Vivek Paul (born 1958)[2] is an Indian-American business executive and entrepreneur. He served as the vice-chairman of Wipro and CEO of its flagship business, Wipro Technologies. He also worked as a senior executive at General Electric, private equity investor at TPG, and a strategy consultant at Bain.[1] He is also the founder of KineticGlue, a tech startup that was successfully sold to BMC. He has served on several boards, including the California Chamber of Commerce, Electronic Arts, and on the advisory council of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.[3][4]

Vivek Paul
Born
Vivek Paul

1958
Mumbai, India
CitizenshipAmerican[1]
Education
Children3

Early life

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Vivek Paul was born in a Brahmin family in Bombay, India.[5] He did schooling in St. Columba's School, New Delhi.[1] He received Bachelor of Engineering degree from BITS Pilani and MBA from University of Massachusetts Amherst.[6][1]

Career

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Paul began his business career at PepsiCo.[7]

In 1990, Paul was part of the founding team of WiproGE Medical Systems. He became its CEO in 1993.[4][1] The joint venture started as a sales and service arm, went on to manufacturing, and then design and build of medical equipment, becoming India's largest exporter of high value electronics goods.[8] Paul was then asked to lead GE's worldwide CT scanner business.[5][9][1] Paul reorganized operations across its China, Japan and US operations, and launched GE as the first major multi-detector CT provider.[citation needed] The work in complex product development became a foundation of "Design For Six Sigma".[citation needed]. In one of the books about Jack Welch, Paul was cited as among the top five All Star CEOs from GE.

Wipro

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In 1999, Paul was asked to become vice chairman of Wipro and CEO of its outsourcing unit. Wipro was a $150-million company when Vivek Paul took over, and it had all the tendencies of a small, traditional company. Paul has been credited with creating a global business and for much of Wipro's growth into a multibillion-dollar company.[10] On 19 October 2000, Wipro was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Paul was recognized as among the top 6 managers in the world by Jack Welch in one of his books, as well as by several business magazines.

TPG Capital

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In June 2005, Paul joined private equity firm, TPG Capital, as an investing partner spanning various fund classes, from buyout to Asia to venture capital. He went on to be a founding partner of TPG Growth, a fund focused on growth capital for midsize companies.[11] He resigned from TPG in December 2008.

Kinetic Glue

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Founded KineticGlue, a cloud-based enterprise social media application in 2008.[12] Sold company to BMC in 2013.

Stanford

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Paul co-founded the Microbiome Alliance at Stanford, and was the driving force behind the first Microbiome Symposium at Stanford in 2014. The sixth annual Stanford Microbiome Symposium will be held in September 2021. Paul also co-chaired the Biodesign program of 2014–2015.

Electronic Arts

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Paul served on the board of Electronic Arts from 2005 to 2019, and was chair of its CEO selection committee in 2013.

Paul has served on the advisory council of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, on the board of the California Chamber of Commerce, on the board of the U.S.-India Business Council, and on the Senate of BITS Pilani.[1]

Acknowledgments

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  • Ranked among the best managers in the world by BusinessWeek in 2003.[13]
  • Among the top global business influentials by Time magazine in 2004.[14]
  • Among the top 30 most respected global CEOs by Barron's in 2005.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Vivek Paul". NNDB. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  2. ^ "Vivek Paul: Executive Profile & Biography - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  3. ^ "Vivek Paul". Freedom House. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Vivek Paul". Electronic Arts Inc. 15 March 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Vivek Paul defends BPO; decries job losses". Rediff. 6 September 2004. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  6. ^ "In conversation with Vivek Paul - Sandpaper: The BITSAA Magazine". BITSAA International. July 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  7. ^ "Sandpaper - People in the News". BITSAA International. 2004. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  8. ^ "Vivek Paul — Wipro's man of focus". ZDNET. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  9. ^ Abrar, Peerzada (18 May 2012). "From Wipro to KineticGlue: Vivek Paul shares his entrepreneurial journey and the learnings from it". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  10. ^ "You read it here first: Vivek Paul quits Wipro". The Economic Times. 1 July 2005. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  11. ^ Texas Pacific Group Names Vivek Paul as Partner; Executive Will Focus on Technology and Life Sciences Investments at Venture Arm of Texas Pacific Group. Business Wire, 30 June 2005
  12. ^ Best Enterprise Collaboration Software Archived 2013-06-20 at archive.today.
  13. ^ The Best & Worst Managers Of The Year. Business Week, 12 January 2004
  14. ^ Vivek Paul among TIME/CNN's Global Business Influentials
  15. ^ "Vivek Paul amid world's most respected CEOs".