Gowthaman Karunanidhi - Education & Experience

Education

Syracuse University, School of Information Studies, Syracuse, New York, United States

Master of Science in Information Management (Specialized in Data Science) | May 2013

Relevant Coursework: Managing Info Systems Projects, Strategic Management & Information Resources, Information Systems Analysis, Applied Information Security, Database Admin Concepts and DB Management, and Applied Data Science.

College of Engineering Guindy (CEG), Anna University, Chennai, India

Bachelor of Technology in Information Science and Technology | May 2011

Relevant Coursework: Object Oriented Analysis and Design, Software Project Management, Web Technology, Total Quality Management, Enterprise Resource Planning, and Programming & Data Structures.

Kanini | Coimbatore, India | Nov 2024 – Present

Product Manager, Healthcare division

Kanini is a global IT services company that partners with healthcare organizations to accelerate digital transformation. With deep expertise in AI, cloud, and data-driven platforms, Kanini empowers enterprises to modernize systems, optimize patient engagement, and improve business outcomes. In my current role, I serve as a Product Manager, driving the vision, execution, and delivery of enterprise healthcare solutions while ensuring alignment across business, technology, and end-user needs.

Product Strategy & Roadmap – Define and manage the product vision, strategy, and roadmap, ensuring every initiative is aligned with business priorities, market needs, and long-term organizational goals. Continuously evaluate emerging trends and customer insights to refine the roadmap and maintain competitive advantage.
Stakeholder Collaboration – Act as the central point of contact between business leaders, engineering, QA, design, and marketing teams, driving alignment on requirements, scope, and delivery timelines through structured workshops and regular demos. Build trust with stakeholders by ensuring transparency, timely communication, and shared ownership of outcomes.
End-to-End Delivery Ownership – Oversee the full 'Lodus' product lifecycle from requirements gathering to release, including prioritization, backlog management, sprint planning, and ensuring timely delivery of high-impact features and enhancements. Maintain accountability across all stages to balance speed, quality, and long-term scalability.
Release Management & Communication – Lead release planning by preparing detailed release notes, coordinating deployment activities, and proactively communicating updates to all stakeholders to ensure clarity and adoption. Establish repeatable release practices that minimize disruption and maximize confidence in delivery.
Quality & Risk Oversight – Partner with QA and engineering teams to validate test cases, approve product readiness for launch, and manage risk by identifying issues early and implementing mitigation strategies. Champion a culture of proactive testing and risk awareness to strengthen product resilience.
Data-Driven Decision Making – Drive workflow improvements, reporting dashboards, and analytics integrations to measure adoption, performance, and business impact, ensuring product decisions are backed by insights. Leverage these insights to continuously optimize prioritization and demonstrate tangible ROI to leadership.
Customer-Centric Execution – Serve as the voice of the customer by analyzing feedback, monitoring usage patterns, and translating insights into actionable product improvements that enhance user satisfaction. Ensure that every release delivers measurable value that improves engagement and retention.
Cross-Functional Leadership – Run daily standups and sprint ceremonies, lead offshore collaboration, and ensure smooth coordination across all teams to deliver value consistently and on schedule. Foster a collaborative environment where distributed teams stay aligned, motivated, and accountable.
Market Enablement & Adoption – Work with marketing and analytics teams to refine go-to-market strategies, integrate tracking and attribution, and drive adoption of new capabilities across key stakeholders. Support business growth by aligning product launches with market demand and customer engagement strategies.

Tools: Salesforce, Athena, Mixpanel, Azure, JIRA, Confluence and Figma

Technical Expertise: EHR, Salesforce, RCM, RPA, UTM and AI

MaxVal Group, Inc | Coimbatore, India | Dec 2022 – Aug 2024

Product Manager, Intellectual Property Management

MaxVal is a leading technology-driven solutions provider specializing in intellectual property (IP) management. The company offers a comprehensive suite of software and services designed to optimize and streamline the IP lifecycle, from patent research and analytics to IP portfolio management and monetization. With a focus on leveraging cutting-edge technology and deep industry expertise, MaxVal helps clients ranging from startups to large multinational corporations effectively manage their intellectual property assets. MaxVal's solutions are known for their robustness, scalability, and ability to deliver actionable insights, enabling clients to maximize the value of their intellectual properties in competitive markets.

Acted as the voice of the customer by gathering and prioritising requirements through direct feedback, user surveys and client meetings (design workshops) that led to a 20% improvement in product-market fit and boosted customer satisfaction by addressing critical needs.
Defined and executed the product roadmap that successfully delivered 15+ Patent & Trademark related features on schedule, aligning with both company strategy and evolving customer needs. This ultimately contributed to a 7% increase in revenue.
Led the L3 support team to deliver critical hotfixes and managed monthly patch releases for Patent & Trademark related features. This ensured timely resolution of issues, improved system stability and maintained client satisfaction through proactive feature updates.
Delivered product demos to internal teams and top-tier clients (Meta, Apple, Syngenta and more), effectively presenting product features and benefits. This resulted in enhanced internal team knowledge, stronger client relationships, and increased product adoption across key accounts.
Prepared detailed release notes for both minor patch updates and major releases. Managed release communication emails to ensure stakeholders were informed of new features and bug fixes, resulting in improved transparency and smoother adoption of product updates.
Identified key AI innovation opportunities through market research and competitor analysis, guiding strategic decisions and enhancing product offerings. Led product launches, including go-to-market strategies and training, resulting in a 35% adoption rate within 8 months.
Supported baseline system documents for roll-out activities and assisted in the creation of companywide SDLC standards to utilize agile framework.

Tools: Salesforce, Avonni, JIRA, Confluence, Productboard, Lucidchart, Relecura AI Enabled Patent Analytics, Corsearch and Google Suite

Technical Expertise: Patent and TM Workflow, Relecura AI and Corsearch Data Integration, Docketing Framework, IP Renewals, UP & UPC (EPO)

Ideas2IT Technologies | Chennai, India | May 2022 – Oct 2022

Senior Product Owner, Healthcare division

Ideas2IT is a tech services company known for delivering innovative solutions in data engineering, product development, and advanced technologies like AI, IoT, and blockchain. Originally a startup incubator founded by ex-Silicon Valley technologists, it now serves a diverse client base from startups to enterprises, guiding projects from ideation to launch. Known for its collaborative, agile approach, Ideas2IT excels in transforming complex tech challenges into scalable, business-aligned products.

Led cross-functional teams to develop a modernised healthcare data stack platform (IdeaHePaas), resulting in a 40% improvement in data processing efficiency through advanced FHIR conversion, storage, analytics, and reporting capabilities.
Coordinated infrastructure functional areas throughout the business requirement gathering, design and architecture, build, deployment, post-deployment support and transition to operations aligning global and, where required regional, internal, and external resources.
Supported the operations level work including pre-sales activity (RFP) for healthcare clients.

CLIENT: HealthEC LLC | Chennai, India | May 2022 – Oct 2022

Senior Product Owner, Population Health Management

HealthEC LLC is a population health technology company on a mission to help customers succeed with value-based care by offering a flexible, single-platform solution that aggregates clinical, claims, and quality data and provides the actionable insights that can improve health care outcomes across multiple dimensions.

Led two scrum teams to modernise the Population Health Management platform, increasing data accuracy and operational efficiency by converting the CCDA/HL7/Proprietary data to FHIR standard format, and CareConnect portal enhancements/fixes.
Collaborated with key stakeholders (CTO, CPO and product managers) to define the product vision, strategy and roadmap, leading to an increase in product value and customer satisfaction through effective backlog management.
Worked with the internal agile teams and external client members in creating the epics, reviewing and refining the features and user stories in order to maintain the product backlog of maximum value that is aligned with the product strategy.
Ensured the acceptance criteria are met for each release and conducted sprint reviews from a business/customer perspective and performed detailed product demonstration for external and internal audiences to communicate the benefits of the solution.
Managed resources throughout the project lifecycle, ensuring timely delivery and a 25% reduction in post-deployment issues.

Tools: MS Office Suite, JIRA, Population Health Management Suite - CareConnect, 3D Analytics and Provider Directory

Technical Expertise: Population Health Management, EHR, Data Integration, HL7, CCDA, FHIR, MS Azure and API

TEKsystems | Chennai, India | Jul 2021 – May 2022

Product Owner, Healthcare division

TEKsystems is a leading provider of IT staffing, talent management, and IT services, helping organizations globally accelerate their digital transformation. Part of the Allegis Group, TEKsystems partners with businesses to provide specialized talent, strategic consulting, and managed services across a range of technology domains, including cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analytics, and digital experiences.

CLIENT: Thryve Digital Health LLP | Chennai, India

Product Owner, Clinicals | Jul 2021 – May 2022

Thryve Digital Health LLP specializes in providing digital transformation solutions and services to the healthcare industry, helping organizations enhance operational efficiencies, optimize costs, and improve patient outcomes. Leveraging advanced technology like AI, machine learning, and data analytics, Thryve Digital aims to streamline healthcare processes, from patient care management to billing and regulatory compliance. Their solutions focus on improving the healthcare experience by integrating seamless communication channels between patients, providers, and payers. Thryve Digital's commitment to innovation and quality makes it a key partner for healthcare entities looking to adopt digital strategies.

Acted as the customer advocate within the scrum team, ensuring priority features were delivered, resulting in customer satisfaction across program increments.
Collaborated with stakeholders to define features and user stories, driving a 15% improvement in cross-functional communication and project delivery.
Facilitated workshops and user acceptance activities, leading to an increase in requirement accuracy and efficient resolution of technical dependencies.
Led scrum team in defining project scope and prioritising backlog, which improved alignment with strategic goals and contributed to a reduction in delivery timelines.
Tracked and managed key deliverables, ensuring alignment with project objectives, while collaborating with cross-functional teams to mitigate risks and achieve successful outcomes.
Collaborated with the QA team to ensure comprehensive test coverage of user stories and requirements, and reviewed test results to assess impact and prioritize defect fixes.
Coordinated with key stakeholders and facilitated release demos, achieving 90% client approval rate and ensuring all tasks met compliance standards.
Led Program Increment (PI) planning sessions, by setting clear objectives, prioritising the backlog, and coordinating with cross-functional teams to align on goals and timelines, ensuring effective execution of product increments.
Supported the transition to production support, leading knowledge transfer sessions and improving post-release stability by 30%.

Environment: MS Office, Microsoft teams, RTC, ClearQuest, RequsitePro, Cherwell, HL7 FHIR, and SmileCDR.

Infosys Limited | Chennai, India | Nov 2019 – Jun 2021

Product Owner, Healthcare and Life Science (HILDCG) Unit

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, helping clients in more than 50 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With a focus on AI-powered solutions and digital services, Infosys offers a wide range of services including IT consulting, application development, systems integration, and outsourcing services, among others. Infosys also emphasizes continuous learning and innovation, with a large network of global innovation centers that foster cutting-edge technological advancements.

Consulted with business partners to clarify and define complex project requirements, budgets and business cases including statement of work (SOW) and vendor management.
Supervised and led project team organization, operating rhythm to ensure milestone and task completion, as well as early detection and resolution of potential risks and issues.
Fostered and maintained relationships with senior external and internal stakeholders to correctly manage expectations and achieve successful program outcomes.
Result orientated with a bias towards action, supporting a culture of ownership and learning.

Environment: MS Office Suite, MS Azure, eProcurement, STAT (Space tracking and allocation), ALCON, PBS (Budgeting system), IDS (Invoice Dispatch), Beeline, and CAG (Corporate Accounting).

CLIENT: CVS Health | Chennai, India | Nov 2019 – Jun 2021

Product Owner, PayFlex Operations

CVS Health is a health services leader in the United States, focusing on providing quality care and innovative solutions to improve patient outcomes. It operates through a broad range of services including pharmacy services, healthcare clinics, and insurance products. CVS Health aims to make healthcare more accessible and affordable through its extensive network of pharmacy locations and its digital health services. The company plays a pivotal role in the U.S. healthcare system with its integrated offerings that span across retail pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, and health benefits management through Aetna, one of its subsidiaries.

Led the development of the PayFlex mobile app (Android and iOS) and portal enhancements, driving business needs identification, validation, and implementation, resulting in a 30% increase in user engagement and a 25% reduction in support requests.
Architected phase-level product roadmaps in collaboration with the IT delivery leads, featuring comprehensive details, resulting in a 15% increase in team efficiency, demonstrating expertise in agile project management and team enablement.
Refined product backlog by defining epics and feature lists that aligned with business objectives, and collaboratively prioritized requirements with cross-functional teams.
Led requirements refinement and prioritization through collaborative review and grooming sessions, crafting clear user stories for high-impact features.
Fostered cross-functional collaboration with design, marketing, and IT teams to develop intuitive mockups, wireframes, and content for digital products, ensuring seamless compliance and project coordination, culminating in a 95% stakeholder satisfaction rate.
Facilitated defect triage with QA teams, yielding a 20% reduction in defects and a 15% boost in testing productivity, ensuring seamless product development and quality assurance.

Environment: MS Office Suite, Skype, MS teams, TFS, Invision, Zeplin, Adobe XD, Health Direct service portal, member portal (MWR), ER portal, CBAS, Glance, KANA and Live Person.

SmartWorks LLC | New Jersey, United States | Jun 2013 – Jul 2019

Lead Business Analyst, Healthcare division

SmartWorks, LLC is a technology solutions provider specializing in business intelligence, data analytics, custom software development, and enterprise application integration. The company focuses on delivering tailored IT solutions that enhance business performance and operational efficiency. Known for its client-centric approach and agile methodology, SmartWorks partners with organizations to understand their unique challenges and deliver innovative, scalable solutions leveraging advanced technologies. With a commitment to quality and long-term client relationships, SmartWorks helps businesses stay competitive by driving digital transformation and strategic growth.

CLIENT: Aetna | Connecticut, Unites States | Jun 2017 – Jul 2019

Senior Business Analyst, Aetna Quoting Center (AQC)

Aetna, a CVS Health company, is a leading healthcare benefits provider in the United States, offering a wide range of health insurance products and related services. Aetna serves individuals, employers, healthcare providers, and government entities with solutions including medical, dental, pharmacy, behavioral health, and disability plans. The company focuses on improving healthcare access, affordability, and quality through innovative health management programs and personalized care solutions. With a strong emphasis on preventive care and wellness, Aetna leverages data analytics and digital tools to enhance member experiences, optimize health outcomes, and drive value-based care.

Redesigned the CBAS billing system, enhancing enrollment file processing and transmission, which improved the accuracy and timeliness of member invoices and letters.
Led the refinement and grooming sessions that produced detailed user stories, improving clarity and development efficiency.
Managed the backlog in collaboration with key stakeholders, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and delivering features that enhanced user satisfaction and system functionality.
Led the adoption of Agile methodologies across projects, defining tailored processes and tools based on project specifics and goals, and developed comprehensive project artifacts, resulting in streamlined operations and enhanced team agility.
Conducted financial analysis to mitigate risks, leading to a reduction in project overruns and enhanced predictive measures for managing change in global business environments.
Directed a high-performing team, achieving around-the-clock productivity, reducing project delivery timelines by 25%, and ensuring successful rollout of new functionalities with a 30% reduction in critical defects post-launch.

Environment: MS Office Suite, Skype, AQC (Aetna Quoting Center), CCFE (Census), eProposal, RTC, RRC, CBAS (billing), ClearCase and ClearQuest.

CLIENT: Blue Cross and Blue Shield (HCSC) | Texas, United States | Jun 2015 – May 2017

Senior Business Analyst, ITG Applications and Portfolio Delivery

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas (Health Care Service Corporation - HCSC) is the largest customer-owned health insurer in the United States. HCSC provides a wide range of health insurance products and services, including individual and family health plans, Medicare and Medicaid options, and employer group plans. The company is committed to improving healthcare access and affordability while enhancing the overall health and wellness of its members. HCSC leverages data-driven insights, innovative care models, and a vast network of healthcare providers to offer personalized, high-quality care.

Orchestrated the strategic IT direction and service delivery for new product development and eSales system enhancements, overseeing a team of over 14 professionals, achieving project deliverables through robust collaboration.
Led the redesign of the quoting and renewals (Q&R) front-end portal, significantly enhancing user experience and expanding market reach, which subsequently increased referral rates.
Managed the product backlog effectively by collaborating with the senior management, product owners, and development teams to prioritize and size requirements, which streamlined release processes and improved project outcomes.
Coordinated the planning and implementation of specific testing protocols tailored to meet quality assurance standards for end users, enhancing product reliability.
Ensured seamless stakeholder engagement throughout the SDLC, adeptly handling change requests and ensuring stringent requirement traceability, which reduced project disruptions and aligned outcomes with strategic objectives.
Articulated and clarified project goals and scope, translating complex business needs into actionable technical requirements, and developed detailed WBS to promote shared responsibility and ensure on-time achievement of project milestones.
Developed and presented detailed cost-benefit analyses and return on investment assessments for proposed IT implementations, providing a reliable basis for strategic decision-making.

Environment: MS Office Suite, Jabber, JIRA, Rally, ALM, Clarity, eSales, BlueStar and SQL Server.

CLIENT: First Care Health Plan | Texas, United States | Jan 2015 – May 2015

Business Analyst, EDI Department

FirstCare Health Plan is a Texas-based health insurance provider dedicated to offering affordable, high-quality healthcare coverage to individuals, families, and businesses. FirstCare provides a range of health insurance options, including HMO, PPO, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid plans, tailored to meet the needs of diverse communities. The company emphasizes member-centric care, working closely with a network of healthcare providers to deliver comprehensive services and ensure optimal health outcomes.

Gathered and Prioritized customer product requirements, ensuring alignment with revenue goals and customer satisfaction.
Collaborated with vendors (UHG Optum, Megellan and Vitals) to document mapping specifications, essential for the development of various data files.
Provided EDI and system integration expertise, supporting system enhancements and SDLC standards implementation.

Environment: MS Office Suite, TFS, Axiom (Claims), HealthRules, Samanage and SQL Teradata.

CLIENT: Express Scripts Inc | Missouri, United States | Aug 2013 – Dec 2014

Business Analyst, Government Programs Division (GPD)

Express Scripts, part of Evernorth Health Services, is a leading pharmacy benefit management (PBM) company that provides comprehensive prescription benefit management services to employers, health plans, government agencies, and unions. The company focuses on making prescription medications more accessible and affordable while improving patient outcomes through data-driven solutions, advanced analytics, and innovative care models.

Managed large-scale program initiatives for business change and system implementations in the healthcare sector.
Collaborated with the business users to gather requirements and analyzed functionalities for seamless system integration.
Led technology integrations that optimized health operations, involving system design, development, and testing.
Established post-implementation feedback loops, providing continuous improvement insights to senior executives.

Environment: MS Office Suite, PEGA, Client benefit manager, Claims research tool and SQL Teradata.

Goodman Manufacturing Co | Texas, United States | May 2012 – Aug 2012

Quality Analyst (Intern), Quality Control Division (QCD)

Goodman Manufacturing, a member of Daikin Industries, Ltd., is a leading North American manufacturer of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) products. Known for its high-quality and energy-efficient residential and light commercial HVAC systems, Goodman offers a range of products including air conditioners, heat pumps, gas furnaces, and air handlers. The company focuses on reliable, cost-effective solutions that deliver comfort and energy savings to homeowners and businesses. With a strong emphasis on innovation and customer satisfaction, Goodman Manufacturing integrates advanced technologies in its products to enhance performance and durability. The company operates through a robust distribution network, making its products widely accessible across the U.S. and other markets.

Conducted audits and performed data analysis to identify the root cause for all the issues.
Evaluated Nonconformities (NC’s) that have occurred and took corrective actions to resolve, where it increased the production rate by 10%. Documented results of root cause analysis, the actions taken, and reviewed the effectiveness of the corrective action.
Generated quantitative reports for all types of issues pertaining to manufacturing and design.
Performed Bill of Material analysis and worked for engineering changes that resulted with increased quality and boosted efficiency level, which further led to product expansion.
Liaised with Quality Manager in developing a Quality Control (QC) reporting process across all categories which led to significant improvements and increased the sales by 20%.
Streamlined the Quality Control (QC) process through maintaining and updating Houston Quality Information System (HQIS) database that enabled Quality and Production managers with immediate access to product progress, production orders, and pricing information.

Syracuse University | New York, United States | Aug 2011 – May 2012

Faculty Assistant, School of Information Studies

The Syracuse University School of Information Studies (iSchool) is a leading institution for education and research in information science and technology. The iSchool emphasizes experiential learning, blending theoretical knowledge with practical skills through internships, research projects, and industry collaborations.

Conducted thorough requirements gathering by engaging with key stakeholders to understand project needs and objectives.
Analyzed and documented business processes, workflows, and system requirements to develop effective solutions for information management projects.
Collaborated with cross-functional teams, including developers, data scientists, and UX designers, to ensure alignment between business requirements and technical solutions.
Facilitated workshops and meetings to elicit, refine, and prioritize requirements, ensuring clarity and completeness for project deliverables.
Conducted gap analysis and identified areas for process improvement, recommending changes to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
Supported the development and implementation of project plans, timelines, and milestones, ensuring project objectives were met on time and within scope.
Assisted in user acceptance testing (UAT) by developing test cases, coordinating test efforts, and validating that solutions met stakeholder expectations.
Prepared and delivered presentations and reports to stakeholders, highlighting key findings, project status, and recommendations.

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