Tejal Gholkar is the founder of Rivium Solutions, a boutique advisory firm serving the water and environmental technology ecosystem.
With 25 years of international experience spanning technical leadership, business development, and project execution, Tejal has held senior roles including Chief Technology Officer for water technology innovators. His expertise bridges engineering rigor, commercial strategy, and hands-on execution, enabling clients to move from concept to scale with confidence.
Background & Expertise
Water and Wastewater
Deep sector knowledge across the entire water cycle and treatment technologies. Full cycle experience from collection, pumping and distribution systems to treatment plants and seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO).
Technical Leadership
Former CTO of an industrial-tech start-up. Led complex R&D, pilot to full-scale design, and technology validation.
Global Technical Role: Hydraulic design review on large scale international projects for a multi-national EPC. (EUR 10-600 million in Capex).
Delivery at Scale
Led and delivered large scale multi-stakeholder infrastructure design projects (EUR 12-35 million in Capex).
Project Management
PMP-certified with specialization in hybrid methodologies: Traditional, Lean and Agile for high-speed and high-stakes delivery.
Business Development
Handled BD from prospecting to qualification and bid leadership, including Request For Proposal and Pre-Qualification submissions. Led or played a central role in multi-stakeholder tenders from capture plan to award, winning medium-scale water and infrastructure design projects (EUR 12–35 million in Capex).
International Markets
Project experience across the Americas, Europe, MENA, and the Asia-Pacific.
Education & Credentials
M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering
Texas A&M University, USA
Project Management Professional (PMP)
USA
Why I do this work
I chose to serve in the water sector right out of school. 25 years later, that choice still drives me, which is why I founded Rivium Solutions. I help organizations navigate the messy middle between innovation and implementation, engineering and business impact. Rivium Solutions partners with start-ups/scale-ups on pilot-to-scale paths and established players needing strategic execution leadership: raising technology and operational readiness; prospecting, business development and new market entry; and technical/PM advisory on complex delivery.
My approach: Strategic focus, engineering clarity, disciplined execution.
