Gururaj Deshpande
Encyclopedia
Gururaj Deshpande ("Desh" Deshpande) is an Indian American
venture capitalist and entrepreneur
, who is best known for co-founding the Chelmsford, MA-based internet equipment manufacturer Sycamore Networks, the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT and the Deshpande Foundation
.
Presently, Deshpande is the Chairman of A123Systems
, Sycamore Networks, Tejas Networks
, HiveFire, Sandstone Capital, Sparta Group, and sits on the Board of Airvana.
Deshpande is also a Life Member of the MIT Corporation, the Board of Trustees of MIT.
In July 2010, Deshpande was appointed by President Barack Obama
to the Co-Chairmanship of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a group established to support the US President's innovation strategy.
, Deshpande was born to a Deshastha Brahmin
family. His father was a labor commissioner with the Indian government.
He graduated with a Bachelors of Technology in Electrical Engineering
from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He completed his Ph.D.
in Data Communications from Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science
at Queen's University
in Ontario
, Canada
.
, a Motorola
subsidiary located in Ontario, Canada which manufactured modems, before moving to the U.S. in 1984. Later, he co-founded Coral Networks, a router developer; in 1987, he sold the company for $15 million.
In 1990, Deshpande co-founded Cascade Communications
, whose products were important in routing the early internet, initially serving as its President and later Executive Vice President; he hired Dan Smith as CEO. He sold Cascade to Ascend Communications
for $3.7 billion in 1997.
Subsequently, with the help of MIT researchers, he launched Sycamore Networks in 1998. Sycamore Networks went public in October 1999, and raised a market cap of $18 billion. With his 21% shareholding in hand, this IPO made Deshpande one of the wealthiest self-made businessmen in the world. In 2000, he was featured on the Forbes 400
listing of Richest Americans.
In 2000, he founded telecom equipment company, Tejas Networks
, along with US-based ASG-Omni in Bangalore
.
He is also Chairman of A123Systems
, which manufacturers high-power lithium-ion batteries, which went on NASDAQ
in October 2009, and raised $438 million and trading at a 50% premium on the day of listing.
Kulkarni, who is the sister of Sudha Murthy (wife of Infosys
founder Narayan Murthy) and Caltech astrophysicist Shrinivas Kulkarni
. She is the co-founder of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT. The couple have two children and live in Chelmsford, Massachusetts
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
venture capitalist and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, who is best known for co-founding the Chelmsford, MA-based internet equipment manufacturer Sycamore Networks, the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT and the Deshpande Foundation
Deshpande Foundation
Deshpande Foundation is a non-governmental organization founded in 1996 by Gururaj and Jaishree Deshpande. Foundation has embarked on large scale projects in the United States and India such as :...
.
Presently, Deshpande is the Chairman of A123Systems
A123Systems
A123 Systems develops and manufactures advanced lithium-ion batteries and battery systems for the transportation, electric grid and commercial markets. The company has about 2,500 employees globally and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 2001 by Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang, Dr...
, Sycamore Networks, Tejas Networks
Tejas Networks
Tejas Networks is an Indian Networking and Telecom equipment products company from Bangalore-Corporate history:Tejas Networks was co-founded in May 2000 by Gururaj Deshpande and US-based ASG-Omni. Headquartered in Bangalore, it has R& D offices in Bangalore, Mumbai and Noida...
, HiveFire, Sandstone Capital, Sparta Group, and sits on the Board of Airvana.
Deshpande is also a Life Member of the MIT Corporation, the Board of Trustees of MIT.
In July 2010, Deshpande was appointed by President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
to the Co-Chairmanship of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a group established to support the US President's innovation strategy.
Early life and education
Born in Hubli, KarnatakaKarnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, Deshpande was born to a Deshastha Brahmin
Deshastha Brahmin
Deshastha Brahmins are the original and the oldest Hindu Brahmin sub-caste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and some districts of northern Karnataka. The word Deshastha comes from the Sanskrit words Desha and Stha which mean inland or country and resident respectively...
family. His father was a labor commissioner with the Indian government.
He graduated with a Bachelors of Technology in Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He completed his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Data Communications from Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science
Queen's Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science
The Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science is the faculty responsible for all students pursuing degrees in the various engineering disciplines at Queen's University. Undergraduate students are represented by the Engineering Society...
at Queen's University
Queen's University
Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...
in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Career
Deshpande started his career at Codex CorporationCodex Corporation
Codex Corporation was a high-tech company, based in Newton, Massachusetts. The company was founded in July 1962 by James M. Cryer Jr. and Arthur Kohlenberg, with the support of Robert Gallager, who helped them as technology consultant ....
, a Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
subsidiary located in Ontario, Canada which manufactured modems, before moving to the U.S. in 1984. Later, he co-founded Coral Networks, a router developer; in 1987, he sold the company for $15 million.
In 1990, Deshpande co-founded Cascade Communications
Cascade Communications
Cascade Communications was a Westford, Massachusetts based manufacturer of communications equipment.-Product:Cascade made a compact Frame Relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode communication switches that were sold to telecommunication service providers worldwide...
, whose products were important in routing the early internet, initially serving as its President and later Executive Vice President; he hired Dan Smith as CEO. He sold Cascade to Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications was an Alameda, California-based manufacturer of communications equipment that was later purchased by Lucent Technologies in 1999....
for $3.7 billion in 1997.
Subsequently, with the help of MIT researchers, he launched Sycamore Networks in 1998. Sycamore Networks went public in October 1999, and raised a market cap of $18 billion. With his 21% shareholding in hand, this IPO made Deshpande one of the wealthiest self-made businessmen in the world. In 2000, he was featured on the Forbes 400
Forbes 400
The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by Forbes Magazine magazine of the wealthiest 400 Americans, ranked by net worth. The list is published annually in September, and 2010 marks the 29th issue. The 400 was started by Malcom Forbes in 1982 and treats those in the list like...
listing of Richest Americans.
In 2000, he founded telecom equipment company, Tejas Networks
Tejas Networks
Tejas Networks is an Indian Networking and Telecom equipment products company from Bangalore-Corporate history:Tejas Networks was co-founded in May 2000 by Gururaj Deshpande and US-based ASG-Omni. Headquartered in Bangalore, it has R& D offices in Bangalore, Mumbai and Noida...
, along with US-based ASG-Omni in Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
.
He is also Chairman of A123Systems
A123Systems
A123 Systems develops and manufactures advanced lithium-ion batteries and battery systems for the transportation, electric grid and commercial markets. The company has about 2,500 employees globally and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 2001 by Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang, Dr...
, which manufacturers high-power lithium-ion batteries, which went on NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
in October 2009, and raised $438 million and trading at a 50% premium on the day of listing.
Philanthropy
Desh, along with his wife Jayashree, donated $20 million to launch the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation (DCTI) at MIT.Personal life
He is married to Jayashree Deshpande néeNEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Kulkarni, who is the sister of Sudha Murthy (wife of Infosys
Infosys
Infosys Limited, formerly Infosys Technologies Limited is a global technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is the second largest IT exporter in India with 133,560 employees as of March 2011. It has offices in 33 countries and development centers in India, China,...
founder Narayan Murthy) and Caltech astrophysicist Shrinivas Kulkarni
Shrinivas Kulkarni
Shrinivas R. Kulkarni FRS is a professor of astrophysics and planetary science at California Institute of Technology. He is on the Space Interferometry Mission science team and is the director of optical observatories at California Institute of Technology, including Palomar and Keck.Kulkarni is...
. She is the co-founder of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT. The couple have two children and live in Chelmsford, Massachusetts
Chelmsford, Massachusetts
Chelmsford is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts in the Greater Boston area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 33,802. The Census Bureau's 2008 population estimate for the town was 34,409, ranking it 14th in population among the 54 municipalities in...
External links
- Board members at Sycamore Networks
- Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande on Deshpande Foundation Website http://www.deshpandefoundation.org/About/our-story.html