Romesh Wadhwani

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Romesh T. Wadhwani
BornAugust 1947 (age 78)[1]
Karachi, British India
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma materIIT Bombay
Carnegie Mellon University
Known forInternet companies, philanthropy
SpouseKathleen "Kathy" Wadhwani
Children1 daughter
RelativesSunil Wadhwani (brother)

Romesh T. Wadhwani (born 1947) is an Indian-American billionaire,[2] businessman and head of investment firm SAIGroup.[3] He is the former chairman and CEO of Symphony Technology Group, a private equity firm for software, Internet and technology services companies, including SurveyMonkey[4] and Onclusive[5]. He established the Wadhwani Foundation for economic development in emerging economies, with an initial focus on India.

Early life

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Romesh T. Wadhwani was born in a Sindhi Hindu family in Karachi, Pakistan, 10 days after India and Pakistan gained Independence from Britain in August 1947.[1][6] His family moved to India following Indian independence. He contracted polio at age 2 and had difficulty getting admission to school.[7] He received a bachelor's degree from the IIT Bombay, and master's and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.[8]

Career

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For a decade, Wadhwani was the founder, chairman, and CEO of two companies, one (American Robot Corporation) specializing in software and solutions for computer-integrated manufacturing and the other (Compu-Guard Corporation) in technology-enabled energy management.[9]

Wadhwani was then the founder, chairman, and CEO of Aspect Development, Inc., from its startup in 1991 to its acquisition in 1999 by i2 Technologies for $9.3 billion in stock.[8]

Together with his brother, Sunil Wadhwani, he has founded Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Mumbai to develop artificial intelligence solutions for public good.[10]

Wadhwani has invested $1 billion in predictive and generative AI SaaS company SymphonyAI.[11]

Philanthropy

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Wadhwani is on the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, both in Washington, D.C.[12]

He established the Wadhwani Foundation for economic development in emerging economies in 2000,[1] with an initial focus on India. Initiatives in India include the National Entrepreneurship Network, which has established programs to enable growth-centric entrepreneurship at over 500 universities and colleges; a skills college network to help train and place large numbers of young adults in vocational jobs; an opportunities network for the disabled; and a research initiative in biosciences and biotechnology to help create jobs through innovation.[1] The Foundation has launched a US-India policy initiative, with Rick Inderfurth, previously Assistant Secretary of State, as the Wadhwani Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a policy think tank in Washington, D.C., and Hemant Singh, former Indian Ambassador to Japan, as the head of the Wadhwani program at ICRIER, a major policy institute in Delhi. Wadhwani won the India Abroad Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2013.

In 2012, Wadhwani inaugurated a new research centre at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore, named after his late mother, Shanta Wadhwani.[13]

Personal life

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He is married to Kathleen "Kathy" Wadhwani,[13][14] and they live in Palo Alto, California.[8]

They have one daughter, Melina, who married Patrick Carey in 2011.[15][16]

Honours

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Wadhwani was awarded an honorary doctorate by the IIT Bombay in 2018.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Tripathi, Naandika (29 April 2022). "Romesh Wadhwani: Building Up, And Giving Away". Forbes India. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  2. ^ Rajvanshi, Astha (7 September 2023). "TIME100 AI 2023: Romesh and Sunil Wadhwani". Time. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  3. ^ Fannin, Rebecca (8 December 2023). "How a 75-year-old Indian-American tech entrepreneur is betting $1 billion of his own fortune on AI's future". CNBC. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  4. ^ "STG completes $1.5bn SurveyMonkey take-private deal". Private Equity Wire. 2 June 2023.
  5. ^ Czarnecki, Sean (7 January 2022). "A new PR tech giant is plotting an expansion into the US to take on Cision and Meltwater". Business Insider.
  6. ^ Gupta, Ashish (5 June 2015). "How to create jobs by the million". Fortune India. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2020. The white-haired, soft-spoken Sindhi was born in Karachi, and later moved to India with his parents.
  7. ^ Krishna, Mrinalini. "Q&A With Immigrant Billionaire Romesh Wadhwani: America Needs Immigrants". Forbes.
  8. ^ a b c "Forbes profile: Romesh T. Wadhwani". Forbes. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  9. ^ Cuff, Daniel F. (13 June 1985). "ROBOT MAKER FINDS A NICHE (Published 1985)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  10. ^ Christopher, Nilesh (20 February 2018). "India's first AI research institute opened in Mumbai". The Economic Times. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  11. ^ Fannin, Rebecca (8 December 2023). "How a 75-year-old Indian-American tech entrepreneur is betting $1 billion of his own fortune on AI's future". CNBC. CNBC. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  12. ^ "Romesh Wadhwani". www.csis.org. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Romesh Wadhwani: The Renaissance Man - Forbes India". Forbes India. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  14. ^ "Wadhwani". glasspockets.org. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  15. ^ "2011-08-31 Wadhwani - Carey Family Party - Singularity University". singularityu.org. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  16. ^ "Oceanfront Ceremony & Opulent Pink and Metallic Reception". insideweddings.com. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  17. ^ ANI (11 August 2018). "Romesh Wadhwani conferred with degree of Doctor of Science by IIT Bombay". Business Standard India. Retrieved 16 January 2020.