Chirag Barhate

Chirag Barhate has a diverse and extensive work experience. Chirag currently holds the role of VP-Strategic Alliances & Partnerships at CloudHedge, starting in October 2019. Prior to that, they worked at Viacom18 Media Private Limited as the Director - Enterprise Applications from October 2018 to September 2019. In this role, they were responsible for leading the enterprise applications landscape and driving digital transformation.

Before Viacom18, Chirag worked at Maarga Systems, where they held the position of CTO from October 2017 to October 2018. Chirag successfully transformed the company from a pureplay services delivery model to products and services. Additionally, they led all technology initiatives and built a new suite of migration products for enterprise landscapes.

At Maarga Systems, Chirag also served as the Director - Technology Leader and Customer Success from January 2014 to October 2017. In this role, they bridged the gap between technology and business outcomes for fortune 500 customers. Chirag engineered new products and services, managed and grew the customer portfolio, defined tech strategy and roadmap, and drove thought leadership and business development.

Chirag's earlier experience includes working at IBM India Software Labs as a Senior Collaboration Consultant from August 2007 to January 2013. Chirag played a key role in consulting engagements with C-level executives of multinational companies and led teams for implementing enterprise collaboration solutions. Chirag was also involved in thought leadership activities, including conducting partner trainings, filing patent disclosures, and speaking at technology conferences. Chirag was part of the IBM Research team that developed the social analytics product, Atlas, and authored a patent disclosure on improving search engine algorithms using semantic tagging.

Chirag Barhate has a diverse educational background. Chirag completed an Advanced Marketing Program at the USC Marshall School of Business in 2013, specializing in New Product Development and Market Research. Prior to that, they pursued an MBA (Fulltime) - PGPM from SPJIMR SP Jain Institute of Management & Research from 2012 to 2013, with a focus on Marketing/Marketing Management. Chirag also holds a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree in Computer Science from the Pune Institute of Computer Technology, which they obtained from 2003 to 2007. Chirag'sprimary education was completed at St Josephs Convent High School, where they obtained a SSC degree from 1988 to 2001.

In addition to their formal education, Chirag has obtained several certifications. Chirag received a certification in Bluemix Essentials and another on Building Chatbots with Watson Conversation from IBM in January 2018. In September 2012, they acquired the IBM Certified System Administrator - WebSphere Portal 8.0 certification as well as the IBM Certified System Administrator - Connections 3.0 certification and the IBM Certified System Administrator - WebSphere Portal 7.0 certification. Chirag also holds the Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition 5.0 certification, obtained in November 2007. Chirag has recently attained the IBM Cloud Pak for Applications - Architect (Exploration) certification.