Vision

Anurag Goel

Co-founder & Chairman

Anurag Goel is the Co-founder and Chairman of Cactus Communications. Since 2002, he has been involved in shaping the organization from a pure-play start-up to a well-respected global communications company with offices in Japan, US, UK, China, South Korea, Singapore, and India. Today, CACTUS is also recognized for its industry-leading people practices and was recognized by Great Places to Work Institute as India’s Best Mid-sized Workplace in 2017.

In the early days, Anurag adopted a hands-on role by supervising delivery teams, defining quality standards, and directly managing top performers to establish systems and promote leaders. Today, he focuses on strategy, business development, and grooming leaders to take CACTUS to the next level–while ensuring CACTUS retains its inspiring culture. He also oversees the medical communications arm of Cactus Communications.

Before establishing CACTUS, Anurag worked for McKinsey & Co. from 1998 to 2001. Based initially in Amsterdam and then in India, Anurag completed engagements in the areas of corporate finance and strategy practice for companies in diverse industries: logistics, metals and mining, steel, telecommunications, and financial services.

Anurag holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the Wharton School of Business and a BAS in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania as a graduate of the prestigious Jerome Fisher Dual Degree Program in Management and Technology.

Ashutosh Ghildiyal

Director, Global Sales & Partnerships

Ashutosh’s initial experience as a customer service manager at CACTUS helped him build a ground-level understanding of what authors expect from CACTUS’ editorial solutions. His association with CACTUS has spanned over 10 years, during which he has handled different portfolios—from client servicing to retail marketing and corporate business development for multiple markets.

In his current role as Director, Global Sales and Partnerships, Ashutosh connects with research institutions, journals, societies, and scholarly publishers involved in the dissemination of science, to support them at various steps of the publication process through the range of solutions offered by Editage, a brand of CACTUS that provides scientific communications solutions to facilitate the dissemination of science.

Ashutosh holds a BS in Business Administration from the National American University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from the Indian School of Business Management and Administration, India.

Elvira D’souza

President, Global Medical Communications

Elvira D’souza heads the Medical Communications arm of Cactus Communications. She has 12 years of experience in the medical communications industry. Elvira first started at CACTUS as managing editor of the medicine and life sciences team and then as manager of the medical communications team. She now heads a global team of medical experts that assists pharmaceutical and medical device companies on multiple types of projects including manuscript writing and editing, publication support, regulatory writing, and marketing support documentation across a wide range of therapeutic areas.

Elvira is actively involved with various organizations such as ISMPP, AMWA, and DIA. In addition to helping conduct the first BELS examination in India, she has proctored subsequent BELS examinations. She has helped develop the Medical Writer Competency Model developed along with other core team members of the Drug Information Association Medical Writing Special Interest Area Community. The model looks at the knowledge, skills, and behavior that are intrinsic to the success of a medical writer, and then, in particular, what different categories of jobs in medical writing would demand. The model can be used by an individual to assess his or her abilities to enter the field, as well as by employers to judge the suitability of applicants for a job they need to fill. It can also be used to train present employees for transitions to other jobs within the organization.

Elvira has a bachelor’s degree in life sciences from the University of Mumbai and a master’s in business administration from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, India. She also has an ELS certification from the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences and is a certified medical publication professional (CMPP).

Nikesh Gosalia

Director, Academic & Publisher Relations

Nikesh has been with CACTUS for over 8 10 years and has served in several roles throughout the company, heading the delivery side of Academia business for the majority of those years. He understands the logistics of scholarly publication and author support services, and is a major influencer in shaping perceptions, defining workflows, and delivering quality. Nikesh is currently based in the UK and focuses on developing potential business relationships for CACTUS with UK and European scholarly publishers, academic institutions, Universities, and other research bodies. Nikesh is an active member of ALPSP and UKSG committee.

Nikesh is a goal-driven, highly adaptable, and progressive global management leader with 15 17 years of experience. Prior to joining CACTUS, Nikesh worked in the financial services industry for 6 years. Nikesh has degrees in Production Engineering and Business Management from NMIMS (Mumbai).

Nishchay Shah

Business Head, Emerging Products and CTO

Nishchay is responsible for the overall technological direction of Cactus Communications. He moved to CACTUS after working in the United States for a decade. His knowledge, experience, and understanding of cloud computing, SAAS applications, infrastructure design, agile project management, and lean startup methodologies make him the perfect leader for an inspired technology team.

Nishchay manages a large department with over 100 experts that include the Software Development, Infrastructure, Quality Assurance and Web & Graphics teams.

Nishchay has a Master’s of Science degree from the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut, specializing in Computer Networks and Database Systems.

Pablo Palmeiro

Director, Publisher Partnerships

Pablo joined the CACTUS family after 10 successful years at Elsevier. In addition to a deep understanding of author needs, he brings with him first-hand knowledge about interpreting analytics and their relevance in scholarly publishing. After leading the Elsevier Author WebShop for 5 years, Pablo has a wealth of experience that makes him a valuable and trusted advisor to universities, research institutions, and publishers, who partner with Editage.

Pablo has witnessed how author services have grown into comprehensive support centers to help authors publish and showcase their research. He brings valuable insight about author needs to publishers, and helps educational institutions understand the publisher’s perspective, thereby bridging the gap between authors and publishers. He advises institutions and publishers on setting up their own platforms and enhancing the operational efficiency that contribute to his professional goal: “To deliver high-quality services and education that will save authors’ time, speed up their research publication process, and help them reach a broader audience.”

Pablo is a native Spanish speaker based in Amsterdam. He oversees relations with many publishing partners in Europe, US and Latin America. Pablo has degree in accounting and business administration from the University of Buenos Aires and a certification in Business Intelligence from the Vlerick Business School in Belgium.

Basil Dsouza

Vice President, Academia and Publisher Relations

Basil works with Universities and Academia in Korea to address some of the challenges faced by Korean researchers in being published internationally. He has worked with Universities like Seoul national university, Chungnam national university, Hanyang University, KAIST, and UNIST, to train and consult researchers on the challenges faced in science communication. Currently, Basil is a special member of Korea Council of Science Editors and a member of the education committee of Council of Asian Science Editors. He was a former member of American Chemical Society. He has actively been presenting at International forums and chairing sessions for Council of Asian Science Editors.

Basil has served as a Managing Editor for the Physical Sciences and Engineering editorial divisions of Editage for over 6 years. He managed operations to ensure smooth service delivery, analyzed and addressed researcher feedback, assessed suitability of new editors for the team, and trained new editors. He has managed an editorial team of over 30 scientific editors as well has edited and reviewed over 1600 research manuscripts across different subjects. Science Editor Magazine has profiled him for excellence in editorial practices as part of the Editage editorial team.

After his extensive experience working with ESL authors from Korea, China, Brazil, Taiwan China, and Japan in an editorial capacity, Basil is scientific communication consultant and a trusted advisor to Korean institutions. Basil is also a certified ISO 9001:2008 Auditor (Det Norske Veritas).

Basil has a Master’s degree in Nuclear Physics specializing in radiation physics and nuclear detectors. He also has a diploma in software engineering.

Makoto Yuasa

President, Japan Operations

Having lived in Japan, India, and the UK, Makoto has first-hand knowledge of cross-cultural business differences as well as a real understanding of client needs. Working at the CACTUS head office in India from 2003 to 2005, Makoto played an important role in introducing online marketing and promoting CACTUS’ editorial services among researchers in Japan. After rejoining CACTUS in 2007 as part of its Japan subsidiary, he has taken over management of the Japan office as well as business development for the publication support, education, transcription, translation, and design services. In 2013, he also took up the role of Vice President of the ScienceTalks executive committee. ScienceTalks is CACTUS’ initiative to build an interactive platform that will enable authors and researchers to informally connect and exchange ideas with each other on a real-time basis. Makoto holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Nihon University, Japan.