Gouri Kulkarni is the VP of Finance & Human Resources at Brighter Bites. She is a finance professional with extensive background in Financial Management, Information Technology, Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) while working for one of the largest educational institutions and food services organization. She has demonstrated ability in successfully directing and managing the finances of business units and production facilities. In all her roles, she has exhibited strategic perspective and long-term vision, combined with the commendable implementation of initiatives using exceptional interpersonal, negotiation and collaboration skills.

Prior to joining Brighter Bites, Gouri was the Regional Finance Director at Aramark. She strategically managed and directed all financial activities, P & L reporting for the US West region to support Aramark’s short term and long-term business policies. She provided guidance to develop the financial planning and budgeting for all warehouses in the region and communicated the consolidated financial planning decisions, performance KPI’s to the management. She also facilitated Merger and Acquisition activities for successful integration of the target companies and was responsible for carrying out management’s plan so that the financial rewards of acquisition can begin to accumulate.

At Houston Independent School District, Gouri provided leadership to manage all general accounting functions to ensure that the financial and operating activities of the HISD’s ~$2B General Fund are properly documented and recorded. She collaborated with external independent auditors during the annual audit and assisted in preparation of HISD’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports, along with development and distribution of variety of standard and special reports relating to the financial activities of HISD for senior management and TEA. She efficiently managed the GRC program and directed financial and compliance activities around business process controls as a liaison with the district’s audit readiness team for all IT applications and interfaces used in the Controller’s office for day to day compliance and external reviews to preserve cohesive risk reporting.

In her free time, Gouri likes to travel, hike and cook. Originally from India, she & her husband have been Texas residents since 1999. She holds an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Finance & Accounting.