Ravi Krishnan is a key and prominent name in the business of Sports, Entertainment and Media in India. He has been awarded the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year in Service Business – Fitness’ award at the 5th edition of the Entrepreneur India 2015 Awards. Ravi was featured in Sports Illustrated at No. 27 in the 50 Most Influential People in Indian Sport (February, 2010). He was also featured in Business Today (2004) as one of India’s Top 25 Executives under the age of 40. In April 2012, Ravi co-founded Stepathlon Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. (SLPL), a global wellness company that aims to create an ecosystem promoting corporate health, happiness and productivity by increasing daily activity, through a unique Mass Participation initiative. Ravi, a lawyer by training, was part of the four-member team that was sent, in 1995, to set up IMG’s operations in India. The ensuing 20 years has seen Ravi develop an enormous well of experience in conducting business in the Indian subcontinent. Through various sponsorship and marketing deals with India’s largest companies, Ravi has cultivated a formidable range of business and personal relationships. At IMG, he was instrumental in creating properties such as the Sahara Cup, The Aircel Chennai Open, (India’s only ATP event) Lakme India Fashion Week, Royal Challenge Indian Open Golf Tournament, Avantha Masters and Philips National Football League amongst many other events across several genres. In April 2006, in his quest to explore new territories, Ravi took up an advisory role in IMG, and promoted Abler Advisory Private Ltd, an investment advisory focused primarily on helping global stakeholders looking for Indian Market Entry to identify/create, own and monetize assets and business opportunities.
Ravi also played a key strategic role, in the capacity of Vice Chairman, with the Rajasthan Royals, champions of Indian Premier League 2008, in advising the Franchise on Commercial, Player, Operational and Strategic matters. In April 2009, Ravi returned to IMG India as the Managing Director South Asia/ Senior VP IMG. In addition to consolidating and growing events such as DLF IPL, Aircel Chennai Open, Lakme Fashion Week, Ravi was charged with developing potential new business opportunities in the field of Sports, Entertainment and Media. Other notable achievements include being involved in the formation of a Joint Venture with Reliance Industries Ltd to form IMG Reliance, which oversaw the securing of long-term arrangements with both the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and the ALL India Football Federation (AIFF) to develop those Sports in India. With Stepathlon, Ravi has created a niche product in the health and wellness category which has become one of the biggest mass participation events in the country.