Keshav Acharya
Mr. Keshav Acharya is one of the most renowned and respected economists of Nepal. He has over 30 years of experience working at Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) – the Central Bank of Nepal and Ministry of Finance (MoF), thereby has contributed greatly in achieving the country’s macroeconomic goals and objectives.
Mr. Acharya joined Economic Research Department of NRB in 1977 as Assistant Director and retired as Executive Director from the same Department in 2008. While at NRB, Mr. Acharya was also seconded as Senior Economic Advisor to MoF and also as Senior Advisor to the Executive Board of the South-East Asian Voting Group of the International Monetary Fund, headquartered in Washington, D.C. During his tenure at the Central Bank, Mr. Acharya also represented NRB as Chair in the Board of Directors of (i) Agriculture Development Bank of Nepal, (ii) Western Region Rural Development Bank, and (iii) Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation. He also served as member of the Board of Directors of (i) Securities Board Nepal, and (ii) Nepal Stock Exchange.
From February 2016 Mr. Acharya is working as Senior Programme Advisor at Economic Policy Incubator (EPI), a UK Government assisted project with its Steering Committee composing of MoF, Nepal, National Planning Commission (NPC) and NRB. EPI is a demand led, flexible and adaptive programme, which is supporting Federal and Sub-National Governments (Provincial and Municipal) in implementing evidence-based economic policies.
In personal capacity, currently Mr. Acharya is Chair of the Board of Directors of (i) National Microfinance, (ii) Financial Research & Training Institute (FRATI), and (iii) Aviyan Capital Management Pvt. Ltd. He is also a Member of Advisory Board of Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), the apex private sector body representing Nepali industries. He, likewise, is a Life Member and Executive Member of Nepal Economic Association, an umbrella organization of Nepali Economists.
Mr. Acharya has publications to his credit in the area of monetary, financial, external, and real sectors of the Nepali economy.
Mr. Acharya holds M. Sc. Degree in Financial Studies from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (UK) and Masters in Economics from Tribhuvan University, and University of the Philippines, School of Economics.
Mahendra Shrestha
Mr. Mahendra Shrestha is a seasoned investment professional with over 30 years of experience in investment banking, private equity, & other financial services and advisory businesses. He possesses an extensive international experience and expertise in principal and alternative investments, merger and acquisitions, debt financing, and others including project finance; joint venture; asset divestment/dispositions; sourcing, execution, and closing of commercial transaction; real estate including hospitality asset management; transaction negotiations; distressed debt/asset acquisition, management, restructuring and recovery; project management, supervision & monitoring; and real estate & business enterprise valuation.
As a joint venture partner, Mahendra also possesses a deep and broad experience of developing and/or renovating/upgrading a number of residential condominium buildings, office buildings, hotels, and resorts in Thailand. He also supervised and monitored operation/management of commercial real estate properties, such as office buildings and hotels/resorts that were acquired by his employers.
Till Dec 2018, Mahendra was working in Southeast Asia for around 24 years, and has held senior management positions at various multinational investment banks, private equity firms, and other financial services & advisory companies, such as CAS Capital/Apollo Global Management LLC, Standard & Chartered, Nomura Securities, Lehman Brothers, and American Appraisal.
While in Southeast Asia, Mahendra, as one of the lead underwriters and/or deal manager had evaluated and carried out/managed and led due-diligence and underwriting including financial modeling & pricing/valuation of around 150 commercial transactions of real estate assets including hospitality, and distressed (non-performing) debts/assets that were considered for purchasing/acquiring and/or debt financing. Worth billions of USD, the real estate transactions included various asset classes of both residential and commercial real estate including hospitality. Of the total 150 transactions, around 30 with a total investment amount of around USD 2.5 billion. were successfully acquired/closed.
Also, while in Southeast Asia, Mahendra supervised and/or was in-charge of managing resolution/restructuring and recovery of around 18 portfolios of non-performing commercial/corporate, SME & consumer loans/assets with a face value of around USD 3.5 billion that comprised of over 50,000 borrower accounts in the countries of Thailand, Malaysia & the Philippines.
Currently, Mahendra chairs the Board of Directors of Aviyan Investment Group of Nepal (AIGN) and is also Managing Director of Aviyan Capital Management Pvt. Ltd. Additionally, he is also a Co-Founder & Chief Financial Officer of Enfinitty Ventures, Inc; a technology startup headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA.
Mahendra received an MBA from Asian Institute of Management, Philippines and M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from L’Viv Polytechnic National University, Ukraine. He is fluent in English, Nepali and Hindi and is conversant in Russian.
Mr. Shiv Keyal