situation or the overall environment.

What do you nerd out over?
Learning from masters (past, present and upcoming) be it through articles, podcast or movies.

What happens when you are in the room/on the team?
People feel energetic and comfortable. The team can break complex problems into simple, understandable language.

What were some reframing moments for you (in career and life) that changed the way you look at things?
Finding or creating “A” solution is better than waiting for “The” solution.
Do the uncomfortable thing first.
People take time to trust – once you’ve earned it, strive to keep it.

Mohith Kumar
Mohith Kumar

What are three words to describe you?
Enthusiast, artist, a dreamer.

What is your Superpower?
Simplifying clutter, bringing out the beauty in the mundane.

What do you nerd out over?
Great design, fantasy books and a challenge.

What happens when you are in the room/on the team?
When I am in the room, I brighten things up. I bring new perspectives to light. I change things for the better by questioning why things are the way they are.

What were some reframing moments for you (in career and life) that changed the way you look at things?
The most important step that I will ever take is always the “next one”. As long as I keep taking the next step in the right direction, no failure can define me.

Sahana Naik
Sahana Naik

What are three words to describe you?
Honest, resourceful, reliable.

What is your Superpower?
Getting things done – anything I pick up I ensure it reaches the desired finish line.

What do you nerd out over?
Process frameworks and trends in analytics, The Big Bang Theory sitcom, and decluttering!

What happens when you are in the room/on the team?
I bring order and process to the project. Teams feel comfortable and open to confide in me.

What were some reframing moments for you (in career and life) that changed the way you look at things?
Feel the fear and do it anyway.
Extra time and money need to be reinvested.
You can skip ahead, but you still have to learn the lessons from each step.
Each step is easier with an audience – be brave, ask for help.

Mohan Karunanidhi
Mohan Karunanidhi

What are three words to describe you?
Detail-minded, focused, problem-solver.

What is your Superpower?
Retrospecting to prevent failure.

What do you nerd out over?
Contemplating between ‘actions and behaviors that would have brought the optimal outcome’ and the actual ‘actions and behaviors’ (reality).
Trying to build a mental image of more than one version of a narrative.

What happens when you are in the room/on the team?
I bring out people’s hidden hesitations to help them voice what they think could be done rather than what is proposed to be done; I enable everyone to participate and contribute; I roll up my sleeves and take an active part in problem-solving; I encourage everyone to not gauge a problem at face value, but rather to always look under the hood.

What were some reframing moments for you (in career and life) that changed the way you look at things?
There is always more than one solution to a problem. If I feel stuck, if it feels like a rabbit hole, it is absolutely time to get fresh perspectives. Never shy away from asking for help. Binary thinking closes doors to great opportunities, understanding and perspectives.
True learning and understanding happens when there is no safety net.

Bala Chandra
CEO/Founder
Bala Chandra
CEO/Founder

What are three words to describe you?
Long-term thinker, curious, caring.

What is your Superpower?
Solve problems by bringing the right people and resources together, inclusivity, understanding how things work, being present.

What do you nerd out over?
How to improve our thinking. Overcoming cognitive distortions.

What happens when you are in the room/on the team?
People feel heard/Seen. Team gets the confidence to solve the problem or face the challenge.

What were some reframing moments for you (in career and life) that changed the way you look at things?
Realizing that there is no speed limit to learning, team and talent building takes time and needs absolute focus. Being vulnerable is a strength not weakness. Every effort in defining the problem will always get rewarded. You can never be over prepared, live your learnings.

Meet Our Associates

Marcia
Marcia Richard
Software Engineer

Every day is filled with challenges, opportunities to learn and I end my day with a sense of accomplishment. People are friendly and supportive, and ideas are valued irrespective of experience or position. I have always had complete freedom to experiment with all the possibilities before arriving at a solution, and I feel lucky that I have had numerous opportunities to explore different technologies in a short period of time.

Pranav Nambiar
Business Analyst

I feel part of a family that encourages its members to solve complex problems. Everything we create comes from a collaborative experience – a nurturing atmosphere where everyone can bring their A-game to work. What I love most about our diverse family is how we respect and value each other’s contributions, and the latitude offered to us to go the extra mile in tackling problems creatively.

Mughilvannan
Mughilvannan Manivannan
Software Engineer

The array of opportunities you get here. Being service-based means that I get to be part of many different projects, in one way or another. I don’t only work on my core assignment, but am also able to explore and learn new technologies.

Pradeepkumar Sundarraj
Solution Architect

We get the freedom to use hardware and software resources to experiment, and make better solutions for crucial problems. We can interact closely with clients and explore our thoughts with them on future design solutions. I can learn and get guidelines from software architecture experts (which you don’t get from books!) and learn to work on solutions with the widest perspective.

Pavithra Selvaraj
Software Engineer

I’m extremely happy and grateful for the growth I’ve had both professionally and personally since joining. I’ve been able to learn about, and work with, the latest technologies. The team is extremely welcoming and nurturing, and is always around to support each other at times of need. My thoughts and opinions are valued, and our work is respected and recognized, and I’m encouraged to explore new ideas and grow.

Corporate Social Responsibility

BEST START PROGRAM

We are committed to positively impacting communities beyond our clients’ businesses. We are passionate believers in not only building technology companies love to use today, but also in nurturing and encouraging the future of our industry for tomorrow.

We have created a partnership program with schools to share knowledge of and encourage learning in all things tech. True to our founder and CEO’s Indian roots, we began our program in socially and economically challenged schools in Tamil Nadu in southern India. What started out as an educational approach, soon changed its focus. We realized that many students were missing from class or were unable to concentrate when they were there. It turned out that breakfast was a luxury many could not afford, for time or financial reasons. So, in order to feed their minds, we realized we had to nourish their bodies first.

Our breakfast learning program positively impacted schools across the region, reaching over 6,000 students with results that surprised and delighted us. We saw a substantial reduction in latecomers from 40% to 5%, and absenteeism dropped from 20% to just 1%. This had knock-on effects in classroom participation, with students focused and engaged throughout the morning. They also became more patient and participated actively in the overall tidiness of their classrooms. What’s more, we saw increases in volunteering among students and parents alike. And there was an uplift in overall admissions.

By digging deeper and reframing the root cause of the issue, we were able to not only ensure that children got a good start to the day, but that this encouraged an active and engaged learning environment for them to grow and develop their skills. We have ambitious plans to continue this program, to benefit as many fresh young minds as possible, paving the way for the next generation of tech nerds like us.

LIVELIHOOD DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Just as we were able to turn an idea into a thriving enterprise, we are committed to helping people who have passionate ideas and beliefs of their own, but who lack the financial resources to bring them to fruition.

Our program to nurture and develop livelihoods concentrates on people in under-developed parts of the world who are looking to grow existing businesses or launch new ones, to help educate their children and enable their families to prosper.

Through our partnership with organizations like Kiva and Rang De, we have established a structured and sustainable system to offer micro-loans and support activities. We have directly helped 15,000 families across 36 countries develop their livelihoods by transforming a simple belief in an idea into a viable business.