Ram Viswanathan
Founder, CEO
Ram Viswanathan is a technologist, and a serial entrepreneur, and runs a portfolio of technology businesses that he founded and built. He is an active investor in startups, is on their Boards and provides leadership to organizations promoting entrepreneurship, such as TiE, as part of which, he has launched and built several programs to develop, nurture and grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Ram graduated from University of Roorkee with a Bachelor’s in Electronics and Communications Engineering in 1985 and was the recipient of the Anand Swaroop Gold Medal for Physics. He started his career at Telco Pune, and moved to the US on a project assignment, in 1987. Simultaneoeuly, he pursued and received his Masters in Computer Science with a specialization in AI, from the University of Missouri, Rolla. He finished coursework for a PhD in CS, before the pressures of increasing leadership responsibilities at work took higher priority. He rose through the ranks in Corporate America, leading large-scale reengineering initiatives at companies such as Energizer and Anheuser Busch. He pioneered standards in EDI that were eventually adopted by a large cross section of the Retail, Consumer Packaged Goods and Warehousing industries. He then helped formulate the strategy for and lead the Supply Chain Consulting practice for Ernst & Young. Again, he co-authored standards and best practices such as Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) and implemented them at several large multinational conglomerates. Subsequently, as Senior Director of Product Marketing at i2 Technologies, he helped bring to market several leading edge supply chain planning tools, for the Retail and CPG industries.
Ram has spoken at various conferences and authored publications, as a recognized leader on these topics.
Ram embarked on his entrepreneurial journey with a premise that many of the supply chain concepts he had helped pioneer, needed to be further simplified for wider adoption, specifically in service industries, such as Retail, Construction and Telecom. What started out as a simple idea, grew into a successful software business, fully bootstrapped and grown organically into a portfolio of firms spread across the globe and serving customers, including some in the Fortune 50. As its Chairman and CEO, Ram continues to provide the vision and leadership to this group of firms (most notably Nathan Research and ReMAP) which collectively provide cutting edge technology and innovative solutions to customers. The solutions apply complex models, algorithms, AI and AR techniques for workflow automation, sales & operations and customer experience, and enable transformative growth and efficiency, winning respect and admiration in the market. Ram is also an angel investor and has been very active in developing, nurturing and enabling the entrepreneurial ecosystem through his leadership as President of TiE Dallas, where he has helped launch, build and grow programs such as TiE University, The Young Entrepreneurs (TYE),TiE Women and TiE Angels. These efforts, along with those of other TiE chapters around the globe, have enabled the launch and growth of a multitude of startups and the wealth creation for thousands, in addition to serving various philanthropic purposes.
