Unleashing the entrepreneurial energy of Young India holds tremendous global potential

Under Desai's direction, Syntel has grown over the past 26 years to become a leading global information technology services company. Syntel now employs over 7,000 people in offices strategically located throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as seven fully-networked Global Development Centers in the US and India. Syntel has been profitable since inception in 1980 and today, has a market capitalization approaching $1 billion.

Syntel was named one of the "Largest Healthcare IT Providers" in 2005 and recognized by Fortune as one "Fastest Growing Small Public Companies" and one of the top "40 Small- and Mid-Cap stocks" in 2004; by Forbes Magazine as one of the "200 Best Small Companies in America" in 2004, the fourth straight year Syntel has made the list; by Business 2.0 as one of the "100 Fastest Growing Tech Companies" in 2003 and 2002; by Business Week as a "Hot Growth Company" in 1999 and 1998; and by Money Magazine as one of the "Top 50 Stocks" (#17). IT Business Weekly, a leading IT weekly published in Turkey, ranked a Web-based automotive marketplace built by Syntel as the top automobile reference Web site in Turkey. Syntel was also ranked in the UPSIDE TODAY list of the top 150 e-Business integrators (#13) as well as named in the VARBusiness 500 Architects of the New Economy (#157) and the VARBusiness Top 500 Largest Solution Providers in North America.

In addition to running a successful corporation, the Governor of Michigan appointed Desai to serve on the Board of Directors of Cyberstate.org, which is dedicated to attracting high-tech businesses to the state. He has donated his time and Syntel resources to various charitable organizations, including Detroit's "Paint the Town," an effort that cleans troubled neighborhoods, as well as several United Way projects and global relief efforts (Sept. 11 Fund, Bosnia, and Bhuj, India). Desai is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) of Detroit and sits on the Boards of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) and St. John Health System.

In September 2005, Mr. Desai was named Entrepreneur of the Year by The University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business. The previous year, he received the award for IIT Alumnus of the Year from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology and was also recognized by Crain's Detroit Business as a "Minority Business All-star." Desai received the "1999 Michigan Entrepreneur Award" from the Harvard Business School and was recognized as "Entrepreneur of the Year" in 1996 by USA Today, NASDAQ, and Crain's Detroit Business. He holds a M.B.A. in Finance from The University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, India.