Mr. Avinash P Rao is a senior power sector professional with two and a half decades of industry experience in setting-up and running new renewable energy and power transmission platforms. Mr. Rao has recently taken-up a new leadership role at Sustainable Energy Infra Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd.Prior to SEIT, Mr. Rao was the Managing Director - Energy at Sekura India Management Limited (SIML), a specialist Real Asset management company of Edelweiss Alternatives (India's largest Alternatives platform with more than INR 40,000 Crores of AUM). Mr. Rao was also a member of the ManCo Group at Edelweiss Group.Mr. Rao joined the Infra Fund team at Edelweiss in Dec. 2017, and was appointed as the Whole-time Director and CEO of Sekura Energy Ltd. (portfolio company of Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus fund) in 2018. He has been involved in leading the build-up of Sekura Energy from scratch including getting the management, enterprise and operating teams on board, overseeing implementation of standard practices in governance, business applications and technology, health safety and environment practices and prudent operating practices on asset management, while supporting the growth of the business and integrating assets acquired by the Sekura platform across transmission and renewable energy segments. Mr. Rao has overseen the transition of the energy business from core to super-core leading to a successful first partial exit for the fund through the Anzen India Infrastructure Yield Plus Trust (InvIT). Prior to the Sekura stint, Mr. Rao worked with various subsidiaries of CLP Group (CLP Holdings, Hong Kong) in India for over 20 years and handled several responsibilities including business development (greenfield & M&A), business valuation, project development, HSE accreditations, commercial construction and asset management, Corporate Foundation, Sustainability reporting, and was involved in setting-up and operationalizing the Renewable Energy business from inception to a 1,100 MW portfolio across wind and solar energy sectors.Mr. Rao is a Mechanical Engineer graduated from Mangalore University, has undergone management development program at IMD, Switzerland, and is a Future Leaders Team Alumni of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Switzerland.