James Abraham

Independent Director at Vistaar Financial Services

James Abraham has over 25 years of experience as management leader in technology companies in Americas and South East Asia. He started his career with Bell Canada, developing advanced services and business models for emerging technologies (he helped develop and launch Canada’s first Frame Relay service).

He joined The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Toronto in 1994 and has worked in industries as diverse as paper, appliances, oil & gas, and automotive.

In 1998, he moved to Mumbai and later Delhi to help lead the office during its early period. During this period, the BCG offices in India grew from 18 people to over 180 in 2009.

For more than 10 years with BCG in India, he has been involved in infrastructure development projects in the transport and power sector and core manufacturing. He has worked on projects in roads, buildings, oil & gas, power, and manufacturing, on issues ranging from business planning, acquisitions, organisation, and financial structuring. In 2009, James was a Senior-Partner with BCG, when he left to start and head Sunborne Energy. Sunborne is working to make solar power no more expensive than conventional power, using Indian engineering and development skills. In 2014, he launched SolarArise, which focuses on financing and managing solar-power plants over their life-time. SolarArise aims to turn solar plants into low-risk, lucrative investment vehicles, and so attract the large capital flows necessary to grow the sector. James is a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, the India-Leadership-Initiative of the Ananta-Aspen Institute, and a moderator of Aspen’s values-based leadership programs.

James earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo, an M.B.A. (Palmer Scholar) from Wharton, and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University.

Timeline

  • Independent Director

    Current role