Raghu Raman is an industry veteran with over two decades of experience in Security and IT and is currently the CEO of the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID).
NATGRID has been set up to strengthen India’s counter-terror strategy by creating a framework which will enable visibility of the big picture and of events beyond the horizon by collating disjointed pieces of information existing in databases maintained by various government and private entities (e.g. Banks, Telecommunication Companies, Airlines) and stitching them into one view available to specific Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies.
Mr. Raman started his career with the Indian Army. During his 11 year stint with the army he was in active combat in Punjab battling terrorists, the Siachen Glacier facing Pakistani troops, a UN Peace-keeper and finally an Instructor teaching Leadership and Tactics to officers at the prestigious School of Armoured Warfare.
After quitting the army, Mr. Raman joined the Mahindra Group in 1998 as the Head of IT at Mahindra United World College. Over the next few years he led various group companies in his capacity as CEO of First Choice, Mahindra SSG and finally DLSI (a Mahindra joint venture with British Aerospace). In December 2009 he was asked by the Government to establish and lead the National Intelligence Grid.
Mr. Raman has been trained at the Indian Military Academy, Infantry School, and School of Armoured Warfare, Commando School, Siachen Base Camp and is a Certified Instructor in Weapons, Armament, Missiles and Tactics. He has also been trained in Hacking (Foundstone), Competitive Intelligence (Fuld & Co) and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor, Certified Information Systems Security Professional and a BS7799 lead auditor. He is an alumnus of the Wharton and Kellogg Business Schools (Executive M.B.A. Programs).
Mr.Raman has been a speaker and a trainer at ASIS, RSA, Indian School of Business, IIM (Bangalore), Duke Executive Education Program (UK), and is considered an authority on National Security, Information Risk Management and Counter-Intelligence. He also conducts Leadership Programs as a visiting faculty member at ISB, Welingkar, and Northpoint. He has been a key note speaker for corporates such as Unilever, Standard Chartered, Intel, GSK, Novartis, British Petroleum, Ranbaxy and Accenture.
He is Chairman of the Internal Security Committee at the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI). He writes a fortnightly column on Security in the MINT, a leading Indian Business Daily.