Arun Kumar

Good shepherd




Arun Kumar, who passed away this year, guided the difficult years of transition

at Nasscom, between Dewang Mehta's sudden demise and the appointment of Kiran

Karnik. Also as a founder member of TiE, he has been a mentor to several budding

entrepreneurs. Even in Hughes, he guided them through many of its defining

moments in history including three ownership changes in three years. Kumar was

there to not just oversee these changes, but successfully assimilate them into

the internal DNA. He was the guiding force behind the successful launch of

Hughes' landmark IPO in 1999, India's first book built offer. And, nothing

of these would have happened if Kumar had decided not to stay back in India;

after all, he was sent from the US only to start Hughes' operations here in

1995.