By the time Shrivallabh (Shri) Khadilkar was recruited at Belden Inc., he already had demonstrated his ability to lead. As a Purdue graduate student, he guided hundreds of student volunteers during Boiler Gold Rush and applied industrial engineering principles to manage STAR, Purdue’s undergraduate summer research program that serves ~7,000 students. “Purdue gave me both the analytical foundation and early leadership experiences that equipped me to take on significant responsibility early in my career,” he said.

Within two years of beginning at Belden, he was leading global strategic sourcing efforts for $100 million+ in spending across key raw materials like plastics and compounds.

Three years after graduation, he was tapped to manage a $1.3 billion+ P&L in Amazon’s U.S. PC retail business, an uncommon accomplishment for someone at his career stage. Because of Khadilkar’s affinity for applying engineering thinking to business problems, he was asked to lead a North America-wide cost reduction program during COVID-19 supply chain disruptions, delivering $40+ million in annualized FCF (free cash flow) improvements.

Now the head of scaled vendor management at Amazon Commercial Services in Australia, he helps thousands of small and medium business vendors grow. He designed and deployed technology-enabled mechanisms like GenAI automation, vendor self-service tools and standardized workflows to reduce manual effort. These systems allowed Amazon to onboard 200+ new brands, introduce 100,000+ new products and expand customer choice while keeping operational overhead low. He also improved vendor adoption of Amazon Ads (+85% YOY) and Subscribe & Save (+60% YOY). Recognizing his ability to assess talent and uphold high standards,  Amazon inducted Khadilkar into the highly selective Bar Raiser community — an invitation offered to fewer than 1% of all employees.