Talent Partnerships & Role Architecture
We work with high-growth founders and organisations to design modern executive office structures, then connect them with strategic operators who deliver venture-speed leverage.
Executive office advisory · Bengaluru & Auckland
The right people in the executive office.
Talent partner and community for Executive Assistants, Chiefs of Staff and Founder's Office leaders. Hiring for the executive office is a strategy decision: the right operator changes what a founder and leadership team can get done.
- Combined founder tenure
- 35+ years · Google, Citi, IBM, Flipkart
- Founding operator cohort
- 18 of 50 seats allocated Sample
- Operating hubs
- Bengaluru, India · Auckland, New Zealand
Exhibit 1
Where each executive office role creates leverage
Chief of Staff
Strategic scope: 3/3Operational depth: 2/3
What it owns
Cross-functional execution, leadership cadence, special projects and decision support.
When to hire
Strategy is set but follow-through across teams is slipping.
View all three role specifications side by side
- Executive AssistantScope 1/3 · Depth 3/3
What it owns: Time, priorities, communication flow and the operating rhythm around a leader.
When to hire: A founder is losing hours every week to coordination, inbox and calendar.
- Chief of StaffScope 3/3 · Depth 2/3
What it owns: Cross-functional execution, leadership cadence, special projects and decision support.
When to hire: Strategy is set but follow-through across teams is slipping.
- Founder's OfficeScope 2.5/3 · Depth 1.5/3
What it owns: High-priority initiatives straight from the founder's desk: launches, partnerships, new markets.
When to hire: The founder needs a builder who can take an idea from zero to running.
Source: COvia role architecture frameworkHover, focus or select a node to compare
Growing operators and placing them with employers work as one reinforcing loop.
Conventional recruitment treats executive office roles as administrative support. COvia treats Executive Assistants, Chiefs of Staff and Founder's Office leads as strategic operators — developing them in an invitation-only community and partnering with employers to design and fill the role.
Exhibit 2
How the community practice and talent practice strengthen one another
Founders, hiring managers & talent teams
Define the role architecture, then hire from a vetted operator community.
Whether you lead a technology, biotech, healthcare or startup organisation, we diagnose where leadership bandwidth is leaking, specify the right role (Executive Assistant, Chief of Staff or Founder's Office), and shortlist operators assessed for strategic judgement.
- Role scope, reporting line and 90-day outcome definition
- Shortlists drawn from practising community members and academic pipelines
- Structured interview calibration and first-90-day onboarding check-ins
EAs, Chiefs of Staff & Founder's Office leads
Move from reactive administration into high-leverage strategic operations.
Join an invitation-only room of global operators sharing playbooks, solving founder-led problems in real time, and adopting practical AI workflows that strengthen human judgement rather than replace it.
- Free for the first 50 approved founding members (18 of 50 allocated Sample)
- First look at executive office roles shortlisted by COvia
- Priority places at The Discourse roundtables and fireside chats
Source: COvia operating model — Bengaluru and AucklandTwo audiences, one clear next step each
Four integrated offerings support the executive office from role design to long-term operator growth.
Each practice is named and structured to serve a distinct moment in an executive office's lifecycle.
Exhibit 3
COvia practice architecture and primary audience routing
Gated Operator Community
An invitation-only space where high-performing Executive Assistants, Chiefs of Staff and Founder's Office leads share operational intelligence, swap playbooks, solve founder-led problems and master workflows and frameworks.
The Discourse
Career spotlights, curated roundtables, panel discussions, a podcast, fireside chats, networking events and leader addresses that raise the strategic impact of modern operators.
The EA Edge
Weekly insights, actionable AI workflows and career advocacy frameworks for the next generation of business operators.
Secondary capability · Training and coaching Collaborator TBC
Practical training and one-to-one coaching for executive office professionals, delivered with a specialist collaborator.
Source: COvia practice charterExact offering nomenclature locked per brief
Active role mandates and operator forums ground our advisory work in day-to-day reality.
We manually shortlist executive office openings for our community and convene regular discussions across Bengaluru and Auckland.
Exhibit 4
Shortlisted executive office openings and upcoming sessions at The Discourse
Latest shortlisted roles
Browse the job boardChief of Staff to the CEO
SampleSeries B healthtech company
Executive Assistant to the Founder
SampleClimate-tech startup
Founder's Office Associate
SampleBiotech scale-up
Upcoming at The Discourse
See upcoming sessions28 Nov 2026Sample
Chiefs of Staff and AI workflows
11 Dec 2026Sample
What founders actually need from the executive office
23 Jan 2027Sample
From EA to Chief of Staff: a career spotlight
Source: COvia job board and The Discourse programming ledgerSample entries labelled awaiting launch feed
Founders who have worked inside executive offices at Google, Citi, IBM and Flipkart lead every engagement.
Our credibility comes from 35+ combined years of operating experience inside global enterprises and high-growth ventures — not invented placement counts or stock testimonials.
Exhibit 5
Co-founder operating backgrounds and specialist advisory board
Co-founder
Shweta Malekar
Senior administrative business partner with 15+ years supporting C-suite leaders at Google, Citi, Credit Suisse, Nomura and DuPont. Writes The EA Edge and co-founded Giftwork Solutions.
Operating thesis: Anticipation, agility and execution: clarity to chaos, structure to complexity, trust to every interaction.
Co-founder
Geetika S Nongthomba
20+ years across strategy, executive office operations, PMO and business operations at Aviva, IBM, Quintiles, Philips, Publicis Sapient, Flipkart and Pine Labs. Co-founded a biotech startup and founded an ed-tech venture.
Operating thesis: Frameworks, pragmatism and people: clear structure, sound governance and teams that perform.
Advisory board
Girish VasudevanBio pending
Business Advisor
Business Advisor to COvia. Full bio to follow.
Vinay Gupta
Tech Advisor
Engineering leader with 13+ years across Edge AI, automotive telematics and trading platforms. Leads software engineering at Tribes Digital, Auckland; formerly Site Lead at EdgeTensor and VP at Citi. IIT Kanpur.
Prof. Upendra Nongthomba
Biotech & Healthcare Advisor
Professor and former Chair, Department of Developmental Biology and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science. 28+ years in biomedical research, 90+ publications, and adviser to biotech and healthcare startups and BIRAC selection boards.
Source: COvia leadership biographiesFull team & advisory profiles
Annual gathering · Waitlist open
Register interest for the Annual EA and Founder's Office Summit.
A yearly gathering for the people who run the executive office. Waitlist open now. Join operators and founders from Bengaluru, Auckland and global hubs for a focused day on executive office strategy, role design and AI workflows.