Although I studied engineering at a prestigious college in India, the desire of my heart was a career in The Arts. I excelled at acting and singing. However, through a cruel twist of fate, my path rerouted itself to engineering – math and sciences – a parent’s dream. After leaving India, with brief stays in London, Montreal and Wisconsin, I found myself in California studying Industrial Engineering at California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo, a top-tier engineering college, which, to my dismay, I also excelled. By leaving India, I left my spiritual past for a materialistic future. I left my secure life for a life of struggle and adventure. However, in hind-sight, it has been an adventurous journey, which has provided me with opportunities that few experience – world travel, prestige and an enviable career.
The Economic Man
After completing my Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, I was hired by Peterbilt Motors as an industrial engineer responsible for improving manufacturing efficiency to increase production. I was innovative and had a propensity for thinking outside the box. I was not constrained by the norm but focused on possibilities. My innovative methods quickly advanced me to an industrial engineering manager position. I held several other manufacturing management positions when I decided to shift focus to Silicon Valley’s blossoming high-technology industry. My operational skills secured a position with Rolm Corporation, a telecommunication firm, as a Systems Designer to develop their MIS system. After completing the system, I was pressed into management position and soon advanced to Materials Manager position.
Always eager to learn and enjoying the challenges and success of managing teams, after completing my MBA at Santa Clara University, he advanced to Vice President of Operations with Nestar Systems, a local-area-networking firm, where I established the operations functions. Seeing an opportunity in globalization, I founded Cosmosys International, the first company in the US to establish software, engineering and research-and-design operations in India.
I returned to the US to become the President of Electronics Images, a software design firm, and turned it around for acquisition. As a CEO of Engineered Circuit Research, a specialized SMT electronics manufacturer, I turned the company around for sale by owners. I was asked to start an electronics manufacturing firm, Avex Electronics, in Silicon Valley, with an initial investment of over $25 million to build products for Apple, Dell, Sun Microsystems and Unisys. I was lured to Scotland to be the Managing Director of a personal computer company, Elonex, Ltd.
Returning again to the US, I founded ieKnowledge, a B2B portal, a one-stop solution for supply chain management. I spent few years conducting executive seminars in the US and abroad under the banner of my firm, L.Cube Technologies, while teaching strategy, entrepreneurship and international business in Silicon Valley to executives.
The challenges that businesses confront globally in an uncertain and rapidly changing environment enticed me to start my own venture, eKranium and associated endeavors within the Sphere of Knowledge.
