Hari hails from Mumbai, India and graduated from ITP at the University of Colorado in 2001. Prior to earning an M.S., Hari earned a B.S. in Telecommunications Engineering. While working on his M.S., Hari worked for two years in the Telecom Lab as a Teaching Assistant. Hari was team member of the 3rd Place Winners for the 'Deloitte Challenge' business case competition.
Hari spent five years with Cisco Systems in San Jose as a Product Manager, where he launched an industry-leading Ethernet Switch, and built it up to a $1Bn annual run-rate. Tasked with marketing the product globally, he was responsible for flipping several customers who had previously not done any business with Cisco. After building the product up to a steady business line, Hari left Cisco to pursue an MBA at INSEAD in France.
Thereafter, he returned to India to be part of the rapidly growing economy and more specifically, the Internet industry. At Strategic Alliances, head of the largest business unit of Yahoo! India, he was part of the team that built up Yahoo! Messenger, Mail & Photo to an overwhelming market leadership position.
He then left to join an early-stage startup - Travelguru.com - which was attempting to become the Expedia of India. Funded by leading venture capital firm - Sequoia Capital - Travelguru has since grown to be the market leader for online hotel distribution in India. Hari has the role of Head of Marketing & Product Development, and member of the core team of senior management. Having run multiple high-profile marketing campaigns, he has been part of building up the Travelguru brand in India. Aside from this, his role is to play a key part in building corporate policies and culture.
Hari is married with a young daughter and spends his spare time playing sports such as tennis and rugby. He is a certified scuba diver.
Education:
MBA, INSEAD (France), 2005
MS, Telecommunications, University of Colorado, 2001
BE (Honours), Electronics & Telecom Engineering, University of Mumbai, 1999