“Feeling that my suggestions and recommendations are heard, understood and actioned upon, even by senior management is the most important thing that motivates me.”

Typical Day

First Things

  • Having tea and breakfast, reading the news
  • Walking my dog and petting my cat
  • Making a list of top 10 things to do today, both professional and personal

Mids

  • Researching my clients’ business needs, and figuring out how they can best leverage Beacon products and services
  • Generalizing across clients to craft blueprints for specific business problems

Last Things

  • During the growing season, tending to and harvesting my backyard organic vegetable garden
  • Cooking dinner for my family with home grown or fresh ingredients
  • Writing poems and essays, and catching up with friends and family

Position

At Beacon, I’m the first person on the ground in the new Strategy and Architecture team, which has a broad mandate: “Bringing it all together and influencing others to get the best of it.” I get to interact with clients, in person whenever possible, or virtually, and help identify their business needs. I craft solutions for clients and scale those solutions to create blueprints for various industries and departments.

Great Startup Opportunities

I’ve spent the last 15 years of my career creating new startup strat teams in five divisions of Goldman Sachs and at a client of Beacon. Joining Beacon at this stage of the company’s evolution allows me to continue that trend, and wear every hat from client interaction to designing new products and services to writing code. The best part is working with and learning from some of the most stellar people in the industry, in a collaborative, inclusive, cohesive, and collegiate environment.

What Motivates Me

The fact that there is never a dull moment in this industry, in the markets, nationally and globally, or in the startup culture at Beacon. You never work on the same problem twice – if you do, the second time better be fully automated! Your work is always relevant and used in real-time to solve urgent problems. Finally, probably the most important thing that motivates me is that I feel that my suggestions and recommendations are heard, understood and actioned upon, even by senior management. 

Upcoming Goals

My goal for Beacon is to keep looking past the next curve in the road to best position our clients and ourselves, from a technological, analytical, and quantitative point of view, to navigate future unforeseen financial crises. To do that, our software has to continue to be robust, scalable, and flexible. 

Fast Trivia:

Music

Rock, Blues, Classic Bollywood

Movie/TV

Hacks, Hidden Figures, The Imitation Game, and “Nanette” and “Douglas”, by Hannah Gadsby

Books

Eighty Years and More, (Elizabeth Cady Stanton), Winners Take All, (Anand Giridharadas), Annihilation of Caste, (Dr. B. R. Ambedkar), and anything by P. G. Wodehouse

Favorite Trips

Seychelles and Seneca Falls

Food

Anything but insects and reptiles

Favorite Things

My Harley Davidson motorcycle, FIFA Women’s World Cup, riding horses, and being surrounded by animals (I’ve fostered over 100 puppies and kittens)

Little Known Fact

My mother, Dr. Renuka Viswanathan, ran for election in 2018 for the Aam Aadmi Party (anti-corruption). LinkedIn link to a transcription of her interview with The Talk on International Business Times (April 9, 2018)

Joined Beacon

January 2022

Education

  • UC Berkeley: Master’s in Financial Engineering
  • Boston University: PhD in Cognitive and Neural Systems
  • IIT Delhi: 5-year integrated Master’s in Computer Applications

Hometown

Bangalore, India

Work Location

Dallas, Texas