BOSTON—Boston-based tech entrepreneur and philanthropist Prashanth Palakurthi has been conferred with the first BITS Ratna Award.
BITS Ratna Award, instituted in 2022, is the highest award for a BITS Pilani alumnus / alumna to recognize outstanding contribution and services to the institute and its stakeholders and the society at large, resulting in visible impact of the maximum order, BITS Pilani said in an announcement.
In 2001, Mr. Palakurthi founded Reflexis Systems Inc., a leading provider of intelligent workforce management, execution, and communication solutions for organizations in the retail, food service, hospitality and banking industries. The company was acquired by Zebra Technologies Corporation for $575 million in 2020.
With his team of co-founders, Mr. Palakurthi pioneered the category of Retail Execution Management solutions that enable companies to simplify store operations and execute labor operations and customer engagement strategies.
In 2021, along with his wife Anuradha Palakurthi, he organized the first ever joint Hollywood-Bollywood mega musical concert that brought attention and resources to vaccinate India against COVID-19 on a massive scale.
Bollywood biggies Katrina Kaif, A.R. Rahman, Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi, Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Sonakshi Sinha, Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar, Zubin Mehta, Nishat Khan and Ranjani Gayatri Sisters joined American stars Gloria Estefan, Sting, Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Yoyo Ma, Josh Groban, Aasif Mandvi, Andrea Bocelli, Matteo Bocelli, David Foster, Norwegian DJ Alan Walker, Pia Toscano, Fareed Zakaria, Anuradha Juju Palakurthi and Liam Neeson for the virtual fundraiser concert.
In 2018, Mr. Palakurthi and his wife pledged a gift of $1 million to their alma mater: Birla Institute of Technology and Science, known as BITS Pilani. This is the largest individual donation ever received by the institution.
