Govindasamy Viswanathan, is the founder and chancellor of

Vellore Institute of Technology Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private research deemed university located in Katpadi in Vellore, India. Founded in 1984 as ''Vellore Engineering College'' by G. Viswanathan, the institution offers 66 Undergraduate, 58 Postgraduate, ...

in India, was born on 8 December 1938 in a remote village in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.He served as a Member of Parliament and as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. He was elected to the

Tamil Nadu legislative assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members of whom are democratically elected using the First-past-the-post voting, First-past-the-post system. The pres ...

as an

Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK) is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by the former chief mini ...

candidate from Anaicut constituency in the 1980 election and from Arcot constituency in 1991 election.

Early life and education

Viswanathan was born in a family near Gudiyattam. He attended the six-week Advanced Management Program at the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

in 2003. He obtained a Master's Degree in Economics from Loyola College and completed Law from

Madras University The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

. His leadership skills were noticed by

C. N. Annadurai Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 1909 – 3 February 1969), popularly known as Anna also known as Arignar Anna or Perarignar Anna (''Anna, the scholar'' or ''Elder Brother''), was an Indian Tamil politician who served as the fo ...

and the DMK party chose him to contest the elections in 1967. He entered the Indian parliament representing the aspirations of around 500,000 people of his constituency.

Career

Currently, Dr. G Viswanathan holds these offices: * Chancellor, VIT University, Vellore * Chancellor, VIT University, Chennai * Chancellor,

VIT-AP University VIT-AP University is a private university located in Amaravati, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is the first university located in the capital region. VIT-AP was established as a sister university of Vellore Institute of Technology. ...

, Amaravati * Chancellor,

VIT Bhopal University VIT Bhopal University is a private university in Kothri Kalan in Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh, India. It was established by the Vellore Institute of Technology. Academics *School of Advanced Sciences & Languages *School of Bioengineering ...

, Bhopal * Chairman and Managing Trustee, North Arcot Educational and Charitable Trust, Vellore * President, Friends of United States * Executive President, The Centenarian Trust, Chennai * Vice President, Thiru Vi Ka — Dr. Mu. Va. Educational Trust, Chennai * President, Universal Higher Education Trust, Vellore (NGO) * President, Indian Economic Association (IEA) * President, Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI)
/nowiki> * President, North Arcot District Tuluva Vellala Association.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viswanathan, G. 1938 births Living people People from Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu academics Tamil Nadu politicians India MPs 1967–1970 India MPs 1971–1977 Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu People from Tiruvannamalai district Loyola College, Chennai alumni Vellore Institute of Technology Tamil Nadu MLAs 1991–1996