With over 13 years in Capital Markets, I had built a strong foundation through the CFA and FRM designations - rigorous frameworks for traditional markets and risk. But as I led increasingly complex engagements involving alternative asset platforms, a gap emerged. Alternative Investments operate under a different set of rules: illiquidity premiums, opaque valuation methodologies & complex fee structures. I didn't want a generalist's map for this terrain. I needed a specialist's blueprint.
Pursuing the CAIA designation was a deliberate, high-conviction decision. Balancing the curriculum alongside my role leading a 30+ member team to build an Alternative Investments valuation platform in one of my previous organizations was demanding - but it was precisely that real-time application that made the learning transformative. Every module reinforced what I was designing, and every client challenge validated what I was studying.
The CAIA charter has shaped my career across two broad dimensions:
- Global Credibility, Local Relevance. Whether in a client discussion in Los Angeles, a requirement workshop in Bengaluru, or a regulatory discussion on US DOL mandates, the CAIA charter provides instant institutional credibility in the field of Alts. It signals fluency in both the language of the portfolio manager and the regulator.
- Future-Proofing Through Innovation. As I integrate AI into legacy systems for asset managers, the CAIA framework ensures the target-state architectures I design today are robust enough for the alternative-heavy portfolios of tomorrow.
Los Angeles is home to one of the highest densities of Single-Family Offices in the world - many born from major liquidity events in entertainment and technology. What makes this ecosystem distinctive is its aggressive shift toward Direct Investing, moving beyond traditional LP fund structures. For professionals at the intersection of Alts and technology, as I am, LA presents an unparalleled opportunity: these offices need sophisticated digital infrastructure to manage direct investments, and they need domain-credentialed partners to build it.
My role model is Nandan Nilekani — co-founder of Infosys and chief architect of India's digital public infrastructure, including UPI and Aadhaar. What I admire most is not the scale of his work, but its intent: using technology to bring transparency and efficiency to complex financial ecosystems.
Three principles he embodies mirror my own professional north star:
- Bridging vision and execution - translating high-level strategy into scalable, functional platforms.
- The technocrat mindset - leading with data, domain knowledge, and engineering logic, not just intuition.
- Global impact, rooted identity - demonstrating that professionals, wherever based, can influence global financial standards.
As an Indian professional working in Los Angeles with a global client base, Nilekani is a constant reminder that the most durable impact happens at the intersection of deep domain expertise and bold systems thinking.
My Advice for Emerging and Mid-Career Professionals:
Master the Language of the Lifecycle: Understand the end-to-end journey of your area of work. Specialists who see the full picture are rare, and invaluable.
Build a Multi-Disciplinary Moat: You don't need to write code, but you must understand how AI, low-code platforms, and cloud migration are reshaping the industry. Being the person who can "speak tech" to engineers and "speak alpha" to portfolio managers will make you indispensable.
About Parikshit Saikia, CAIA, FRM, CFA
Parikshit works as a Principal in the Capital Markets Domain in Infosys Consulting, specializing in the digital transformation of asset and wealth management and alternative asset platforms. With over 13 years of experience and a "triple-crown" background as a CFA, FRM, and CAIA Charterholder, his role sits at the critical intersection of business strategy, regulatory compliance, and technological innovation.
He leads large-scale, multi-country initiatives for global banks and brokerage firms, translating complex investment requirements into scalable functional blueprints. His work ranges from leading Index Management and Custom Model Platforms to leading 30+ member teams in developing specialized valuation platforms for Alternative Investments.
Essentially, he acts as a functional architect who ensures that the next generation of financial tools - whether they are for portfolio monitoring at a Swiss bank or trading systems for 20,000+ advisors - are built with institutional rigor, regulatory integrity, and a future-ready mindset. Parikshit has been a CAIA Member since 2024.