Mr. Rao is the Chairman and CEO of MphasiS. He is a winner of the ‘Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award’ in the Technology category in two locations (India and New York). He has won similar awards from the Economic Times and Bombay Management Association.

In a career spanning over 20 years, Mr. Rao served in various capacities in Asia, Middle East, Europe, South America and North America, including Head of Development Division of Citicorp and Chairman and CEO of Transaction Technologies Inc. based in California. Earlier positions included Country Manager and Divisional Manager for Consumer Banking in India, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Rao was part of the Operating Review Group (top 50 Managers in the company) at Citicorp in 1998 when he left to start MphasiS Corporation, a California based Software Company that subsequently merged with BFL Software in 2000.

Today, MphasiS is an I.T. Solutions and BPO company with 9000+ employees, and twin Head Quarters in New York and Bangalore. The company has I.T. Development Centers in Shanghai, Bangalore, and Mumbai, with BPO centers in Pune, Mangalore, Ahmedabad, Noida and Bangalore in India and in Tijuana in Mexico. MphasiS is listed on the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges of India.

Mr. Rao on the Board of the Cadbury India, Gabriel India, Arvind Mills (India»s largest Textile Company) and Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation AMC. Mr. Rao is on the Board of four Not-for-Profit Organizations: Development Gateway Foundation (Washington D.C.), India Foundation for the Arts (Bangalore), IIM Ahmadabad Alumni Trust, and Sujaya Foundation (Mumbai). He has been a Chairman of NASSCOM - the Indian Software Industry»s apex association, and currently heads its newly constituted Security Forum.

He has Masters Degrees from the University of Chicago and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is a regular writer and speaker. His areas of interest include Technology Strategy, Financial Services, and the Internet (he has testified before the US Congress on this subject). Mr. Rao has been a visiting lecturer at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

A native of Bangalore, Mr. Rao is 53 years old, and is married with three children. His personal interests include reading, traveling and writing poetry of which he has published a book. Mr. Rao writes a fortnightly column for the Indian Express.