Ravi Agarwal

As a VP of Technology at OCBC Bank, Ravi facilitates an agile cultural transformation while rewriting internet and mobile customer-facing software using microservices. He has also held senior software engineering management roles in major banks such as Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital, and Standard Chartered Bank.

Ravi believes that in the age of internet & AI, processing low-grade information is of little future importance. Instead, learners should develop higher value cognition: critical thinking; empathy; prolonged attention span; knowledge transfer between domains.

A polymath since babyhood, he believes there is no amount of learning which would satiate his curiosities. About, for example, the art of a number, the enigma of an ethic or a Nobel literary solution to a lifelong conundrum. If he wakes up suddenly in the middle of a dark night, he won't have forgotten what he cares most about.

Decades ago he awoke to a love; the power of silicon computation in a black box calculator. A device of rare magic, it appeared to reckon faster than he ever could. What, then, was the purpose of junior maths class? Nowadays, you can find him within the financial services industry, helping teams of software engineers & business product owners manage themselves more effectively.

Fun fact: Ravi is currently memorizing his way through the entire back catalog of Taylor Swift's song lyrics, to help him write a book about her literary lyrical magical art. Its working title is ‘Taylor's Visions of Love.'