Bhavdeep Singh

Bhavdeep Singh is currently a Managing Partner at Whitehawk Associates LLC, an independent business management consultancy specializing in Retail, Human Resources, Leadership Development, and Healthcare. He is also Chairman and co-founder of HealthQuarters, a new destination for curated and clinically-backed health and wellness services in downtown New York City.

Over his career, Singh has experienced many successes, leading several HNW companies and overseeing growth under his watchful eye. But in late 2021, he transitioned from "employee" to entrepreneur with the creation of Whitehawk Associates, an advisory/consulting firm with clients in the healthcare, retail, and supply chain industries.

Before joining Whitehawk Associates and launching Healthquarters, he gained an international reputation as a forward-thinking business leader serving as Head of US Operations for Ahold, a $26 billion business, where he had complete P&L oversight for 800 stores and 110,000 employees. Post that, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Fortis Healthcare, where he led one of the largest private health systems in the world and helped manage a network of more than 30 private hospitals across India.

After a distinguished career spanning two continents, with experience in retail, healthcare, operations, and Human Resources, he did something he never thought he would do in 2021, he started his own consulting and advisory platform.

It's not unusual for such leaders to branch out on their own, but he never expected to be an entrepreneur.

"From my early days as a part-time employee to later in my career where I had the good fortune of running several very large businesses, I have always been a part of a large company - someone who worked for a company or someone. And that was my safe space - my comfort zone as it were. Even as a CEO or President, I was an employee, someone who got paid a salary to do a job," Singh says. "However, much to my surprise and the shock of many, in late 2021 I decided to become an entrepreneur, launching Whitehawk Associates. This was not an easy decision and the idea of being 'my own boss' was completely foreign to me. But, as I started thinking about building an advisory/consulting platform, I became increasingly comfortable with the idea. While I don't know what the future holds and or how Whitehawk will do, I am starting to think I should have done this a long time ago."

His journey to executive leadership seems evident when examining the success he has earned and enjoyed throughout his professional life; his first job, sweeping floors and cleaning bathrooms at a grocery store in White Plains, NY culminated with him becoming the President of that very same company 15 years later. This anecdotal story sums up his entire career: be focused, work hard, roll up your sleeves, every day, every time, and seize every opportunity. Paired with a strong support system of family and mentors that had faith in his abilities before he did, he has found tremendous success at everything he has tried his hand at.

But to speak with him, you will hear an entirely different story; he is humble and embraces what he considers his "many failures" throughout his life.

"I have had many failures in my life and I imagine I will have many more. As human beings, we are massively flawed and prone to errors and there is no escaping that. Reflecting on my background and various experiences, there have been many times where despite a great deal of thought and care, I have ended up failing," he says.

So how does he overcome these numerous failures, learn from them, and apply these lessons going forward?

"I practice, rehearse, do dress runs, read and reread, and so on. The moral of the story is that we are never too old or too smart or too successful to take a step back and educate ourselves and keep working on things till we get them right. And once we get it right, it's time to rehearse, do dress runs again," he says.

He has reached the "top" time and time again, becoming CEO of several billion-dollar businesses, and admittedly is "punching way above my weight" as "an extremely average guy from White Plains, NY," but his big secret to success is one that everyone can achieve: hard work.

"I spend the majority of my day between meetings and work. I am a fairly serious person and while 'all work and no play' may be a bit extreme, it's also not that far off," Singh admits. "Working with international clients around the world, there are typically calls in the evening after dinner and early morning as well. So, my days are full and fairly intense - but I don't think I would have it any other way."

Outside of work, he embraces his role as a father to two children and prioritizes faith and prayer. He constantly works to meet his daily target of 15,000 steps. His excitement about the future stems from the constant innovations that are improving our world, as well as the global worldview that today's children are growing up with. Along with hard work and integrity, his passion for technological advances helps drive everything he does.