Advisors & Principals

Hitesh Hajarnavis

Hitesh is an Advisor & Principal of the New England Consulting Group, and a key member of our CPG and Private Equity teams.

Hitesh’s career spans over 20 years in several industries with experience in technology, management consulting, investment banking and consumer products. Hitesh is a leader with a proven track record as a growth oriented CEO who has delivered substantive results. He has an incredible understanding of how to build and grow brands along with an innate perspective of the systemic processes of fund raising, financing growth strategies, creating shareholder value for investors and owners, and building sustainable brands.

Hitesh has executed several billon dollars of corporate finance and M&A transactions in the consumer products, industrials and technology sectors during his tenure as an Investment Banker at Goldman Sachs & Co., Nomura Securities and Merrill Lynch & Co.

Most recently, Hitesh was President & CEO of Popcorn Indiana (Dale & Thomas Popcorn), a leader in ready-to-eat popcorn and popped snacks. He led a successful turnaround of the brand in 2009 and subsequently delivered over 4x dollar revenue growth in five years during his tenure. He was responsible for establishing Popcorn Indiana as America’s #1 brand of Kettlecorn.

Hitesh is a mentor to Accel Foods’ portfolio companies and is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) – Metro New York Chapter. He has appeared on The Apprentice and has been interviewed by CNBC, Bloomberg TV, the New York Times, and Fox Business News.

Hitesh holds a B.S. in Ocean Engineering from Virginia Tech, dual S.M. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Ocean Engineering and Ocean Systems Management, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.