Astraa leadership team has the expertise to envision, engage and execute. Our executives and advisors include industry experts, and luminaries across industry domains and technology.
Executive Leadership Team
Bhaskar Sambasivan has worked at the center of healthcare and technology convergence for more than 30 years, serving clients in leadership and advisory roles to support the transformation of their business processes and operations. As CEO of Saama, Bhaskar applies this firsthand experience to guide the growth of the business and evolution of the company’s AI-enabled technology platform aimed at accelerating clinical research and the commercialization of new medical breakthroughs for patients.
Prior to Saama, Bhaskar was the CEO of CitiusTech, a healthcare focused technology services and solutions company and the Chief Strategy Officer and President of Patient Services at EVERSANA, a leading life sciences services company focused on end-to-end pharmaceutical commercialization solutions. Additionally, Bhaskar was the head of the Global Life Sciences business at Cognizant, a Fortune 500 company, for nearly 15 years.
As an industry leader, he has a passion for building best-in-class teams and has mentored many strong leaders, currently holding senior roles across the industry. Bhaskar is committed to diversity and academic enrichment, including as an active sponsor of many outreach programs that provide education and facilities to children and students around the world.
Bhaskar currently serves on the advisory board of TIE NJ, a global organization that focuses on helping entrepreneurs succeed. He has also been recognized by PharmaVoice as one of the most “100 Influential and Inspirational Leaders in Life Sciences” in both 2017 and 2018.
Currently serving as Interim CFO at Saama, Richard brings more than 20 years of finance leadership in the life sciences sector, through experience at both PPD and Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Most recently Richard served as CFO for Thermo Fisher’s global Drug Substance Division, where he led financial management across 18 sites worldwide. Over his career, Richard has held multiple CFO and VP-level roles spanning drug development, manufacturing, site networks & patient services, procurement, as well as operations and commercial finance. His track record of partnering with executive teams to deliver sustainable growth and operational excellence makes him a strong addition to Saama’s executive leadership team.
Richard received his BA in Accounting and Finance from Derby University.
Most recently Richard served as CFO for Thermo Fisher’s global Drug Substance Division, where he led financial management across 18 sites worldwide. Over his career, Richard has held multiple CFO and VP-level roles spanning drug development, manufacturing, site networks & patient services, procurement, as well as operations and commercial finance. His track record of partnering with executive teams to deliver sustainable growth and operational excellence makes him a strong addition to Saama’s executive leadership team.
Richard received his BA in Accounting and Finance from Derby University.
With 24 years of experience in leadership roles at Astraa, Saama and Silicon Graphics (SGI), Rajeev currently leads the Client Care and Delivery organizations, while simultaneously driving the company’s technology roadmap.
Previously at Saama, Rajeev led the development of strategies, methodologies, and partnerships, with a focus on cloud, syndicated data sources, social data, advanced analytics, and mobile technologies.
Rajeev has created BI and Analytics strategies for large organizations and managed large-scale deployments of data warehousing, analytics and applied data mining/predictive analytics systems in diverse business environments. He has also been involved in the analysis, design, and deployment of both B2C and B2B solutions in different vertical industries.
Rajeev earned an M.S. in Computer Science at California State University, Chico.
Previously at Saama, Rajeev led the development of strategies, methodologies, and partnerships, with a focus on cloud, syndicated data sources, social data, advanced analytics, and mobile technologies.
Rajeev has created BI and Analytics strategies for large organizations and managed large-scale deployments of data warehousing, analytics and applied data mining/predictive analytics systems in diverse business environments. He has also been involved in the analysis, design, and deployment of both B2C and B2B solutions in different vertical industries.
Rajeev earned an M.S. in Computer Science at California State University, Chico.
Portfolio Leadership Team
Analytics and Information Management thought leader, active in devising strategies and solutions for the Healthcare Services industry.
Leader and practitioner in Big Data technologies specializing in enterprise data lakes, data management and governance and analytical use cases.
Leader and practitioner in Big Data technologies specializing in enterprise data lakes, data management and governance and analytical use cases.
