Vivek Paul
Vivek Paul | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1958 New Delhi, India |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, business executive |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Known for | Vice-chairman of Wipro, CEO of Wipro Technologies, founder of KineticGlue |
Vivek Paul (born 1958) is an Indian-American entrepreneur and business leader. He held the position of vice-chairman at Wipro and was CEO of Wipro Technologies. His professional journey includes executive roles at General Electric, private equity investment at TPG, and strategy consulting with Bain. Paul is the founder of KineticGlue, a technology startup later acquired by BMC. He has also served on the boards of the California Chamber of Commerce, Electronic Arts, and Freedom House, while providing advisory support to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
According to a Dataquest India survey, eight prominent women in Indian IT once reported directly to him, and eleven of his former direct reports from Wipro and GE advanced to become CEOs of publicly traded companies.
Early life
Paul was born in New Delhi, India, and attended Bombay Scottish School as well as St. Columba's School in New Delhi. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from BITS Pilani and completed an MBA at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Career
Paul started his professional career as an analyst focusing on international finance and mergers and acquisitions at PepsiCo. Following this, he spent four years working in strategy consulting at Bain.
GE
In 1990, Paul co-established WiproGE Medical Systems and took on the role of CEO by 1993. The joint venture expanded from merely sales and service to include manufacturing and design of medical devices, positioning itself as India's leading exporter of sophisticated electronics. Subsequently, Paul managed GE’s global CT scanner division, restructuring operations in China, Japan, and the United States. He introduced GE’s pioneering multi-detector CT scanner product, Lightspeed, in 1999. His contributions to complex product development were instrumental in advancing "Design For Six Sigma" methodologies. GE honored him as one of its top five All Star CEOs.
Wipro
Paul assumed the roles of vice chairman of Wipro and CEO of its outsourcing division in 1999. At that time, Wipro was a $150-million enterprise with a conventional organizational setup. He is credited with transforming Wipro into a global company and propelling its expansion into a multibillion-dollar corporation. Under his guidance, Wipro went public on the New York Stock Exchange on 19 October 2000. His leadership earned him accolades such as Global Business Influential by TIME (2004), one of the best global managers by BusinessWeek (2004), and recognition as one of the world’s most respected CEOs by Barron's (2005).
TPG Capital
In June 2005, Paul joined the private equity firm TPG Capital as an investing partner across multiple funds including buyout, Asia-focused, and venture capital investments. He was instrumental in founding TPG Growth, which concentrates on growth-stage capital for mid-sized enterprises. Paul departed from TPG in December 2008.
Kinetic Glue
In 2008, he founded KineticGlue, a cloud-based enterprise social networking platform that was acquired by BMC in 2013.
Stanford
Paul co-founded Stanford's Microbiome Alliance and led the inaugural Microbiome Symposium in 2014. He remained involved until the event's ninth annual meeting in 2022. Additionally, he served as co-chair for Stanford's Biodesign program between 2014 and 2015.
Electronic Arts
Paul was a member of Electronic Arts' board from 2005 until 2019 and led the committee responsible for selecting the CEO in 2013.
Additionally, he has served on the advisory council for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, contributed to the California Chamber of Commerce board, participated on the U.S.-India Business Council board, and been involved with the Senate of BITS Pilani.
Acknowledgments
- Honored as one of the world's top managers by BusinessWeek in 2003.
- Recognized by Time magazine in 2004 as a leading global business influencer.
- Featured among Barron's list of the 30 most respected CEOs worldwide in 2005.
- Ranked within the top five CEOs by Jack Welch in his 2005 book 4E's of Leadership.
- Credited as a pioneer of Design for Six Sigma by Mikel Harry in his 2006 publication Six Sigma.