HandsOn Ventures

Our distinguished HOV team takes a special interest in the success of every portfolio company, in part because they make a significant personal capital contribution to each HOV fund.

In a career that has evolved from a technology entrepreneur to the creator of global service enterprises privately held or publicly traded on US and Foreign Stock Exchanges, Mr. Chadha’s accomplishments include more than 80 mergers, acquisitions and public offerings. In addition, through his vision, multiple private equity funds have been created and profitably deployed to acquire a myriad of assets ranging from mergers and acquisitions of businesses to the purchase of billions of dollars of commercial and consumer debt.

Before launching HOV, Mr. Chadha was Chairman and CEO of OSICOM Technologies, Inc., a technology company he founded with his wife, Sharon Chadha, in 1981. OSICOM was an innovator in the transition from mainframe-based to server-based networking technologies, and later from overlay networks to converged data, voice and video networks. OSICOM became a public company in 1987 and, as a result of 14 technology acquisitions, became the incubator to three leading public technology companies: Sorrento Networks, Inc. (the pioneer in metro optical networking); Entrada Networks, Inc. (a leader in local area, wide area and storage area networking); and Netsilicon, Inc. (a pioneer in networking systems-on-silicon). OSICOM commanded a market value of more than $1.5 billion in 2000 when they again embarked on a venture to build through acquisition a portfolio of potentially synergistic businesses at HandsOn Ventures, LLC.

Mr. Chadha holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Punjab Engineering College, India, and completed graduate-level coursework in computer science at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Vadim Brinzan, Managing Partner:

Mr. Brinzan has been working with HandsOn Ventures on various JV-type transactions since 2004 while an investment banker at Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. Prior to joining HOV, Mr. Brinzan served as a Director in Merrill Lynch’s Principal Investing group in New York (2001-2007), where he helped manage a multi-billion dollar portfolio of Merrill Lynch investments in public and private companies in consumer finance, financial services, business process outsourcing, and other sectors. Mr. Brinzan started his career at Merrill Lynch in Mergers & Acquisitions group in 2001 specializing in diversified industrials and power & energy sectors. Previously, Mr. Brinzan worked as a management consultant with Oracle Corporation in the U.S. (1999) and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Russia and other CIS countries, where he played leading roles in mass privatization projects in Ukraine and Moldova (1994-1996), as well as advised companies in various industries and sectors in Russia
(1996-1999).

Mr. Brinzan holds an MBA degree with honors from Harvard Business School and a M.S. in Physics with high distinction from Moldova State University.

Sunil Rajadhyaksha, Manager:
Founding member of HandsOn Ventures since 2001.

He co-founded Codec Pvt. Ltd. in 1989, an HOV acquisition and now a publicly traded company. With more than 30 years executive leadership experience, Mr. Rajadhyaksha has served as COO or Global President of companies deployed in the US and India. Mr. Rajadhyaksha’s achievements include launching international operations for Bay Area Credit Service and its 1000 plus seat call center, and creating and deploying strategic and operational direction for Merit Optical Communications.

Mr. Rajadhyaksha holds a B.S. degree in telecommunications and electronics from University of Pune, India, and a M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.

Surinder Rametra, Manager:
Helped form HandsOn Ventures in 2001 and serves as Chairman of the Board of HOV Services, Limited.

In 1983, Mr. Rametra founded Sun Computers and Software, Inc.; took that company public in 1994 under the name Ateck and as Chairman and CEO transformed the organization into a pharmaceutical enterprise, Interpharm Holdings, Inc., now traded on the American Stock Exchange. In a career that encompasses leadership to private enterprise and public charity, Mr. Rametra has been a director of Montana Life Assurance Company and Healthnet LLC; and founder of Silver Oak Hospital, Shanti Fund and Seva Bharti—charitable organizations.

Mr. Rametra holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Punjab Engineering College, India, a Master's degree in Industrial Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and an MBA in Finance from New York University, where he studied under visiting professor Peter Drucker, a luminary icon of Business Branding and Process.

Mr. Cheng recently retired as Chairman and CEO of Sorento Networks, Inc. a company he launched in 1997. He has served as President of Meret Optical Communications, Inc., Osicom Technologies, Inc., and of Dowslake Microsystems Corporation. His leadership experience and entrepreneurial accomplishments are instrumental in his appointment to direct HOV’s business development efforts in China and other Asian Countries.

Mr. Cheng holds a B.S. Degree in Physics from Nanjing University, China, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of California, Irvine.

Previously, Mr. Hunter was President of Bay Area Credit Service, a HandsOn Ventures acquisition in 2003. He has 30 years experience in the Accounts Receivable Management sector and provides strategic direction for group companies servicing or purchasing consumer and commercial debt in the US and in India. Mr. Hunter has also developed several debt collection management systems responsible for administrating billions of dollars of assets.

Mr. Hunter holds an Associate of Arts Degree from Diablo Valley College.

Ms. Khandwala served as Executive Vice President at Bay Area Credit Service from 1990 until joining HOV. With immense experience in operations, customer service and product support, Ms. Khandwala directs the strategic development of support systems and processes for group companies providing finance and accounting services in the Accounts Receivable Management Industry in the US and India. Her knowledge of the collection industry has been instrumental with recent acquisitions of companies within that sector.

Ms. Khandwala holds a B.S. Degree in Business Administration (Accounting) from San Jose State University.

Ms. Chadha joined the HOV Mergers and Acquisitions team, fund building and supporting administrative, transitional and due diligence operations. She has both studied in the US and Europe and worked for HOV in both the US and India.

Ms. Chadha holds a B.A. degree in International Economics and Economics from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Mr. Chadha joined the HOV Mergers and Acquisitions team in 2007. In addition to management of portfolio companies, he is participating in various M&A transactions. Additionally, Mr. Chadha is coordinating, developing and executing HOV’s investments into the renewable energy sector.

Mr. Chadha holds B.S. degrees in Biology and Chemistry from University of California, Irvine.

Mr. Charles is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in New York and Puerto Rico. He is currently a financial consultant providing transaction services. He was the Chief financial Officer of Interpharm Holdings from January 1999 to January 2004. From 1994 to 1999 he was a financial consultant to several public companies including acting as a Chief Financial officer of a Printing Company. He was a partner in the firm of Ernst & Young from 1966 to 1994.

Mr. Cogburn, President of Meridian Consulting Group, is a nationally recognized expert in the field of construction services, construction management and litigation support with a career spanning more than thirty years and decades of experience relative to nuclear, coal, natural gas, and landfill gas power plants into the development of renewable energies. He has provided executive leadership, recently serving as President of HOV Services, Ltd, and is currently serving as a Director of HOV Services providing guidance and leadership in the various service offerings. Mr. Cogburn is also a key member of the team developing HOV’s renewable energy investment platform.

Mr. Cogburn holds a B.S. Degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University and is a registered Professional Engineer.

He is an important addition to the team developing HOV’s renewable energy investment platform.

Mr. Brown graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in electrical engineering- controls and systems theory. As an undergraduate, Mr. Brown focused his academic curriculum on energy technology and economics, culminating his studies with a senior thesis on photovoltaic physics and production processes. Throughout his junior and senior year, Mr. Brown assembled and directed a research team of over 30 multidisciplinary students to investigate all aspects of the Biofuel industry. The research Mr. Brown produced resulted in a $3 MM grant to build a pilot biomass plant under Dr. Robert Cattolica.