Co-Founder & CEO, Komal

Saarthak Kumar

I connect people, institutions, and ideas that don't normally meet.

I recruit board members and advisors for Komal through networks built across the UN, U.S. Department of Commerce, and India's diplomatic corps. At the UN Mission, I bridged delegations, industry lobbies, and multilateral blocs to move 6 resolutions. At Commerce, I connected federal enforcement with AI-driven intelligence. Columbia & LSE trained. Now building Komal — connecting families to the care they need.

About

Co-Founder & CEO of Komal, connecting families to the care they need. For 6 years, I've built operating systems for high-stakes environments where trust, coalitions, and speed determine outcomes.

At India's UN Mission, I built a negotiation OS that compressed decision cycles from days to hours and moved 6 resolutions. At UN-OHRLLS, I built dashboards for 32 vulnerable countries and helped lobby ~$3M from advanced economies. At the U.S. Department of Commerce, I led an AI early warning system that improved trade enforcement efficiency by ~25%.

Columbia (MPA, STEM, Quant GPA 3.8) • LSE (MPA) • Advised by Prof. Arvind Panagariya (Chair, India Finance Commission) • Based in New York.

~$3M Lobbied from Advanced Economies
6 UN Resolutions Negotiated
32 Countries Monitored
25% Monitoring Efficiency Gain
334 GRE Score (/340)
Rank 5 National Topper, Economics

Track Record

Systems, tools, and analytical frameworks built for high-stakes environments — from multilateral negotiation floors to federal trade enforcement.

Achievements & Recognitions

Advisor, India's UN Mission

Represented India in all AI governance discussions at the United Nations. Negotiated 6 multilateral resolutions (NAM, WSIS+20, ICZM, AgTech).

Lobbied ~$3M from Advanced Economies

Built dashboards for 32 vulnerable countries at UN-OHRLLS. Reported directly to PM/President-level leadership.

National Topper, Economics

Rank 5 nationally (98.8%). GRE: 334/340 (99th percentile). Dean's List, Christ University.

Triple-University Graduate

Columbia (MPA, STEM, Quant GPA 3.8) • LSE (MPA) • Christ University (Honours, GPA 3.84). Advised by Prof. Arvind Panagariya.

Young Economist Finalist

Top 6 out of 1,000+ entries nationwide. Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics.

Distinction on Honours Dissertation

SEM modelling gig & shared economy participation. 4.0/4.0. Best Speaker, Dept. of Economics.

Experience

November 2025 – Present

Co-Founder & CEO

Komal

Leads distribution and external relationships with institutional and group stakeholders. Owns outreach to interest groups, clinics, and ecosystem partners, runs pilots and workshops, and turns them into repeatable GTM motions. Handles ops around contracts, feedback loops, and expansion into new regions and channels.

April 2025 – December 2025

Advisor

Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, New York, NY

Advised on economic and policy issues at the UN, helping shape India's positions in multilateral negotiations and high-level forums. Represented India in all AI governance discussions. Negotiated multilateral resolutions (NAM, WSIS+20, ICZM, AgTech). Developed AI-driven tools including a negotiation tracker, automated briefing system, and geopolitical dashboard.

August 2024 – December 2024

Intern (Economic Affairs / Climate Change)

UN Office of the High Representative for LDCs, LLDCs & SIDS, New York, NY

Supported analytical and policy work for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. Authored a policy handbook for 32 LLDCs with 80+ indicators. Used R to estimate gravity models quantifying trade penalties from infrastructure gaps.

September 2023 – May 2024

Capstone Consultant

U.S. Department of Commerce, New York, NY

Applied quantitative and policy tools to address a live economic/commerce problem. Developed an AI-based Early Warning System for trade circumvention. Led firm-level and macro-level steel trade analysis using STATA and R.

June 2023 – August 2023

Research Intern

Centre for Social & Economic Progress (formerly Brookings India), New Delhi

Led econometric analysis for "Decoding State Growth." Built a state growth model and conducted OLS regressions to quantify drivers of GDPPC growth.

Education

2023 – 2024

Columbia University

Master of Public Administration (STEM)

International Finance & Economic Policy; Data Analytics & Quantitative Analysis. Quant GPA: 3.8/4.0. Built advanced capability in macro-econometrics, international trade and finance, and quantitative methods.

2022 – 2023

London School of Economics

Master's in Public Administration

Specialisation in Inequality & Poverty. Developed rigorous foundations in micro, macro, welfare analysis and political science to examine inequality and development.

2017 – 2020

Christ University

B.A. in Economics (Honours)

First Class, GPA: 3.84/4.0. 10,000-word dissertation using Structural Equation Modelling, earning a Distinction (4.0/4.0).

Testimonials

“Saarthak brings a rare combination of rigorous quantitative skills and grounded policy judgment. His work at the UN mission consistently improved the quality of our briefs and negotiations.”

— Project Managers, United Nations
Worked with Saarthak as supervising project managers on United Nations assignments.

“In my course, Saarthak stood out for his ability to translate complex econometric concepts into actionable insights for real‑world policy problems.”

— Professor, Columbia University
Taught Saarthak in graduate‑level public policy/economics coursework at Columbia.

Get in Touch

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