Our Team
Senior practitioners who have led the contracts that build the world.
CALIM is built on 100+ years of combined senior contracts leadership. The team behind your engagement has already delivered the outcomes you are chasing.
100+
Years combined experience
$10B+
Contract value delivered
50+
Projects completed
5
Regional headquarters
PhD, MCIPS, MBA, FCCM
Dr. Varghese Koshy Panicker
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Panicker brings over 30 years of senior contracts and procurement leadership across the GCC, India, and beyond. His career spans major capital programmes including Dubailand, Aspire Zone, and Qatar Energy upstream projects. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply and a recognised authority on contract risk management, he has led multi-billion-dollar portfolios and built the contracts functions that some of the region's largest contractors now rely on.
Areas of Expertise
BAL, LLB, MBA, DCM
Adv. Jayakumar Madapattu
Co-Founder & Chief Legal Officer
Adv. Jayakumar is a corporate lawyer and legal strategist with deep experience in construction law, commercial disputes, and contract enforcement across MENA jurisdictions. He has led dispute resolution efforts through ICC, DIAC, and QICCA proceedings, and his dual commercial-legal perspective is central to how CALIM approaches every engagement - combining contractual discipline with legal rigour.
Areas of Expertise
BSc, MBA, FCCM
Tins Varghese
Co-Founder & Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer
Tins leads CALIM's commercial strategy and client engagements, drawing on 25+ years of senior commercial management across construction, EPC, and industrial services sectors in the GCC. He has overseen contract portfolios exceeding $3 billion in aggregate value, with particular expertise in variation management, claims positioning, and the commercial frameworks that protect contractor margin on complex projects.
Areas of Expertise
BCom, MBA, DCM
Ajay Pillai
Director - UAE Operations
Ajay brings 25 years of commercial and project-controls experience - 20 of them in the GCC - spanning EPC megaprojects and long-term maintenance contracts. He leads CALIM's UAE operations from the firm's Ajman Free Zone headquarters, driving client relationships and business development across the Emirates. His hands-on background in cost control, contract administration, and project commercial management ensures CALIM's advisory capabilities are embedded directly into the UAE market - connecting regional contractors with the senior-level discipline they need to protect margin and close projects clean.
Areas of Expertise
Consulting Team
The specialists behind our insights.
CALIM's consulting team writes the articles published on our Insights page. Every piece is reviewed by the senior leadership team before publication.
Associate Network
A specialist network behind every engagement.
Contract outcomes rarely turn on the contract alone. When an engagement needs legal standing or measured quantities, CALIM brings in vetted associate firms in law and quantity surveying - coordinated by us, under one relationship. And when it needs audited numbers, our own financial services wing steps in.
Abdullah AlAthbah & Associates
Advocacy & Arbitration
Abdullah Bin Hamad AlAthbah - LLB (Qatar University)
Managing Partner
A Lusail-based advocacy and arbitration firm serving clients across five continents, with deep practice in corporate and commercial law, banking and finance, and mediation and arbitration. The firm gives CALIM engagements direct standing before Qatari courts and tribunals when a contractual position needs to be enforced, not just argued.
MEP Measure Ltd
Specialist MEP Quantity Surveying
Stuart Grew - AssocRICS
Director
A London-headquartered practice dedicated exclusively to MEP packages - measurement, Bills of Quantities, variations, and change control - operating across the UK, Europe, and the Gulf. Stuart brings 20+ years of MEP commercial experience and NEC and JCT contract administration, giving CALIM claims the measured quantum they need to stand up.
CALIM Financial Services
Our own financial services wing.
Audit, tax, CFO support, project financing, and forensic accounting for businesses in the UAE and Qatar - a dedicated CALIM service wing, led by chartered accountants in Dubai and Doha.
Explore financial services →
How We Work
The principles behind every engagement.
Senior from day one
No handoff to a junior team. The specialist who leads your health check is the one who leads your engagement.
Discipline over drama
We do not escalate for the sake of it. We defend what is defensible, recover what is recoverable, and close what needs closing.
Transparent off-ramps
Month-to-month retainers, defined close-out procedures, and no lock-in. The relationship works because it earns its place.
Get Started
Work with a team that has been there.
The same senior specialists who have led the contracts on landmark projects are the ones who will lead yours.
What brought you to CALIM today?
Select one to help us match you with the right specialist.