Omidyar Network's leadership and investment professionals bring rich experience from the public, private, and social sectors to their roles. Our team works together to create opportunity for people to improve their lives by making catalytic investments and collaborating with investees to help them grow and succeed.
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Surya is a media and technology veteran. Leveraging this deep experience, Surya leads investments in the Media, Markets & Transparency initiative for Omidyar Network India, focusing on consumer Internet, mobile technology, government transparency, and education sector organizations.
Prior to Omidyar Network, Surya was the chief executive officer of Web18, the online and mobile arm of Network18, where he built the most diversified Internet portfolio in India, tripling revenue in three years to Rs.70 Crores. Under his leadership, Web18 grew to be the second largest new media network in India. Previously, Surya served as senior vice president of interactive services at Sify, one of India’s largest Internet companies. During his tenure there, he was instrumental in launching several new products and doubling revenue. In the US, Surya was general manager, marketing and operations at RealNetworks Inc., a leading creator of digital media services and software that powers audio and video on more than 40 million mobile handsets. Previously, Surya was a principal at management consulting firm PRTM, where he focused on the technology industry. He started his career on the research staff of Xerox Corporation.
Surya earned an MBA in finance and strategy from the University of Rochester, a PhD in computer science from the University of Utah, an MS in computer science from Virginia Tech, and a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.