Solara Active Pharma Announces Key Appointments: Sarat Kumar As CFO, Sandeep Rao As MD & CEO, & Vishal Mathur As CBO
Sarat Kumar has been appointed as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and designated as a Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) of Solara Active Pharma Sciences Limited, effective February 21, 2025. He succeeds Arun Kumar Baskaran, who stepped down from the position on the same date due to personal reasons.
Meanwhile, Sandeep Rao has been appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of the company, also effective February 21, 2025, subject to shareholder approval. He takes over from Poorvank Purohit, who stepped down from the role on the same date, citing personal reasons.
Further, Vishal Mathur has been appointed as the Chief Business Officer (CBO) of the company in the capacity of Senior Management Personnel (SMP).
Sarat Kumar has over 18 years of experience; he has led finance functions across diverse sectors, including pharmaceuticals (Strides Pharma Science Ltd.), biologics CDMO (BioCina), power (Torrent Power), and oil & gas (Shell Plc.). He has been the CFO of Tenshi Pharma, supporting finance and operations across the API platform and other pharma assets. Before this, he was CFO at BioCina, an Adelaide-based PE-backed Biologics CDMO. Kumar holds a Sloan Fellowship in Leadership & Strategy from the London Business School, UK, a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, India, and is a member of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India.
Sandeep Rao has over 25 years of experience; he is known for strategic growth-orientated thinking, identifying value-creating opportunities, managing high-performance teams, and executing partnerships. He has served as the CEO of Tenshi Pharma since July 2024, overseeing business operations across the API platform and other pharma assets within the family office. Previously, he was Vice President and Head of Business Development for Emerging Markets at Viatris, across regions including Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Before Viatris, Sandeep worked for 16 years at Biocon, with his last role being Senior Vice President and Head of the Insulins business. Rao holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow, and a master’s degree in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai.
Vishal Mathur’s recent role was as Chief Commercial Officer and Management Committee Member at Cohance Lifesciences. Previously, as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Emcure’s API division, he doubled API business revenue, led portfolio development, and launched the API Plus vertical. Vishal also spent 16 years at Glenmark Lifesciences, where he served as VP of sales & marketing. He holds an MBA from the Chetana Institute of Management.
