Mr. Thekkethala, the founder of Learn for Life Foundation, is an Asian-American entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist with over twenty-five years of experience in financing and leading global technology companies. https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-thekkethala
He is also the founder and Managing Partner of TOLIMA Partners, an investment fund, which is the primary source of financial support for the foundation. TOLIMA finances and advises disruptive innovation companies in AI / Machine Learning and Cloud computing.
Prior to TOLIMA, Thomas was a co-founder and Managing Partner of JT Ventures, which focused on investing and mentoring early-stage technology companies through their growth and successful acquisition. Investments included CrosStor (acquired by EMC), Allegro (acquired by Cisco Systems: CSCO), Fidelia (acquired by NetScout: NTCT), Ibrix (acquired by HP) & Sixth Sense Media (acquired by Evolving: EVOL).
During his career, he was President and CEO at Evolving Systems, (NASDAQ: EVOL) a real time digital engagement solutions company, where he completed two acquisitions and grew the company to over 100 mobile operators in 75 countries touching 2 billion consumers. Prior to Evolving, he was also the founding investor and CEO at multiple technology startups which were acquired.
Mr. Thekkethala received his Masters’ degree from the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University where he was also an adjunct faculty member for over five years. He is passionate about education as a catalyst to change lives and uplift communities.