First Princeton Advisors LLC

First Princeton has an experienced team of senior-level practitioners with strong experience and expertise in various industry sectors that uniquely positions us to assist our clients in their business needs.  Our team consists of senior-level bankers and former Fortune 100 senior executives with previous P&L management experience and strong experience handling a wide range of strategic advisory and investment banking engagements.

Executive Leadership

Bala Venkatesh, Managing Partner bv@firstprinceton.com

Bala Venkatesh is the Founder of First Princeton Advisors, providing Corporate Advisory, Private Placement and US-India Cross-Border Advisory services. 

Industry sectors include Financial Services, Banking and Payments, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Hospitality, Energy, Business Services and select Industrials.  Venkatesh has been involved with India-related initiatives since 1987 and has handled and reviewed over  $ 9 Billion equivalent in transaction volume across different strategies and sectors.

Venkatesh has 33 years of strong Global Banking, Consulting and Corporate Advisory experience.  After his initial years as a Chartered Accountant in India and then with Coopers & Lybrand in Boston, Venkatesh joined American Express in New York in 1988, assuming increasing responsibilities in the US and International businesses.  

Major accomplishments at American Express include Managing the CFO and COO functions for AmEx’s $ 18 Billion US bank subsidiary, Instituting a Capital Planning framework across all AmEx entities, Coordinating Board meetings, Leading the turnaround of a $ 2 Billion business unit increasing profitability 18-fold, Establishing state of the art Credit Risk Management and Payments infrastructures delivering over $ 400 Million in savings.  He was also part of a core team that pioneered the Indian outsourcing model at AmEx, and setting up global operations in New Delhi.

 In 1997, Venkatesh joined D.E. Shaw as Managing Director for all India-related strategic initiatives, including an industry-first greenfield center in India He subsequently Co-led the US Payments and Consumer Banking Consulting practice in KPMG and held senior practitioner roles in PwC Consulting, Oracle, where he Co-led the Financial Institutions Business Consulting, and at EDS, where he managed a key business segment comprising strategic accounts and was instrumental in procuring $ 700 Million in long-term contracts.

Venkatesh has worked extensively with major US and International corporations.  His firm, First Princeton, is a referral partner for firms such as Deloitte and Citibank.  

Additionally, First Princeton has a roster of fifty plus major global funds – sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, developmental financial institutions and private equity funds – and work extensively in channeling investments into India.

Venkatesh received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Madras, India, and an MBA from the Simon School, University of Rochester.  He is also a Chartered Accountant from India and a Certified Management Accountant (UK).  He has helped author a book “Fiscal Laws of India”.   He is based in the New York metro area.