Bharat Desai is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder of Syntel, Inc. a worldwide provider of Applications Outsourcing and e-Business solutions to Global 2000 firms.

Under Desai’s direction, Syntel has grown dramatically over the past 21 years to become a leading information technology services company. Syntel now employs more than 2,700 people in offices strategically located throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as three fully-networked Global Development Centers in the US and India. Syntel has been profitable since its founding in 1980 and today, has revenues of approximately $ 165 million. Syntel has met or exceeded financial expectations all 17 quarters the company has been publicly-traded on NASDAQ.

Syntel was recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of the “Best 200 Small Companies in America” in both 2001 and 1998; by Business Week as a “Hot Growth Company” in 1999 and 1998; and by Money Magazine as one of the “Top 50 Stocks” (#17). 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).

In addition to running a successful corporation, Desai has been appointed by the Governor of Michigan 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 which 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.

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, Ann Arbor.