Executive Advisors
Karthik Krishnan
Karthik is passionate about innovation, digital technology, transformative leadership and societal impact. He is the former Global CEO of Britannica Group (Britannica, Merriam-Webster, Qualtero [Airlines & Defense], Melingo [Artificial Intelligence]), Venture Chair @ Redesign Health, and SVP & GM @ Elsevier/RELX. He is an adjunct professor (since 2012) at NYU - Stern School of Business.
Karthik's breadth of General Manager experiences ranges from building startups from the ground up to accelerating enterprise value in mature public (Fortune 500) and private companies in HealthTech, EdTech and Media Information Services (Consumer and B2B). His board leadership experiences include Board Chairman, Head of Audit and Risk committees. He was recognized by Financial Times/Agenda in The Diversity 100 public company board ready leaders and is NACD Board Certified.
Outside of work, Karthik is actively involved in a number of social impact initiatives. He is on the World Economic Forum Expert Network, has published thought leadership articles on a range of topics from ESG to Augmented Intelligence, and has led a number of transformative initiatives including UNICEF's Global Youth Skills Development and Revitalizing Harlem (NYC).
Thomas DeSouza
Thomas is a Managing Director @ Kennedy Lewis, focused on investments in the Healthcare and Life Sciences sector. Previously, he has been Chief Executive of multiple Healthcare companies, managed large P&L’s ($500mm+ annual P&L) in global organizations, and has advised and invested in dozens of companies in his career. Previously, Thomas was a Venture Chair at Redesign Health, responsible for funding, launching, CEO hiring and board governance over the companies that Redesign Health launched. Redesign has launched 60+ healthcare companies and raised $1.3bn in capital since its inception in 2018.
Prior to Redesign Health, he formed Synthesis Health, Inc as Chief Executive Officer and Board Director, after merging 3 businesses and one asset acquisition to create the company. Prior to Synthesis Health, Thomas was on the Global Leadership team at Philips Healthcare, where he was the Global Head of New Ventures and Diagnostic Clinical Services. At Philips, Thomas led multiple M&A transactions and launched several new business lines. Prior to Philips, he had held Healthcare venture investing and CEO roles; Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of SemanticMD, Founding Managing Director of Allegory Venture Partners, and a Partner at R.W. Baird & Co. Prior to Baird, Thomas was a Portfolio Manager at Morgan Stanley.
Thomas received his M.B.A. from Tulane University Freeman School of Business, studied Finance and Political Science in his undergrad at Portland State University and currently sits on the Board of Governors for the Tulane University School of Medicine. Prior to Kennedy Lewis, Thomas has held dozens of healthcare board roles.