Dr. Sumit D. Chowdhury

(BT/EE/1992)

Dr. Sumit D. Chowdhury is an Indian entrepreneur, technology executive, and author who builds large-scale digital and energy platforms across the public and private sector. He is the Founder of GreenEarthX (a multi-country green-hydrogen and green-fuels trading ecosystem), Managing Director & Founder of Gaia Smart Cities (digital platforms and data/AI for city- and nation-scale programs), and Founder of Hydreen (green hydrogen, green ammonia, SAF initiatives). He is the Global Deployment Ambassador for the Digital Energy Grid, an initiative of the FIDE's Becknlabs.

He is a Non-Executive Independent Director on the boards of Goodyear India Ltd. and ABM Knowledgeware Ltd., Metrology Data Pvt. Ltd. (a Division of BARC) and serves as Visiting Faculty and a member of the Dean's Advisory Council at Carnegie Mellon University.

Profile

Dr. Chowdhury did his B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1992, and subsequently went on to earn his MS in Electronics and Communications Engineering and PhD in Business Administration & Management Policy degrees from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA. Dr. Chowdhury started his career as a Project Executive with Philips India. Post his Ph.D. in the US, he joined KPMG. During his career, he rose quickly from a Consultant, to become one of the youngest Partners of KPMG in the US. Subsequently, he worked in several leadership roles in BearingPoint and KPMG in US, Australia and with Reliance Industries, IBM, Reliance ADAG, in India. While working with BearingPoint, he led the system integration practice for major companies, including Vodafone, British Telecom, Verizon, Singtel, Australia Post, BHP, Coles Myer, National Australia Bank, Cadbury Schweppes and GE Capital. He served as the CEO of BearingPoint in Australia before moving to India in 2006.


In 2012, Dr. Chowdhury joined Reliance Jio where he worked as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and also became the President of the Enterprise Business unit. He also had a stint as the VP and Partner of IBM Global Services in India. He was also the CIO of Reliance Communications during its growth phase. He was the CTO of Brookfield Properties and also the CTO of the Wadhwani Foundation. He has also served on the Board of Directors of Tele Management Forum (TMF) and as the founder of Digital Bridge Foundation -a non- profit organization which helps bridge the Digital Divide in India through computer-assisted constructivist education. Dr. Chowdhury has held CXO roles across several Global companies and is a Visiting Faculty and Member of Dean's Advisory Committee at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and also a certified Independent Director in India.



Currently, Dr. Chowdhury serves as the Managing Director and Founder of the Gaia Smart Cities, an IoT and AI company focused on telecom and ICT solutions for smart cities and smart sites. He is working with several cities in India to define their Smart Cities solutions and building unique propositions to solve urban problems in the cities. He is also the technical advisor of BARC, India. He was also contracted as the CTO of Brookfield Properties in India. He is also the founder of SesoVera Inc. a US incorporated Edge compute AI platform and solutions company.

Being an entrepreneur at heart, Dr. Chowdhury has been mentoring, angel funding, and incubating several start-up companies in diverse areas in India. He is serving on the Board of 4 Start-ups. He is associated with NEN, Total Start, Business World, Accelerate programs and is a part of Mumbai Angels & CIO Angels. He is the author of a bestselling career management book titled 'Rules of the Game' published by Bloomsbury India. He has contributed to committees of the Indo American Chamber of Commerce, ASSOCHAM and other institutions. He is the author of the bestselling career management book Rules ofthe Game (Bloomsbury India) and is a sought-after speaker on technology, management, and career development, including as a TEDx speaker. Beyond his professional pursuits, he is an avid painter, trained musician, endurance athlete, and founder of The Dough & Batter, an artisanal bakery.

Achievements and Honors

• US Information Week Global CIO-50 -one of the TOP 50 CIOs of the World, 2009.
• CTO of the Year by CTO Forum, 2009.
• Pioneer CIO by CIOL Dataquest, 2009.
• CIO Hall of Fame by IDG Media, 2009.
• IDC Enterprise Innovation Award, 2009.
• CTO Forum Hall of Fame Award, 2007.
• Visionary Award from Symantec, 2007.
• CIO-100 Awards for being one of the leading CIOs in India for managing scale and innovation, ingenuity and working on bold projects, 2006.