Beyond Flags: Power, People & The Changing World brings together five voices from the United States, India, and Canada for a candid roundtable conversation about the forces reshaping relationships between nations and the people living beyond the headlines. Carl Wheless is a decorated Iraq War combat veteran who served in both the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army, including during the Battle of Ramadi. His decades of service and experiences beyond the battlefield have shaped his commitment to accountability, fairness, public service, and veterans advocacy. He brings to the roundtable a distinctly lived perspective on America, its institutions, politics, leadership, and power. Informed by service, sacrifice, and firsthand experience. Follow Carl here: https://x.com/carlwheless @carlwheless Rajeev Sharma comes from the worlds of technology, investing, and quantitative finance. An angel investor focused on emerging technologies and a founder of the Indian American Advocacy Council, he brings an analytical, data-driven perspective to geopolitics and the U.S. India relationship. His interests include the ways narratives are created and amplified in the digital world, as well as building authentic coalitions across communities through technology, capital, data, and diaspora engagement. Follow Rajeev here:https://x.com/RajeevSharma00 @rajeevsharma00 Sidharth is a U.S.-based engineer, investor, geopolitical and policy strategist, and founder of the Indian American Advocacy Council. An active voice on the U.S. India relationship, Indian American advocacy, business, capitalism, culture, and the changing balance of global power, he is known for challenging conventional narratives and engaging directly with difficult questions in contemporary political discourse. His writing through The 199Brief further reflects the geopolitical and policy perspectives he brings to the roundtable. Follow Sidharth here: https://x.com/Cloudwatch199 @cloudwatch199 Sougat Chakraborty is an India-based independent researcher, public policy and national security analyst, and alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad. Following more than eight years of cross-functional experience at Amazon India, his work has focused on national security, foreign policy, and emerging challenges affecting the Indo-U.S. strategic partnership. His commentary has appeared in media and publications including CNN-News18 and The Daily Guardian, and he brings an India-based national security perspective to understanding the strategic forces operating beyond the headlines. Follow Sougat here: https://x.com/sougat18 @sougat18 Vijayan Swaminathan is a technology leader with two decades of building technology and software platforms and solving complex engineering problems, and currently leads XaddWell. He is also the host of Pathfinders, a platform built around bringing interesting people with different experiences and perspectives together for meaningful conversations. Follow Vijayan here: https://linktr.ee/vijswam @vijswam Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rQJedO03lRA PATHFINDERS EXCLUSIVE Get 10% OFF your first 6 months across eligible XaddWell services below. Build your next product or service end-to-end → https://xaddwell.com/products Get a stunning, high-quality website that makes your brand stand out → https://xaddwell.com/websites Get an AI concierge that handles leads and books meetings 24/7 → https://xaddwell.com/products Join the Trusted Partner Program and scale across regions, industries, and new frontiers → https://xaddwell.com/partner Go from idea to working software fast → https://xaddwell.com/mvp-development Build a customized AI recruiting engine — book a free strategy call → https://calendly.com/vijay-xaddwell/connect | Learn more → https://recruitt.ai Join and Support PATHFINDERS All Links: https://linktr.ee/pathfindershq OUR SPONSOR — ADAPTECH GROUP A big thank you to Adaptech Group for supporting Pathfinders. Build with clarity before you code.Adaptech Group helps teams create a shared blueprint of their product, reduce risk, and align everyone before a single line of code is written. Using Event Modeling, teams can turn even complex systems into clear visual timelines—simplifying software design, information flows, business rules, security, automation, and more. Ideal for R&D, software MVPs, early prototypes, security, information management, automation, and complex business systems. Learn MoreAdaptech Group → https://adaptechgroup.comEvent Modeling → https://eventmodeling.org/ Follow Adaptech GroupLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/adaptechgroup/X → https://x.com/adaptechgroup Connect with Adam DymitrukLinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/eventmodeling/X → https://x.com/adymitruk #adaptechgroup #eventmodeling #adamdymitruk Mentioned in this episode: MR Ad2 AdaptechGroup Adaptech PR Ad AdaptechGroup
