Anurag Bajpayee

Co-Founder and CEO

Anurag Bajpayee is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gradiant. Under his leadership, Gradiant has evolved from a technology start-up into a global industry leader in cleantech water solutions. Anurag earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, where he worked on industrial desalination and water treatment. His doctoral work was recognized by Scientific American as a “Top 10 World Changing Idea” – it is now part of Gradiant’s technology portfolio. The co-author of seminal journal articles and the holder of several patents in the field of water treatment, Anurag holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri and a master’s and doctorate degree from MIT.

Prakash Govindan

Co-Founder and COO

Prakash Govindan is the Co-Founder and COO of Gradiant. Under his leadership, Gradiant has developed and commercialized a platform of sustainable treatment technologies, with the goal of solving the world’s most important water challenges. He leads all project acquisition and deployment activities in Asia Pacific, North America, and the Middle East, and is responsible for the expansion of Gradiant’s global corporate offices and R&D facilities.

At MIT, Prakash co-developed the Carrier Gas Extraction (CGE) system which became the flagship product and foundation for Gradiant. A holder of more than 100 patents, he also invented the Gradiant’s Counter-flow Reverse Osmosis (CFRO) and Selective Chemical Extraction (SCE) technologies. He has his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and master’s degree from IIT Madras.

Luke Johnson

Chief Financial Officer, CFO

Luke  Johnson, serving as Chief Financial Officer, was a part of the founding team that started Gradiant and is a co-founder of its subsidiaries. He has been instrumental in developing the divisional structure within the company that has allowed for rapid growth of the business across multiple jurisdictions and sectors. Under Luke’s financial leadership the company has successfully navigated business set up, risk and capitalization in the US, India, China and the Middle East. Prior to joining Gradiant, Luke has more than 20 years of financial and commercial experience in both the US and UK spanning private equity, major banks and, more recently, technology start-ups in the energy/clean tech sectors. He also was a member of the CPD Faculty at Harvard Business School covering energy, clean tech and entrepreneurship. Luke has an M.Sc. from Imperial College and a B.Sc. from the University of Bristol.

Lolita Trachtengerts

Managing Director - North America

Lolita Trachtengerts was on the leadership team of Desalitech, joining them in 2013. She grew in the organization by taking on diverse roles in process and project engineering, project management, and vice president of operations. Lolita served as the global product manager for CCRO after the Desalitech acquisition by DuPont Water in 2020. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Shenkar-Ramat Gan, Israel.

Sankar Natarajan

Managing Director - Singapore

Sankar Natarajan has over 25 years of industrial water experience, working for multinationals such as GE, VATECH Wabag, and Siemens. Across the years he has worked with wastewater from all industries including microelectronics, power, F&B, chemicals, paper and pulp, textiles, steel, and oil & gas.  Sankar holds a bachelor’s in chemical engineering from MIT, Manipal, and MBA from Singapore Management University.

Jason Tao Yu

Managing Director - Gradiant China

With more than 15 years of management and technical experience in the water industry, Jason Yu is the managing director of Gradiant China.

He was previously a regional director, preceded by a 9-year stint as district manager at some of the world’s largest water treatment companies. He also has experience in establishing influential start-ups across China. Jason holds a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Tongji University, and a Master of Business Administration from Hong Kong University.

Swaminathan Tanjore

President - Sigma Water

With over 30 years of experience in designing water, wastewater and recycling treatment systems, Swaminathan Tanjore heads Sigma Water, Gradiant’s Southeast Asia division.

His deep expertise and outstanding track record in business, sales, and marketing, as well as process design in various water treatment systems for industrial clients, enables him to lead the engineering, and R&D activities at Sigma Water. Swami was previously a Principal Water Specialist at Equinor (formerly Statoil), in their SAGD operations in Canada.

Francis McKeever

Managing Director – Gradiant Australia

Francis McKeever has over 25 years of global water experience working with established multi-nationals, with extensive experience in the Australia/New Zealand market. Francis joined Gradiant in 2019 as the VP of Growth. He holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Cambridge (UK) and MBA from Henley Management College (UK).

Ravi Selvaraj

Managing Director - Gradiant India

As Gradiant India’s managing director, Ravi Selvaraj brings an indispensable level of expertise and network to the business. With over 30 years of experience in leadership roles across the water and wastewater industry, he has held roles at Praj Industries, Ecolab, Nalco, and Ion Exchange. He founded and managed Aqua Chemicals and Systems for over a decade, a firm with more than 100 employees.

Ravi leads Gradiant India with his wealth of knowledge and a deep understanding of the Indian and international wastewater landscape, alongside a strong, dedicated team.

K. Sadanand

Managing Director - Indonesia

With over three decades of experience, K. Sadanand has consistently delivered superior performance covering the entire range of value chain of engineering and specialty chemicals in the field of water and wastewater treatment. He has held leadership positions with multinationals such as GE Water, Crane Environmental, Nalco Water, and Solenis Inc. Based out of Jakarta, he was the Indonesia country manager for Ion Exchange in the 1990’s and Solenis’ regional sales director of Southeast Asia for over seven years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering graduate from AC Tech Chennai and an executive diploma in international business and finance from LIBA Chennai, India. K. Sadanand is an active member of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Thai Nam Nguyen

Managing Director - Vietnam

Nguyen Thai Nam has more than 20 years’ experience in the water industry, in project development and execution and municipal and industrial water and wastewater. Prior to joining the Gradiant family, Nam served as business development country representative for Veolia Water Solutions and Technologies, a leading water technology company. In joining Gradiant, Nam brings expertise in international industry best practices, and a deep understanding of the business and regulatory environment industry of Vietnam.

Kaarthic Madhavan

Senior VP, Global BD & Sales

Kaarthic Madhavan leads Gradiant’s global business development and commercial efforts including contract and customer management. He has been with Gradiant since inception and developed Gradiant’s internal framework to engage with Fortune 500 clients. Prior to Gradiant, Kaarthic worked at Schlumberger across product development, manufacturing, operations and business administration. He has a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Felix Wang

VP of Marketing

Felix Wang is the VP of Marketing at Gradiant. He’s responsible for Gradiant’s global marketing and branding strategy to maximize business growth and industry reputation. Felix is an accomplished water industry executive with a unique blend of over 20 years’ experience in the sales, marketing, and delivery of global water & wastewater treatment projects and technologies, from diverse perspectives of the manufacturer, contractor, and consultant. He is an internationally recognized expert in membrane technologies and integrated systems, with a customer- and growth-focus in the global markets. Prior to Gradiant, Felix has served leadership roles at DuPont (Dow) Water Solutions and CH2M HILL (now Jacobs). Felix earned his Bachelor’s in Environmental Science from Indiana University, and Master’s in Environmental Engineering from Virginia Tech.

Rick Stover

VP of Technology

Richard Stover is the technical leader of Gradiant’s membranes business, focused on high recovery desalination and minimum liquid discharge solutions for industrial wastewater, seawater, and brine treatment applications. He is recognized globally for expertise in reverse osmosis systems and components. He has been issued numerous patents and awards including the European Desalination Society’s Sidney Loeb award for outstanding innovation. Prior to Gradiant, Rick was the CTO of Energy Recovery and Executive VP of Desalitech, where in both roles was responsible for development, commercialization and global scale-up. Rick earned his doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Hiep Le

VP of Process Applications & Engineering

Hiep Le is Gradiant’s VP of Process & Applications Engineering. Hiep earned his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and has 25 years of experience in the design, construction, commissioning, and operations of advanced water & wastewater treatment and reuse facilities for the world’s essential industries, including microelectronics, power, mining, and food & beverage sectors. He is an internationally recognized expert in membrane systems, sustainable water reuse and brine concentration, and digital solutions. Hiep was awarded the International Desalination Association Emerging Leader Award.