Dr. Mark Chockalingam

Founder and President

Dr. Mark Chockalingam is the President and CEO of Valtitude, which was rebranded from Demand Planning NET in 2019.  In an operational capacity, Mark serves as Chief Executive Officer of Valtitude and is responsible for strategy and general management.  

Mark has over twenty plus years of consulting and corporate experience in the areas of Predictive Analytics, Sales forecasting, Supply Chain Optimization, and Integrated Business Planning.  Mark is considered a Subject Matter Expert and a visionary thought leader in the areas of Demand Planning and SCM optimization.  He is passionate about helping businesses of all sizes transform their demand/supply process so as to better serve their customers, grow topline revenues and improve their profitability and stakeholder value.  

Mark has worked with companies ranging from the Fortune 500 such as Pfizer, Miller SAB, FMC, Colgate-Palmolive, Honeywell, Eastman Kodak, Pepsi Foods, Abbott, Qualcomm etc.  He also worked with many small and medium-sized companies to provide crisp solutions.  With the advent of the cloud, his vision is to bring the same technology and quantitative capabilities to the smaller businesses so they can better compete in the market place.  

Dr. Chockalingam is a renowned speaker and has facilitated numerous workshops around the world on supply chain topics.  

Prior to establishing his consulting practice, Mark has worked with manufacturing companies in important supply chain positions.

• Dr. Chockaliingam started his career as a Technical Advisor with the International Forecasting group at Federal Express in Memphis.
• Following this stint, he managed the Demand Forecast process for  the Suncare, Footcare and OTC businesses for Schering-Plough Consumer HealthCare in Memphis. 
• Mark moved to Gillette Company in Boston as Director of Market Analysis and Demand Planning.  The Gillette Company is now part of Proctor and Gamble. He played a key role in the supply chain transformation of the North American business and in the formation of the North American Value chain group.

Mark Chockalingam edits the Forecastingblog and also frequently writes on business strategy topics in his personal blog at Chockalingam Blog

Mark has a Ph. D. in Finance from Arizona State University, an MBA from the University of Toledo, and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Mark currently serves as the Executive Vice President of the Boston Chapter of APICS.

Mark is active with APICS or the Association for Supply Chain Management professionals and currently serves as the President of the APICS Massachusetts Minuteman Chapter.  Mark is also a founding member of the New England group of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.  

Rohan Asardohkar

Director of Operations

Rohan Asardohkar directs the Consulting operations for Valtitude and provides program management for client consulting projects.  In his role as Program Manager, he has worked on a variety of engagements both on process re-engineering as well as solution implementation. 

Some of the key engagements have been with Food and Beverage companies, CPG, Aerospace, and Chemicals.  His key focus is data analytics and statistical modeling to help clients improve their planning process.

Rohan holds a Master of Science in Engineering Management from Northeastern University in Boston and a Bachelors in Engineering from College of Engineering Pune (COEP).  He is also certified in the NorthEastern supply chain management program.

Rohan hails from a beautiful heritage city in India called Ambajogai and in his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his daughter and listening to classical Indian music.

Jay Nearnberg

Associate Principal

Jay Nearnberg is Associate Principal with Valtitude.  Jay is a Visionary, Analytical, High Integrity Supply Chain Transformation Consultant, Change Management Leader, Advanced Analytics Thought Leader, and Project Manager. He is passionate about helping businesses improve/transform their Supply Chain Performance, delivering bottom-line savings while enabling revenue growth.

Mr. Nearnberg has worked with companies, leading projects in the CPG, Consumer Healthcare, High Tech Electronics, Retail and Pharma industries in a variety of departmental leadership positions, project leadership, strategy development, business process reengineering, organizational readiness, and technical solution leadership roles. 

Jay has over 40 years of extensive global industry experience in Demand/Supply Planning, Analytics, Sales and Operations Planning, Sales and Operations Execution, Performance Assessments and Turnarounds, Process Improvements, Customer Collaboration, Inventory Management, Supplier Collaboration, ERP Integration, Procurement, Metrics, and Supply Chain Systems implementations. Jay also has extensive experience managing remote/virtual teams, leading virtual meetings and webinars.

Jay achieved global recognition for Innovation in the development of Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR).  Jay has a strong track record in effectively communicating and collaborating across functions and with all levels of leadership to guide strategic decision-making that maximizes performance and profitability, improves processes, and creates best practices. 

Jay’s Core competencies include:

• Innovation • Strategic Planning • Team Leadership • Continuous Improvement • Collaboration • Advanced Analytics • Change Management • Project Management • Client Relationship Management • Mentoring • Cloud • Training

Jay has an MBA from Hofstra University and a BS in Management Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Jay’s certifications include Certified Supply Chain Professional, Certified Professional Forecaster, Kinaxis Certified Author, Data-Driven Consulting (Northwestern, and 6 Sigma Green Belt (Villanova).

Jay’s professional affiliations include Advisory Board Member, MS in SCM, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, APICS Greater North Jersey Board Member, and VP Programs.

Curtis Hitchens

Senior Consultant

Curtis Hitchens is a Supply Chain leader with 15+ years of experience as both a practitioner and consultant with a focus on demand planning/S&OP-IBP in multiple industries.  Skilled in the use and integration of multiple software applications to achieve efficiencies, he has led multiple transformation projects involving process improvement and software implementation.  He has managed multiple consulting engagements in the CPG and Food and Beverage industries related to planning processes and system integration.

As a demand planning practitioner, Curtis managed the Demand Planning teams at Del Monte Pet Products, Diageo/Guinness, The Campbell’s Soup Company, and the Timberland Company driving consensus Demand Planning/S&OP processes. As a Demand Planning SME, he has managed the forecasting of highly seasonal – promotional products and has significant experience with new product introductions.

Curtis’s core competencies include:

Demand Planning • Statistical Forecasting • S&OP/IBP Process • CPFR/VMI • Project Management • Collaboration • Advanced Analytics • Change Management • Process Design • Training

Curtis has an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and a BS in Business Management from the Millersville University of PA.

Curtis has been dual APICS Certified (CPIM/CSCP) and has earned a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification.   He is professionally affiliated with the Institute of Business Forecasting (IBF) and has presented the New Product Introduction process and S&OP at multiple conferences.

Lakshmi Devi

General Manager

Lakshmi Devi Choudary is the General Manager at Valtitude Technologies India Private Limited.  She directs the India Operations of Valtitude based in Pune, India.  

Lakshmi holds a Master of Science in Organic Chemistry from VSM College in Andhra Pradesh, India.

She joined Valtitude in 2014 as the General Manager bringing in her professional expertise on board; she plays a major role in the management of the company in terms of employee management, company performance, and efficiencies.

She is responsible for day-to-day operations and leads the Finance and HR functions.  Lakshmi resides in Pune, India.