Kumar Malavalli is an Indian American technology entrepreneur and philanthropist.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In 1995, he founded Brocade Communications Systems with Paul Bonderson Jr. He currently serves as chairman of C3DNA Inc. and as a partner at VKRM Services, a boutique investment firm.[2][7] He has also served on the boards of the Storage Networking Industry Association and the Fibre Channel Industry Association.[10][11]

Kumar Malavalli
Born (1943-03-07) March 7, 1943 (age 81)
Alma materNational Institute of Engineering, Mysore, India
Cal State East Bay Honorary Doctorate of Science
Occupation(s)Chairman of C3DNA Inc.
Co-founder, CTO Brocade Communications
Board member ofGlassbeam, Inc.
AlephCloud
C3DNA Inc.
SpouseVijayalakshmi Malavalli
ChildrenRanjini Malavalli
FatherNarayanaswamy Malavalli
RelativesDr. Seetharam Malavalli
Dr. Shivaram Malavalli

Malavalli was presented with an honorary doctor of science degree by California State University, East Bay in 2013.[7] The Kumar Malavalli Endowed Chair in Storage Systems Research at the University of California Santa Cruz's Jack Baskin School of Engineering was established in 2004 following a $1 million donation from Malavalli.[7][12][13] Professor Darrell Long currently holds the Kumar Malavalli Chair.[13]

Malavalli is a member of the Silicon Valley Hall Engineering Hall of Fame.[6][14]

Early life and education

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Malavalli was born in early March 1943 in Mysore, Karnataka, India.[citation needed] He moved to Düsseldorf, Germany in 1972 following his graduation from the National Institute of Engineering with a bachelor's degree in engineering.[12] After graduating from the Institute of Engineering in Düsseldorf with a master's degree in industrial electronics, Malavalli moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[12]

Career

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In Toronto, Malavalli worked for Canstar Communications’ fibre channel group, which was later acquired by Hewlett-Packard.[12] While at Hewlett-Packard, he served on American National Standards Institute's T11 Technical Committee, which established universal standards for fibre channel.[10][13][15]

Malavalli co-founded Brocade Communications, a producer of storage area networks, with Paul Bonderson, Jr. in 1995.[1][3][4][16] Brocade launched in 1998 and went public in May 1999, and its CEO was convicted for illegal backdating of options in January 2008.[citation needed] In addition to being a co-founder, Malavalli served as CTO of Brocade.[17]

In 2001, Malavalli co-founded InMage, an independent software company.[2][9][17]

He was awarded the International Committee for Information Technology Standards’ 2002 Gene Milligan Award for his work chairing an INCITS committee, which developed 17 standards for storage area networks.[10][18][19]

In 2003, Malavalli became the first Indian member of the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame.[6][14]

Malavalli co-founded Glassbeam, a software-as-a-service vendor, in 2009 with Puneet Pandit.[20] He also serves as chairman of the company.[20]

Malavalli was appointed InMage CEO in 2011.[2][9]

Other companies whose boards Malavalli has served on include CryptoMill Technologies and LeadFormix (then-known as LeadForce1).[21][22] He was also an investor in Edurite Technologies, which was later acquired by Pearson Education.[23][24]

Philanthropy

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In 2004, Malavalli donated $1 million toward the creation of the University of California at Santa Cruz’s endowed Kumar Malavalli Chair in Storage Systems Research.[7][12][13] He is also a benefactor of Stanford University’s Institute for Economic Policy Research, with donations totaling over $500,000.[25]

Malavalli is a co-founder and trustee of the Indus Trust, which builds schools that are not affordable by the middle class population of India.[4][8][15] Hindu BL, The Indus Trust is headed by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray.[4][8][15][26] He is also the principle investor of TeleVital, a company that provides telemedicine services to rural areas in India.[1][27]

Malavalli is the chairman and a funder of the India Community Center in Milpitas, California.[5][28][29] He also serves as a trustee of the American India Foundation and Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.[12][30][31] He sits on the board of The Indus Entrepreneurs’ Silicon Valley Chapter and the San Francisco-Bangalore Sister City Initiative.[13][32][33]

In 2013, Malavalli was awarded the Immigrant Heritage Award for his philanthropic work in the United States and India.[34]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Daniel Fisher (June 8, 2005). "Remote Retirement". Forbes. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d Chris Mellor (August 15, 2011). "InMage dumps CEO". The Register. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  3. ^ a b Chidanand Raighatta (July 23, 2000). "Small-town India goes to big-time America". Indian Express. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d Fakir Chand in bangalore (January 14, 2003). "NRI to fund Indus school in Bangalore". Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  5. ^ a b Nitya Ramanan (June 1, 2005). "The Social Entrepreneur". India Currents. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  6. ^ a b c "Kumar Malavalli makes it to Silicon Valley Hall of Fame". The Economic Times. January 21, 2003. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  7. ^ a b c d e Barry Zepel (May 13, 2013). "Entrepreneur, philanthropist Kumar Malavalli to be presented Honorary Doctorate by Cal State East Bay". California State University East Bay. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  8. ^ a b c "Indus International School Plans Engagement with Civil Society". Seasonal Magazine. July 6, 2011. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  9. ^ a b c "InMage names Kumar Malavalli as new CEO". Silicon Valley Business Journal. August 15, 2011. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  10. ^ a b c "Major gift from Kumar Malavalli establishes endowed chair in storage systems". UC Newsroom. November 5, 2011. Archived from the original on September 26, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  11. ^ Tim Stephens (November 4, 2004). "Major gift from storage industry leader Kumar Malavalli establishes endowed chair in storage systems at UC Santa Cruz". University of California-Santa Cruz Newsroom. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Naomi Grossman (September 18, 2006). "Brocade founder follows gut into ventures". IndUS Business Journal. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  13. ^ a b c d e "Kumar Malavalli Endowed Chair". South Asia Studies Initiative. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  14. ^ a b Nitya Ramanan (April 21, 2003). "In Focus". India Currents. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  15. ^ a b c "Indus International School Expands World Class Facilities". Financial Express. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  16. ^ "Brocade Communications Systems Inc". SEC. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  17. ^ a b Paul Shread (September 15, 2004). "Brocade Co-Founder Returns In Backup Role". Enterprise Storage. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  18. ^ "PR 2002-11 Awards". Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  19. ^ "Awards". Archived from the original on August 1, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  20. ^ a b "Glassbeam cuts time for product analysis with cloud". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Aug 29, 2010. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  21. ^ "Kumar Malavalli Profile". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  22. ^ "LeadForce1 Ropes In $1.6M". Silicon Tap. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  23. ^ "Edurite Bags E-learning Contract Worth $30 M". The Financial Express. May 29, 2002. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  24. ^ "Pearson acquires e-tutoring venture TutorVista, appoints Srikanth B Iyer as CEO". India Digital Review. February 23, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  25. ^ "Stanford Institute for EconomIc Policy Research Annual Report" (PDF). Stanford Institute for EconomIc Policy Research. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 18, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  26. ^ "Indus schools to expand network". BusinessLine. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  27. ^ "Ensuring quality healthcare to rural people at a low cost". The Hindu. 2006-12-12. Archived from the original on June 22, 2009. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  28. ^ "K Malavalli donates $1 m to Indian community centre". The Economic Times. May 31, 2004. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  29. ^ Richard Springer (March 13, 2013). "ICC Marks 10th Anniversary as Model for Community Center". IndiaWest. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  30. ^ "Asian Art Museum Appoints Seven New Trustees". Asian American Press. July 8, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  31. ^ Gerrye Wong (October 4, 2013). "China Comes To San Jose". AsianWeek. Archived from the original on November 28, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  32. ^ Anil Kumar (September 12, 2008). "San Francisco, Bangalore to become tech 'sisters'". The Times of India. Archived from the original on September 12, 2011. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  33. ^ Andrew S. Ross (October 18, 2009). "S.F. sustains ties with Bangalore". SFGate. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  34. ^ "Kumar Malavalli Honored with Immigrant Heritage Award". India West. Retrieved November 12, 2013.