Karan Shah is a recognized leader in Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) and Finance Transformation. With over 14 years of experience leading digital finance programs for Fortune 500 companies, he blends deep technical expertise with strategic business acumen to deliver high-impact solutions across industries such as media & entertainment, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and high-tech. With advanced degrees in Engineering Management from Johns Hopkins University and Information and Communication Technology from DAIICT, he consistently bridges the gap between finance strategy and technology execution.

Strategic Delivery & Implementation Excellence

Karan approaches EPM transformations with a focus on aligning technology with business value. His methodology emphasizes strong governance, stakeholder alignment, and adaptive planning to ensure program success. By applying first-principles thinking, he simplifies architecture, accelerates reconciliation, and enhances operational efficiency. His delivery playbook includes comprehensive risk mitigation, ongoing quality assurance, and measurable impact.

In one of his most notable engagements, Karan led the Group Reporting Consolidation for a major technology merger. He directed the sales and delivery of a $2M SAP Group Reporting and SAP Analytics Cloud transformation to establish a unified consolidation platform aligned with post-merger integration strategy. Managing a global team of 10+, he delivered real-time reporting capabilities that enabled financial transparency, directly contributing to $6M+ in incremental revenue.

In another engagement, he led the FP&A transformation workstream as part of a multi-year SAP S/4HANA Central Finance program for a global semiconductor leader. He oversaw a cross-functional team of 12, redesigned planning processes across OPEX, CapEx, P&L, and revenue. This solution established a scalable planning backbone and significantly improved reconciliation across ECC and S/4 environments.

Innovation & Future Vision

Karan is deeply invested in driving innovation within finance. His expertise across SAP technologies—including S/4HANA, Group Reporting, SAP Analytics Cloud, and SAP BPC—allows him to identify process optimization opportunities through automation and intelligent design. He actively helps clients explore the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in finance, including predictive analytics, intelligent forecasting, and automation.

He envisions the future of EPM as increasingly real-time, predictive, and insight-driven. In one project, he engineered a performance optimization that reduced amortization runtime from over 4 hours to under 5 minutes, significantly accelerating processing and enabling more agile financial closes.

"Transformation success is not just about technology—it’s about aligning people, processes, and purpose."

Leadership, Team Development & Global Delivery

As a global delivery leader, Karan has managed teams across North America, Europe, and Asia, often leveraging a 60% to 70% offshore delivery model. He builds clear delivery structures, promotes accountability, and embeds coaching and knowledge transfer into every engagement. His leadership style fosters collaboration, empowerment, and continuous capability uplift.

Knowledge sharing is a cornerstone of his approach—he drives internal enablement through structured training, detailed documentation, and team mentoring to ensure sustainable delivery models post-implementation.

Change Management & Stakeholder Alignment

Karan understands that successful system implementation goes beyond technology. He emphasizes early stakeholder engagement, transparent communication, and tailored change management strategies to drive adoption and alignment.

While leading the FP&A workstream for the S/4HANA Central Finance implementation, he partnered closely with senior FP&A and IT stakeholders to reimagine planning processes. His strategic engagement ensured strong user adoption and organizational readiness, reinforcing the transformation's long-term success.

Performance Optimization & Compliance

Karan’s expertise extends to building robust financial consolidation and planning systems that drive auditability, accuracy, and compliance. He designs systems with capabilities such as intercompany eliminations, FX translation, validation logic, and automated journal entries—ensuring statutory reporting integrity.

He also focuses on optimizing performance through architecture simplification and streamlined logic models. In multiple engagements, he consolidated complex scripts into a unified calculation engine, reducing maintenance costs and improving system scalability.

Conclusion

Karan views transformation not merely as a technology initiative but as a means to unlock strategic outcomes. His engagements are anchored in asking the right questions: Where is decision-making lagging? What insights are missing? What will unlock agility and growth? His objective is to move finance from being a back-office function to becoming a strategic, real-time driver of enterprise value. Yet, technology alone does not drive change—people do. That is why he places equal emphasis on building internal capability, fostering cross-functional alignment, and mentoring teams alongside designing robust solutions. Whether modernizing platforms, enabling AI-driven planning, or reshaping performance models, Karan’s mission is clear: to help organizations lead with clarity, act with confidence, and build a finance function that is truly future-ready.

He continues to shape the future of finance by enabling organizations to transform their EPM functions with intelligent technology and strategic foresight. Known for his ability to navigate complexity while delivering business value, Karan remains a trusted advisor for CFOs and technology leaders. His commitment to innovation, performance, and client success drives measurable outcomes and prepares enterprises for the next generation of finance transformation.