---
title: "Alok Poundrik - Regional Head - Academia & Government in Bangalore Urban | Tal"
description: "Meet Alok Poundrik, Regional Head – Academia & Government @ LinkedIn | Enterprise SaaS Sales Leader | Higher Education, K-12 & EdTech | Talent, Learning & Employer Branding | Team Handling | Bengaluru based in Bangalore Urban. AI stack includes claude and gemini."
image: "https://tal.club/meet/alok-poundrik/share-image"
---

# Alok Poundrik on Tal

## Headline

Regional Head – Academia & Government @ LinkedIn \| Enterprise SaaS Sales Leader \| Higher Education, K\-12 & EdTech \| Talent, Learning & Employer Branding \| Team Handling \| Bengaluru

## About

I help universities, schools and government institutions in India turn talent, skills and employer brand into a measurable advantage — and I build the teams that make it happen\. I am Regional Head – Academia & Government at LinkedIn India, where I lead the Higher Education, K\-12, EdTech, Non\-Profit and Public Sector business\. Over 15 years I have built a career in enterprise SaaS and subscription sales — carrying quota, opening new territory, structuring multi\-year agreements and coaching people to do the same\. My work sits at the intersection of education and technology: helping a Vice Chancellor evidence graduate outcomes for NAAC and NIRF, helping a CHRO hire niche faculty who never apply to job portals, and helping a placement head see live labour\-market demand instead of last year's data\. What I do: Own and grow the Academia & Government segment across India and South Asia — new logo acquisition, expansion and renewals\. Sell and solution the full LinkedIn Talent Solutions portfolio: LinkedIn Recruiter, Job Slots, Hiring Assistant, Talent Insights, LinkedIn Learning and Career Pages\. Engage Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, Registrars, Directors, CHROs, CIOs and Heads of Placement through long, multi\-stakeholder decision cycles\. Build territory and account plans, forecast with discipline, and work commercial structures through deal desk and pricing\. Lead, mentor and enable sales and SDR colleagues — pipeline reviews, joint calls, negotiation coaching and onboarding of new team members\. How I think about customers: I have never believed a signature is the finish line\. The institutions I work with are spending money that belongs to students, donors or the public — so the bar is simply higher\. That is also why a large share of my pipeline comes from referrals: leaders introduce me to their peers\. Customer value first, revenue as the consequence — that has been the most reliable growth strategy I have found\. Beyond the quota, I run Rock Your Profile sessions on campuses across India — helping students build a professional presence, discover skills\-first hiring and become visible to recruiters\. Employability is the problem I care most about\. Domains: Higher Education \| K\-12 & School Groups \| EdTech \| Government & Public Sector \| Non\-Profit Products: LinkedIn Recruiter \| Job Slots \| Hiring Assistant \| Talent Insights \| LinkedIn Learning \| Career Pages \| Sales Navigator Open to conversations on partnerships, campus employability programmes and skills\-first hiring\. Reach me at apoundrik@linkedin\.com\.

## Location

Bangalore Urban

## AI stack

claude

gemini

## Work experience

Regional Head \- Academia & Government at LinkedIn, Nov 2025 \- Present · 1 yr, Greater Bengaluru Area, I lead LinkedIn's Academia & Government business in India — the segment covering universities, deemed universities, autonomous colleges, K\-12 school groups, EdTech firms, non\-profits and public sector bodies\. \~Built the Public Sector and Higher Education practice for LinkedIn India from the ground up — territory design, segmentation, account mapping and go\-to\-market motion\. \~Own the full sales cycle end to end: prospecting, discovery, solution design, commercial structuring, negotiation and closure of multi\-year subscription agreements\. \~Delivered 146% of quarterly quota in my first full quarter in seat while ramping on a new portfolio\. \~Closed a multi\-year hiring partnership with Vellore Institute of Technology \(VIT\), one of India's largest private universities, and multiple further multi\-year agreements across universities, school groups and non\-profits\. \~Engage Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, Registrars, CHROs, CIOs and Heads of Placement — translating LinkedIn's Hiring, Learning, Branding and Talent Intelligence portfolio into NAAC, NBA, NIRF and placement outcomes\. \~Mentor and enable Sales Development, Customer Success and partner colleagues on academic buying cycles, GST and procurement realities, and consultative discovery in the education segment\. \~Run Rock Your Profile and employability sessions for students and faculty across campuses in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the wider South, building brand equity that converts into pipeline\. \~Partner with Deal Desk, Pricing, Legal and Customer Success to structure commercially viable, compliant multi\-year contracts for public and grant\-funded institutions\.

Regional Sales Manager at Wolters Kluwer India, May 2025 \- Oct 2025 · 6 mos, Bengaluru, \~Led regional sales across South India for subscription\-based knowledge and decision\-support platforms, selling to medical universities, teaching institutions and large academic hospital groups\. \~Managed institutional partnerships with university leadership, deans, librarians and academic administrators — running the full cycle from consultation and trial to procurement and renewal\. \~Built the case for platform adoption around teaching quality, accreditation evidence and learner outcomes, rather than product features\. \~Grew and defended a renewal base while opening new institutional accounts across the region\.

Manager \- Digital Sales \(APAC\) at Clarivate, Mar 2021 \- Apr 2025 · 4 yrs 2 mos, Penang, Malaysia, \~Managed and grew a portfolio of Academia & Government accounts across India — universities, research institutions, national bodies and government\-funded laboratories\. \~Sold and renewed research intelligence and analytics subscriptions used for research assessment, benchmarking, rankings performance and institutional strategy\. \~Advised Vice Chancellors, Directors, Deans of Research and Chief Librarians on using research and ranking data to strengthen institutional standing — including inputs into global and national ranking submissions\. \~Progressed from digital sales into strategic account management, consistently carrying and delivering against an annual quota\. \~Ran renewals, upsell and cross\-sell motions across a multi\-product portfolio with high retention\. \~Worked across international markets and multi\-country teams, coordinating with product, marketing and customer success on complex institutional deals\.

Sr\. Account Manager \- Sciences \(South Asia and Southeast Asia\) at Clarivate, Jun 2017 \- Mar 2021 · 3 yrs 10 mos, Bangalore, Key Deliverables: • Shouldering whole business responsibility of considerable customer engagement in South Asia and Southeast Asia • Successfully handling new sales/renewals/cross\-sales and up\-sales of domains pertinent to intellectual property, science products and services business • Played a significant role for collaborating with corporate/government/academic sectors along with managing publisher relations • Instrumental in generating revenue by accomplishment of new business targets via licensing/subscription of research based analytical solutions and knowledge tools • Proficient in Salesforce for tracking sales cycle and generating forecast • Proactively supporting quarterly business reviews \(QBR\) in partnership with sales team • Strategically accountable for broad range of tasks which included – diligently attending to requirements of customers; people management; formulating partnership\-building strategies with the head of institutions; conception/execution of sales plans; channel partner management • Systematically handling publisher business for South Asia and Southeast Asia i\.e\. ScholarOne™ and Publons Noteworthy Accolades • Managing $1\.5M business from assigned territory • Received most prestigious and coveted award ‘Winner’s Circle’ for achieving 143% of new business target and 100% of retention target • First business development person in team to establish market for new products \(ScholarOne™ and EndNote™\) in South Asia and Southeast Asia • Prudent in taking additional responsibility to develop the licensing/subscription market in Maldives and Sri Lanka • Established business in South Asia and Southeast Asia for software which analyze institutional productivity and benchmarking output • Established markets for workflow management systems for scholarly journals, books, and conferences – ScholarOne™ • Software managing complex research – Converis • Close maximum ‘Reference Management Software’ deals in universities and government accounts

Account Manager \- Academic & Government \(Intellectual Property & Science\) at Thomson Reuters, Apr 2013 \- Jun 2017 · 4 yrs 3 mos, Bengaluru, Responsible for extensive customer engagement pertaining to South Asia market for managing new sales, renewals, cross sales and up\-sales for Thomson Reuters – Intellectual Property & Science products & services business\. Currently responsible for interacting with Government & Academic sectors

Customer Relationship Manager \- Academic & Government \(Intellectual Property & Science\) at Thomson Reuters, Nov 2011 \- Apr 2013 · 1 yr 6 mos, Bangalore, Expertise in solution management and showcasing value proposition for scholarly and scientific research based knowledge tools leading to enhanced productivity and innovation in research\. Responsible for continuous client engagement through thought leadership based white papers/articles\. Pre\-sales support to achieve new business targets and post sales support to ensure optimum usage of knowledge tools/retention of users\.

Deputy Regional Manager at Global Information Systems Technology Pvt Ltd, Apr 2008 \- Nov 2011 · 3 yrs 8 mos, Bangalore, Key Deliverables: • Assessing business opportunities for e\-books and e\-journals establishment; proposing solution through co\-ordination with the technical team • Managed channel partner business for South India\. • Evaluation of target market and generation of new business for scientific information databases \(SAAS\) • Ensured accuracy in forecast, where\-in targets are prioritized and to take proactive steps to address if there are any gaps • Managed team with direct reporting \- for Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh Experienced in managing 3 South Indian States comprising \- Karnataka, Tamil Nadu & Kerala\. My work mainly includes B2B selling of Scientific Information Databases like IEEE, ASME, Thomson Reuters ACM to all major Academic, Corporate, Government Institution and Consortium in India\. Products and services empower research and learning for thousands of students, researchers and business professionals in India\. Oversee account management for 190\+ accounts and aggressively pursue new business\. Achievements: • Increased qualified pipeline opportunities by 75% in first 9 months • First in India to sell IEEE e\-Learning to government & academics sector • Achieved Overall Target of 104% for FY11

## Education

Post Graduate Diploma, International Busniess, Mohanlal Sukhadia University

Master's Degree, Business Administration and Management, General, University of Rajasthan

[View the original profile](https://tal.club/meet/alok-poundrik)

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