Infosys Topaz AI Conversations: Houston Chapter

Arijita Paul is a seasoned Account Manager and transformation leader based in Calgary, with over 13 years of experience driving innovation, operational efficiency, and business growth across industries including oil & gas, manufacturing, and healthcare. Known for her ability to bridge strategy with execution, Arijita brings a unique perspective grounded in real-world experience leading large-scale digital transformation programs, stakeholder alignment, and emerging technology adoption across global enterprises. She is passionate about driving meaningful conversations around technology, business value, and client-centric transformation.

Her credentials include an MBA from the University of Calgary and certifications from Stanford, Kellogg, Microsoft, and Prosci. She is recognized for her engaging communication style, thoughtful insights, and ability to connect diverse perspectives to drive shared outcomes

Bill is a husband, father of three, retired youth sports coach, Baylor Bear alum, and an entrepreneur that has built multiple teams and companies over the years. Professionally, he has spent 31 years in the software industry including leadership roles at Microsoft, Oracle, and Workday. Bill has a proven track record of success and is a trusted member of the business community for over three decades.

Throughout his career, he has worked closely with executives to help build plans to transform their businesses leveraging technology. As an individual contributor, first line manager, or member of a senior leadership team, Arend has built a reputation of serving others with passion. Today, Bill boomeranged back to Microsoft as a Managing Director for Microsoft’s Strategic Enterprise Account Team Unit (ATU) focused on the Energy sector. Arend leads a team driving artificial intelligence adoption and digital transformations leveraging the Microsoft broad portfolio and partner ecosystem.

Bill has also served on multiple boards including the National Business Development Association (NBDA), Greater Houston Manufacturing Association (GHMA), Austin Technology Council (ATC), and the Baylor Bear Foundation (BBF). He has also been an active member of advisory boards for the National Association for Corporate Directors (NACD) and the Houston Technology Center (HTC).

He earned a B.B.A. in Marketing with a minor in Information Technology from Baylor University. He and his wife of 32 years reside in the Woodlands and have three grown children.

Joseph heads Infosys’ Energy Next segment focused on a portfolio of strategic clients across Europe, Middle East and India. He has been with Infosys since 2002 playing different leadership roles encompassing Portfolio P&L leadership, Corporate Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions and Start-up Practice Unit Creation.

Prior to his current role, Joseph co-founded the Corporate Performance Management practice as an intrapreneurial effort, led a team of practitioners focused on best practices in Corporate Strategic Planning and worked as Business Advisor to the Chairman of the Board. In addition, Joseph was the group director focused on M&A for the Energy practice. Joseph has published several papers on the topic of corporate strategic planning and Energy Transition, and has guest lectured at business schools across Europe, US and India. Joseph has worked with several marquee clients in the Energy sector and is featured as an “Expert” in the Oil & Gas journal.

Joseph holds a degree in Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. He completed the Global Leadership Program at the Stanford Graduate Business School and The Executive Program in Management (Leadership Development) at Harvard Business School.

Ramesh pursues key materials physics and technological problems in complex multifunctional oxides and related materials. He uses epitaxial synthesis as a pathway to create model systems to probe fundamental phenomena using a combination of electron, Xray and scanned probe techniques. Using conducting oxides, he solved the 30-year enigma of polarization fatigue in ferroelectrics. He pioneered research into manganites, coining the term Colossal Magnetoresistive (CMR) Oxides. His seminal work on multiferroics demonstrated electric field control of ferromagnetism, a critical step towards ultralow power memory and logic elements.

His extensive publications (>650) on the synthesis and materials physics of complex oxides are highly cited (over 100,000 citations, H-factor over 150). He is a fellow of APS, AAAS & MRS and an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences, a foreign member of the Royal Society of London, the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Academy for Arts and Sciences. His awards include the Humboldt Senior Scientist Prize, the MRS Turnbull lectureship prize, the APS Adler Lectureship and McGroddy New Materials Prize, the TMS Bardeen Prize and the IUPAP Magnetism Prize and Neel Medal and the Europhysics Prize in 2022. He was recognized as a Thomson-Reuters Citation Laureate in Physics for his work on multiferroics.

He served as the Founding Director of the successful Department of Energy SunShot Initiative in the Obama administration, envisioning and coordinating the R&D funding of the U.S. Solar Program, spearheading the reduction in the cost of Solar Energy. He also served as the Deputy Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Associate Lab Director at LBNL. Most recently, he served on the Biden-Harris Transition Team for Energy. He is also a co-founder of Kepler Computing, which is focused on low power computing based on his work on ferroelectrics.

A pioneering IT leader with 26 years at Infosys, Sandeep Garg has cultivated long-term partnerships within the Energy & Resources sector. His expertise lies in leveraging cutting-edge technology, with a strong focus on artificial intelligence, to drive significant growth and address critical business challenges for his clients. He excels through strategic collaborations and data-driven relationship strategies. Sandeep has a strong record of building high-performing, diverse teams and fostering a culture of innovation. He has been a key driver in Infosys' digital and AI transformation initiatives and is recognized for his exceptional relationship and people management skills, as well as his ability to cultivate a collaborative, tech-centric environment.

Sriram leads the Energy Core Vertical at Infosys and has over 25 years of experience in delivering digital, technology & consulting services to my clients in the Energy & Resources sectors.

With a mission to help my clients digitize their core and accelerate their time to value through digital, cloud and AI-first technology transformations, he leverages his deep domain, technology, and solution architecture knowledge to become a trusted partner for clients and has built lasting relationships.

At Infosys, Sriram has excelled at multiple roles and has been recognized with the Infosys Excellence Awards for Project Management, Program Management, Account Management, Sales Management and Creating multiple Large/Mega Deal wins. He has also been honored with the "Best Sales Leader" at Infosys in 2023-2024.

Vivek leads the AI and Automation portfolio at Infosys and helps clients transform their businesses by leveraging AI. He also drives the adoption of AI and automation within Infosys in all service offerings and internal functions to improve efficiency and drive differentiation. As an AI leader, he is responsible for competency development, building service offerings, solutions, platforms, and partnerships in this space. He works with think tanks, academia, industries, and other regulatory bodies on AI adoption and responsible and ethical use of AI