Kavitark Ram Shriram (born 1956/57) is an
Indian-American
Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...
billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is a founding
board member
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...
and one of the first investors in
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
.
He was earlier employed by
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
, working for
Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ''né'' Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former preside ...
. Shriram came to Amazon.com in August 1998, when the company acquired
Junglee
Junglee may refer to:
* ''Junglee'' (1961 film), an Indian film
* ''Junglee'' (2009 film), a Kannada-language Indian film
* ''Junglee'' (2019 film), a Hindi-language Indian film
* Junglee.com, a defunct e-commerce website by Amazon.com
*Junglee, a ...
, an online comparison shopping firm of which Shriram was president. Before Junglee and Amazon, Shriram was a member of the
Netscape
Netscape Communications Corporation (originally Mosaic Communications Corporation) was an American independent computer services company with headquarters in Mountain View, California and then Dulles, Virginia. Its Netscape web browser was onc ...
executive team, joining them in 1994, before they shipped products or posted revenue.
[
According to '']Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'', as of September 2020, his net worth was $2.3 billion.
Early life
Shriram holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Loyola College, Chennai
Loyola College is a private Catholic higher education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1925 by the French Jesuit priest, Francis Bertram, along with other European Jesuits. It is an auto ...
of the University of Madras
The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigiou ...
.
Career
Shriram started his career with Bell-Northern Research
Bell-Northern Research (BNR) was a telecommunications research and development company established In 1971 when Bell Canada and Nortel, Northern Electric combined their R&D organizations. It was jointly owned by Bell Canada and Nortel, Northern ...
.
In 1994, he became a vice president of Netscape
Netscape Communications Corporation (originally Mosaic Communications Corporation) was an American independent computer services company with headquarters in Mountain View, California and then Dulles, Virginia. Its Netscape web browser was onc ...
. Later, he also served as a president of Junglee
Junglee may refer to:
* ''Junglee'' (1961 film), an Indian film
* ''Junglee'' (2009 film), a Kannada-language Indian film
* ''Junglee'' (2019 film), a Hindi-language Indian film
* Junglee.com, a defunct e-commerce website by Amazon.com
*Junglee, a ...
.
Shriram started Sherpalo, a venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
firm that invests in promising new disruptive technologies, in January 2000.
In 2020, Ram Shriram was selected for the Ellis Island medal of honor.
Philanthropy
Shriram and his wife have donated funds through education-focused Dhanam Foundation. They have funded Shriram Family Professorship in Science Education and the Shriram Family Fellowship in Science Education at Stanford Graduate School of Education
The Stanford Graduate School of Education (also known as Stanford GSE, or GSE) is one of the seven schools of Stanford University, and is one of the top education schools in the United States. It was founded in 1891 and offers master's and doc ...
. They have also funded $57 million to establish Shriram Center for Bioengineering & Chemical Engineering at Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
.
In 2014, the Shriram along with his wife donated $61 million to the newly established Stanford School of Bioengineering.
Personal life
He is married to Vijay Shriram. They have two daughters.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shriram, Ram
Living people
1950s births
American computer businesspeople
Indian emigrants to the United States
Stanford University trustees
Amazon (company) people
American billionaires
American Hindus
American philanthropists
Tamil billionaires
American corporate directors
Businesspeople from Chennai
University of Madras alumni
American people of Indian descent
Tamil entrepreneurs
Indian Tamil people
Directors of Alphabet Inc.