The Remarkable Journey Of Karthick Jayakumara Sarma: Making Supply Chain Data Human

Recipient of the Indian Achievers Award 2025, Karthick Jayakumara Sarma represents a new generation of professionals redefining leadership in the digital age. A blend of consultant, researcher, and storyteller, he has built a career on one simple belief that good data leads to better decisions.

Karthick’s journey wasn’t a straight line. Trained as an engineer, he began his career decoding systems before realizing that the real challenge lay not in technology itself, but in how organizations understood and trusted their data. Seeking to bridge that gap between technical depth and business purpose, he pursued an MBA in Supply Chain Management from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, which opened his perspective to how data drives planning, performance, and collaboration across global operations. Years of consulting experience deepened this understanding, eventually inspiring him to return to research through a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Data Analytics at the Swiss School of Business and Management (SSBM Geneva). His doctoral work now focuses on how improving data quality can make supply chains more efficient, resilient, and future-ready.

That lifelong curiosity continues to shape his work and mindset.

What makes his journey remarkable is the way it blends professional excellence with intellectual depth. While most consultants stop at solving business problems, Karthick goes further, researching new frameworks, writing to share his ideas, and mentoring young professionals to think critically about data and its role in modern organizations. His career reflects a rare balance between performance and purpose, showing that leadership and learning can grow together.

Currently serving as Supply Chain Data Lead at Bluecrux Inc., a Belgium-based consulting firm, Karthick helps some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and life-sciences companies make sense of their data. His work focuses on helping organizations design clear data strategies, build trust in information, and improve how teams use data to plan, produce, and deliver life-saving medicines. In short, he turns scattered data into reliable insights that power better supply chains.

What makes Karthick’s approach distinctive is his ability to connect strategic vision with hands-on problem-solving. He moves easily between discussions with business leaders and collaborations with data engineers, combining technical fluency with business understanding. Having developed a complete view of how data flows through supply chains, from how materials are defined in the systems to how production and planning data shape real-world outcomes, he bridges the gap between business and technology, helping teams work from a single, trusted version of truth.

Karthick is also the founder of Opti-Data Consulting Inc. and the voice behind Good Data Guy Publishing, a platform dedicated to creating books and content that simplify complex data concepts through storytelling and accessible learning. His upcoming book explores how organizations can move beyond “clean data” to build a true data culture one where people, processes, and purpose align.

Outside work, Karthick supports Drishti Arts & Crafts, a foundation led by his wife, Kalakshetra Karthika Narayanan, a passionate Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer who promotes Indian classical arts globally.

For Karthick, data and art share a common thread- precision with purpose. His story stands out not just for what he has achieved, but for how he continues to learn, teach, and create reminding us that true leadership lies in curiosity, balance, and the quiet pursuit of better decisions.