Nitha Raja

Corporate strategy and corporate development leader with 15+ years of post-MBA experience across Deloitte and in-house corporate strategy in the global strategy office at Cipla. $4.7B+ in buy side and sell side transaction value across insurance, energy, aerospace, forestry and pharma. Sets enterprise strategy with executive teams and Boards, builds valuation cases for go/no-go decisions, and runs integration and separation management offices through close. Advises provincial agencies, Crown corporations and regulators on strategy, operating models and financial sustainability.

Experience across Canada, the US and India.

Manager, M&A Advisory and Enterprise Value Creation at Deloitte Canada (2021-08 – Present)

Joined as Senior Consultant; promoted to Manager in under two years.

• Separation management offices and integration, $1.4B+. Built the cross-border integration playbook for MDA Space’s $550M acquisition of Satixfy (talent retention, culture, in-house M&A capability); ran the separation management office for Cenovus’s $660M divestiture of 350 retail outlets, including TSA design; ran the separation management office across 12 workstreams through close on Resolute’s $220M Thunder Bay mill sale; built Staples Canada’s integration playbook and synergy tracking plan; led commercial due diligence on PE carve-outs in Canada and the US.
• Integration communications on a $3.3B acquisition, Definity Financial. Led and uplifted the Integration Management Communications (IMC) workstream across branding, marketing and communications for Definity’s acquisition of Travelers Canada; executed the Day 1 communication program, managed broker and customer experience for zero value leakage, and drove the IMC team to self-sufficiency and exit from IMO support.
• Financial sustainability strategy, RECO (delegated administrative authority). Worked with the CEO, CFO and Chief Regulatory Officer of Ontario’s real estate regulator to develop the approach to close a $5.3M operating deficit and reach full cost recovery by 2028, and supported delivery to the ministry; diagnosed budgets, forecasts and cash flow, and designed the fee structure, new revenue streams, reserve management policy, and governance model for future fee revisions.
• Public-private operating model, provincial registry (confidential). Designed the concessionaire model for privately operated registry services, including performance targets, implementation milestones, and an incentive and penalty mechanism engineered to reward genuine performance over metric gaming.
• Crown Corporation to GBE transformation, APMC. Developed the transformation approach and market entry strategy to convert the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission into a Government Business Enterprise, underpinning the Bitumen Royalty-in-Kind (BRIK) program and supporting a $900M CAD borrowing and trading authorization.
• Growth strategy and new market entry, Teranet. Led the strategy program to grow and diversify revenue for Ontario’s land registry and GIS operator, evaluating new market entry options including digital twins and 3D interactive mapping against provincial economic development objectives.
• Performance management and planning. Defined value drivers, KPIs and governance tracking for the financial health of Saskatchewan Health Authority’s provincial network; redesigned MLSE’s FP&A process end-to-end to improve forecast accuracy, cash flow and working capital; delivered $7M in annual logistics savings and EBITDA uplift at Sunrise Farms through cost transformation and governance.
• Team and practice leadership. Leads engagement teams of up to 6 senior associates and consultants and manages up to 12 stakeholders across reports and peers; manages engagement budgets; coaches and develops junior talent in the M&A advisory practice; leads pipeline development and client relationship management. Recipient of the Deloitte Green DOT Award for outstanding performance and client impact.

Senior Manager, Corporate Strategy at Cipla Limited (2018-03 – 2021-04)

Global strategy office | Strategy Consultant, Mar 2018 – Jun 2019

• Enterprise strategy. Shaped the corporate strategy to move Cipla from #3 to #2 in the Indian pharma market, anchored in the flagship respiratory franchise, combining organic levers (HCP engagement, prescription growth, pipeline) with inorganic growth through M&A and licensing across all therapy areas.
• Strategic planning, Board and executive reviews. Contributed to annual operating planning, strategic business planning and aspiration setting, running strategy offsites for CXOs and SVPs from the Chief Strategy Officer’s and CEO’s offices; coordinated all Board and executive management reviews on a monthly and quarterly cadence; deployed the KPI framework and therapy-specific KPIs to assess division effectiveness and surface market gaps; critically vetted divisional content before C-suite review, bridging management and divisional perspectives.
• Capital allocation and M&A. Evaluated 12 M&A and licensing portfolios across India, US and EMEA and progressed 5 deals, building NPV and IRR models for go/no-go recommendations to the Chief Strategy Officer’s office; led the acquisition and launch of two US$100M brands, IV Tramadol from Avenue Therapeutics ($215M potential consideration) and plazomicin; built Cipla’s end-to-end M&A playbook.
• Strategic partnerships and innovation. Set evaluation criteria and governance for partnerships, including drug and device combination partners structured as SPVs or JVs in respiratory therapy; built cross-border partnerships with Aptar (smart inhalers, spirometers), Wellthy and Breathfree; evaluated 100 healthcare startups through the INNOVENTIA program, leading to partnerships and family office investment.
• Commercial excellence and cost. Designed a lead and lag indicator framework for a 7,500-person salesforce across 21 therapy areas (+2% productivity, +7% forecast accuracy); co-led a leadership development program with HR; facilitated cross-functional workshops delivering $500K annualized savings on a $3.5M cost base.

Senior Consultant at Avalon Consulting (2015-08 – 2017-01)

• Management consulting.

Transformed Lakshmi

Foods from a wholesaler model to full FMCG go-to-market, lifting ROCE from 13% to 25%; built TVS’s multi-brand service network of 50 outlets (~INR 90Cr revenue) with a Balanced Scorecard delivering +28% parts offtake and +25% NPS; designed a direct market entry strategy generating INR 35Cr in new revenue.

Senior Account Specialist and Senior Specialist, Marketing at Cummins Inc. (2011-06 – 2015-08)

• Commercial strategy and operations. Recovered share at Indian Railways’ ICF from 32% to 85% against Caterpillar in 18 months through CXO engagement; led annual operating planning and strategic business planning; redesigned S&OP for the aftersales division (+90% offtake, AOP exceeded); led a 15-person cross-functional team lifting DEMU output from 9 to 12 engines per month; Six Sigma Green Belt project delivered +20% material margins.

MBA in Marketing – Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune

B.E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering – Anna University (MIT Chennai)