The latest episode in the ‘Meet the expert’ series: Prabhas Abhayakumar, Director of Managed Services and Site Leader, TRG Screen
With more than 25 years of global leadership experience across the U.S., Europe and India, Prabhas Abhayakumar brings a rare combination of technology depth, operational discipline and people-first leadership to TRG Screen.
Today, he leads Managed Services delivery while also heading up the Global Capability Centre (GCC) at TRG Screen – a dual responsibility that gives him a unique perspective on how technology, talent and client value intersect.
We caught up with Prabhas to talk about building high-performance teams, the evolving role of AI in market data management and why stepping into the wilderness is sometimes the best way to reset.
It gives me something most leaders rarely have: a complete, end-to-end view of how an organization creates and delivers value simultaneously.
Leading the GCC means I'm focused on building the foundation - the talent, the culture, the operational infrastructure, and the depth of expertise that underpins everything TRG Screen does globally. That's the engine.
Leading Managed Services means I'm directly accountable for how that engine performs in the real world – working closely alongside clients, managing the full market data lifecycle as a genuine extension of their teams. That's where the engine meets the road.
When those two worlds are aligned, the effect is compounding. The GCC gives us the ability to scale with speed and precision ─ not one at the other's expense. Managed Services ensures that scale translates into tangible, measurable client outcomes. Each side sharpens the other.
It’s very rewarding work.
The most rewarding part has been creating an environment where people move from executing tasks to owning client outcomes.
Many team members joined with strong experience from large institutions, but at TRG Screen they gain cross-market perspective, exposure to multiple operating models, and direct client engagement. That visibility makes the work more meaningful and the standards higher.
When people tell me, “I finally see the direct client impact of what I do,” I know we’ve built the right culture: high ownership, strong collaboration, and pride in delivery.
It isn’t automation alone. It’s the shift from control to insight.
For years, the market data function was largely reactive. Tracking spend, reconciling invoices, managing contracts, ensuring compliance. Critical work, but inherently backward-looking. The value was in preventing loss, and less about generating insight.
AI changes that equation entirely. We can now move from reporting on what happened to combining our human, industry expertise with AI to anticipate what's coming. Usage patterns, cost trajectories, optimization opportunities…we can surface insights that directly inform commercial decisions, not just operational ones. That's market data management earning a seat at the strategic table.
And the operational impact is just as significant. Processes that once consumed days of skilled resource can now be completed in hours, with greater accuracy and consistency. That's not a marginal gain. It's a structural improvement in how the function operates.
But in financial services, capability without trust is worthless. Clients aren't just evaluating what AI can do; they're evaluating whether it's being applied responsibly. That means robust governance, clear guardrails, and full transparency in how data is handled. Responsible adoption isn't a constraint on innovation; it IS the innovation.
The technology is extraordinary. But the discipline with which you deploy it is what separates leaders from those who simply move fast and create risk.
People are still the competitive advantage. No matter how sophisticated the technology becomes, it's human judgement, accountability, and the ability to collaborate under pressure that determine whether an organization truly performs.
Across geographies and functions, I’ve found the differentiator is how clearly teams understand the “why,” how much trust they’re given to act, and how consistently we hold ourselves accountable for results. I spend a lot of time creating that environment - clear priorities, high standards, and the autonomy to make decisions close to the work.
I also believe that adaptability is now a core leadership competency, not a nice to-have. Whether you're leading technology teams or operations, standing still is falling behind. So, I invest deliberately in building cultures of continuous learning where curiosity is rewarded and improvement is expected, not exceptional.
It comes down to visibility, accountability, and collaboration. Leaders set the tone. When people feel seen, held to high standards, and genuinely supported, performance doesn't need to be managed. It becomes self-sustaining.
I tell them to start with visibility, because you can’t optimize what you can’t see.
Most firms try to renegotiate or cut costs before they have a single, accurate view of their market data estate: vendors, contracts, entitlements, usage, renewals, and the true demand drivers across the business. Without that baseline, you end up treating symptoms, not causes.
Once visibility is in place, the next step is control: align spend to actual usage, tighten entitlement management, and bring structure to renewals and invoicing so decisions are proactive and not last minute.
In parallel, I believe in elevating compliance from an admin task to a risk discipline, with clear ownership, governance, and audit-ready evidence.
The organizations that genuinely get market data complexity under control are those that bring together intelligent tooling and people who understand the nuance of this market deeply.
That combination is what turns complexity into competitive advantage.
Nature. Without question.
Bangalore moves fast. It's one of the world's great technology cities, and that energy is infectious. But within an hour or so, you can find yourself in forests, hills, and landscapes that feel completely removed from that world. I seek that out whenever I can. The contrast is deliberate.
I've also been fortunate to travel through places like Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Thailand to experience wildlife in environments that are raw, vast, and entirely indifferent to deadlines. Every time, it feels like the first time. There's nothing quite like it for resetting your perspective.
And I think perspective is the right word. In fast-moving leadership roles, the risk isn't just burnout. It's losing the altitude to see clearly. When you're deep in operational complexity, it's easy to lose sight of what actually matters. Nature forces that recalibration in a way nothing else does.
For me, recharging isn't a luxury. It makes me a better leader.
The belief that we're not done yet.
Transformation isn't a destination. It's a commitment you renew with every day, every decision, every conversation. Whether we're talking about AI, operational excellence, or personal growth, progress belongs to those who stay curious, stay disciplined, and remain humble enough to know there's always more to learn.
What drives me is building something that outlasts the moment. At TRG Screen, we're not just developing capability. We're shaping a culture. One where people are empowered, standards are high, and the ambition to improve is genuinely shared across the organization. That's harder to build than any technology platform. And it matters more.
When I look at what's ahead - the scale of what AI can unlock, the depth of expertise we're developing, the clients we're partnering with on genuinely complex challenges - I don't see complexity. I see opportunity.
Stay tuned for more expert insights in our Meet the Expert series, where we showcase the incredible talent behind TRG Screen and their contributions to the financial services industry.