Growth-oriented professional with extensive financial modeling, data analysis an

d new business development experience. Expertise in budgeting, risk evaluation a

nd setting-pricing strategies for multi-million dollar contracts. Adept at defin
ing real-time business strategies and translating them into high-impact actions,
market opportunities, and financial results. Excellent leadership capabilities
with top-flight talent for developing internal and external business partnership
s. Qualifications enhanced with Ph.D. in Economics.
Areas of Expertise:
* Modeling Skills
* Strategic Pricing
* Financial Reporting
* Business / Data Analysis
* Market Analysis
* Financial Planning
* Contract Negotiations
* Team Leadership / Coaching
* Research
* Business Plans
* Cost Estimation
* Statistical Analysis
Jishnu is a highly effective business oriented thinker. He possesses good com
mercial instincts, has internal passion, drive, commitment and strong sense of u
rgency.
Dick Knudson, CFO, Pearson
SELECTED CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Played key role in landing strategic multi-million dollar NBPTS bid requiring co
llaboration with multiple Pearson business units, creating unique cost rate stru
cture for professional scorers, and delivering very competitive price.
Increased win ratio of bids by 5% year-over-year from 2007 to 2008 by initiating
and implementing overall bid pricing process improvements.
Grew market share by 2% with 9% higher average gross margin year-over-year from
2008 to 2009 by streamlining cost estimations, introducing efficiencies in cost
rates, and leveraging fixed costs in large bids.
Selected as Key Talent in Pearson-wide talent search in 2009 for outstanding con
tribution to organization; bio presented to Board of Directors and CEO of Pearso
n Worldwide.
Won $350M+ Florida Statewide Assessment bid against most important competitor by
leveraging margin and economic modeling and delivering compelling case to senio
r management for very competitive price.
Awarded prestigious Most Valuable Player Award in 2006 for significant support p
rovided to sales and marketing staff for new business development.
Won Standing Ovation Award in 1999 for outstanding contribution to front-end met
ered team.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
PEARSON, Iowa City, IA 2001 â Present
International media company with market-leading businesses in education, busines
s information, and consumer publishing with annual revenues of $8.8 B; Assessmen
t and Information
Business unit dealing with K-12 and college readiness assessments and products,
and has annual revenues of $1B.
Director Strategic Pricing, Assessment & Information, 2007 â Present
* Analyze business models of business units within Assessment Information group
of Pearson and recommend ways to collaborate / bundle pricing of their product t
o win new
businesses.
* Internal Consultant for senior management in modeling what assessment business
will look like 4 â 5 years from now as new Obama education initiatives changes th
e landscape of K-12 assessments.
* Hire, manage, and develop a team, including Principal Pricing Analyst, Manager
, and senior pricing analysts.
* Provide leadership to market analysis and research to determine go-to-market s
trategy, value proposition, pricing methods, commercial terms, and competitive p
ositioning.
* Interact with all levels of organization, including CEO, CFO, Sales and Market
ing, IT, and Operations VP 's, on bid cost estimating, pricing and strategy dev
elopment.
* Direct design and management of pricing analytics and optimization to determin
e profitability, including cost to serve and profitability thresholds.
* Serve as consultant to Regional VP 's and business unit Presidents to generat
e revenue and increase profitability.
* Manage delivery of bid pricing and product licensing ranging from $1M to over
$500M.
* Collaborate with sales, program, and finance to improve revenue and margin for
ecast.
* Improved gross margin percentage during post-bid negotiation on $50M+ bid with
Tennessee Statewide Assessment by strategically using menu-styled customer-faci
ng price sheets.
* Lead prompt and thorough responses to RFPs released by State governments and e
ducational agencies.
Manager, Pricing, 2005 â 2007
* Played key role in generation of $1 billion of new revenue in 2005 and 2006 an
d recognition for Pearson as market leader within large-scale test assessment in
dustry by winning new business and extending contracts.
* Developed pricing models and formalized process of cost estimation for new bid
s and products.
* Consolidated financial reporting from multiple sources to feed into monthly CE
O report.
* Improved average gross margin of winning bids by 12% within 1st year as Manage
r.
Senior Pricing Analyst / Team Lead / Pricing Analyst, 2002 â 2005
* Analyzed RFPs; managed effort of cost estimation consistent with solution assu
mptions of bids; conducted competitive market studies; proposed pricing strategi
es; and conducted financial analysis.
* Facilitated informed decisions by senior management by developing business cas
es and different scenarios.
* Recommended margin and price in all large scale state assessment and publisher
bids and new products.
* Produced P analyzed scope of projects and estimated level of effort, associate
d costs, and budget for projects.
* Wrote detailed test plans; created test cases; executed and ran jobs; and vali
dated test output in mainframe.
* Analyzed feasibility of implementing new software for scoring, scanning, and e
diting processes.
* Contributed to formalization of software testing process.
* Delivered status reports to senior management.
Business Analyst, MCI [NOW VERIZON BUSINESS], Cedar Rapids, IA 1997 â 2001
Global telecommunication company, which provides broad range of communication pr
oducts and services to both domestic and international business and customers.
* Played a strong contributing role in development of GUI interface for new rate
entry system; performed requirement gathering and software testing for pricing
projects in New
Commercial Billing System.
* Analyzed business requirements from marketing to implement new features to exi
sting software.
* Built new software and converted it to functional requirements.
Researcher / Teaching Assistant / Course Instructor, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, Iowa Ci
ty, IA 1991 â 1997
Major public research university located in Iowa City.
* Taught courses in Economics and Marketing at undergraduate and graduate levels
for the Department of Economics and the Department of Marketing, Business Schoo
l.
* Performed theoretical and empirical economic research on financial economics a
nd monetary policy.
* Used statistical packages, including STATA and GAUSS, for data analysis and es
timation.
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Economics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA;
* Dissertation: Three Essays On International Monetary Economics
MA, Economics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA;
BA, Economics, Jadavpur University, India
* Minor in Mathematics
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT / COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Becoming a CFO, Pearson, 2008
Lean Sigma, Pearson 2007
Insights Master, Pearson Educational Measurement Leadership Training, Pearson, I
owa City, IA
Member, Professional Pricing Society
Vice President, Friends of India Association - Cedar Rapids
Board of Directors, Tri-Yoga â Cedar Rapids
PUBLICATIONS
The Financial Review (February, 1999), Do Beta Pricing Models Explain Mean Re
version in Stock Returns? Co-authored with Gangopadhyay, Partha