Ramaraj, is presently a venture partner with Sequoia Capital.

Ramaraj, is the Co--Founder & Advisor and till recently the CEO of Sify Limited, the pioneer and leader in Internet, Networking and eCommerce Services in India. With its mission of “Making the Internet work for you”, Sify is empowering Indian businesses with the power and potential of the Internet. Sify is also impacting the quality of life of thousands of Indians by making the Internet accessible, enjoyable and affordable for them, both at home and through iWays- a chain of state-of-the-art cyber cafes across the country.

Sify was the first Indian Internet company to be listed on the Nasdaq National Market in the US (NASDAQ : SIFY), and has a history of firsts both in terms of technologies, service standards and marketing. The company’s countrywide IP backbone network is India’s first Tier 1 network infrastructure, comparable to that of global majors AT&T, Singtel and Telstra in terms of speed, reliability, scalability and security.

Ramaraj was recognized as the ‘Evangelist of the Year’ at the India Internet World Convention in September 2000. In October 2000, Sify was voted the ‘Company of the Year’ at the Silicon India Annual Technology and Entrepreneurship Conference in San Jose, California, USA. And in 2001, in a CNET.com poll in India, Mr Ramaraj was voted the IT Person of the Year 2000. He was invited by the UN General Secretary, Kofi Annan to be a member of UN’s Working group on Internet Governance (WGIG)

Under his leadership, the company was voted ‘ISP of the Year’ at the second annual Internet World Asia Industry Awards, 2001 from among nominees such as NTT DoCoMo of Japan and Korea Thrunet. The nominations were for excellence based on strategic vision, innovation, customer service, bandwidth performance and connectivity.

Ramaraj is a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the University of Madras and an MBA from the IIM, Calcutta. Beginning his career in Sales and Marketing, Mr Ramaraj went on to pioneer the retail marketing of computers in India by establishing Computer Point in 1984. He was a Founder Director of Microland Ltd before a stint in cellular telephony as Director, Sterling Cellular up to 1996. He has been associated with Sify since inception.

Mr. Gopal recently launched TVS Capital Funds Limited, a new private equity firm that will make growth equity investments in mid-cap growth companies and target entrepreneur development in emerging, high growth cities across India. It is his vision to develop and nurture world class mid-cap entrepreneurs from India.

Mr. Gopal, a member of the TVS family, is the founder and whole time Director of TVS Electronics Limited, joint MD of Sundaram-Clayton, and Director of several other TVS Group businesses. TVS Electronics, founded in 1986, started as an IT peripherals manufacturer and has today transformed itself into an IT Transaction Solution provider and Business Process Outsourcing partner. TVS-E offers a wide range of computer peripherals to suit all peripheral related needs

Over the last decade Gopal has incubated over 8 businesses, and has over twenty five years of operational experience in India, along with a wide network of relationships across the world. Mr. Gopal is currently board member of several organizations in India, including ICICI Ventures.

Mr.Gopal is currently the “Chairman” of the Tamil Nadu State Council of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He has served as the “President” of Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT). He was awarded “Electronics Man of the Year – 2004” by “Electronics for You” magazine in 2004 & also by ELCINA for the year 1996-97. He was also served as a key member in various panels of both Central and State Governments.

Mr. Gopal earned a BS from Loyola College, Chennai and an MBA from University of Michigan, USA. A vivid reader, he enjoys meeting people and spending time with his family.

Sanjay Shroff is the Co-founder & Marketing Director of the Medindia.com, the largest & earliest health portal from West Asia founded in 1996. It is a B2C, B2B portal with majority of traffic from USA. He also Co-founded in 1996, India4u.com a horizontal web portal as well as FrontPoint Systems Ltd., a web services company. Vishwashanti Merchandise (P) Ltd., is a foundry additives manufacturer which he Founded in 1997. He was the founder trustee of MOHAN (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) FOUNDATION, an NGO propagating the cause of Brain Death Organ Donation.

He also served on the Committee of the prestigious Chennai club namely Madras Gymkhana Club. He has over 20 years of management experience with keen interest in marketing. A constant thirst for innovation has been the key driver. He is currently playing the role of an advisor to SS Concepts an automobile accessories manufacturer based at Bangalore on finance as well as in marketing to OEM’s. He is also an advisor to a mid size advertising company in Mumbai. Medindia has offices in Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, UK & USA. He also has served as the Chairman of the Southern Region of The Institute of Indian Foundrymen with about 1000 members. He is now the member of the National Council of the same Institute and is also the member of the reorganization committee. His interests include golf, snooker, reading, philosophy, and writing

Raghu Rajagopal is the founder and CEO of Energeate a consulting and advisory company based in Chennai. He has extensive experience in building companies that leverages the offshore model. He was instrumental in building SeraNova a pure-play eBusiness services company where he was the Head of Strategic Accounts and CEO of the India operations. He co-founded ikigo a Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) software company. He was the EVP of Sales and Marketing of SwiftResponse a BPO company. He was the Head of the Chennai Development Center and Head of the Insurance Delivery practice for i-flex solutions. Raghu Rajagopal is the Secretary/Treasurer and Charter Member of TiE Chennai. He is the Program Co-Ordinator of the angel investment fund called Chennai Fund which was started by TiE Chennai. He holds a M.Sc (Tech) degree in Engineering Technology from BITS, Pilani.

George Samson, 38 is the Executive Director of TiE Chennai Chapter. With more than 15 years of experience in India and Bahrain, George was instrumental in reviving Tie Chennai chapter. His emphasis is on Business & revenue Growth, Leadership and Innovation. Prior to joining TiE Chennai, George was with a leading Bahrain Manufacturing Co, Plastic Manufacturers’ Association and Shripet Polymers and has carried responsibilities in sales & marketing and management.