BOSTON– Raj Melville, who played an important role in driving the Deshpande Foundation’s strategy and efforts to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in the United States, Canada and India, is retiring as the organization’s executive director after over 12 years of service.
Desh Deshpande, co-founder of the Deshpande Foundation along with his wife Jaishree, said that Mr. Melville has contributed to the foundation and has improved the lives of many and inspires a new generation of entrepreneurs and philanthropists to follow in his footsteps.
“He oversaw the University initiatives at MIT, University of New Brunswick, Queen’s University and IIT Madras. In addition, he started the Deshpande Symposium in the USA to promote Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Universities 11 years ago. This has now grown into a vibrant group with over 120 Universities,” said Mr. Deshpande, Co-founder of the Deshpande Foundation and President and Chairman of the Sparta Group LLC. “Another initiative that is close to Raj’s heart is EforAll (Entrepreneurship for ALL). This started 11 years ago in Boston. This program has now grown substantially, and Raj has played a key role in nurturing it. Raj made many trips to Hubli (India) and was also the brains behind the Development Dialogues.”
As Executive Director of the Deshpande Foundation, Mr. Melville drove the Deshpande Foundation’s strategy and efforts to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation. He helped launch three Foundation supported centers at Queens University, Canada; at IIT Madras, Chennai, India; and at the University of New Brunswick, Canada.
He also helped launch Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll) and as Board member and former Board Chair, helped direct the strategic direction since its inception. He helped launch the Deshpande Symposium, an international conference on entrepreneurship in higher education; the I-NCUBATE program in India, modeled on the NSF I-Corps program; and the Forum for Social Entrepreneurs.
Mr. Melville has over 25 years of previous product management, marketing and consulting experience including with two mobile technology spinoffs from MIT, with an e-commerce company, and with a web publishing startup whose technologies were cited as inspiration for the World Wide Web.
Earlier Mr. Melville led consulting practices at Microsoft, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Booz Allen & Hamilton. He has spoken at, organized and moderated numerous panels on social impact and entrepreneurship. He has been a mentor and judge for several entrepreneurial competitions and accelerators.
Mr. Melville currently serves on the board of FORGE Impact, a nonprofit helping hardtech startups, and on the Steering Committee of the Asian Community Fund, a fund supporting the AAPI community in Massachusetts. Mr. Melville and his wife, Shiamin, are active members of the India Society of Worcester, one of the oldest and most active community organizations serving the Indian diaspora in the Massachusetts MetroWest area. He has a doctorate and two masters from MIT and a B.Tech from IIT Bombay.
“The past 12 plus years have been one of the most exciting and rewarding for me. I was glad to be able to work with Desh and Jaishree as they built on their vision for the Deshpande Foundation,” Mr. Melville told INDIA New England News. “With their direction, we were able to advance the foundation’s objectives of leveraging innovation and entrepreneurship to create social and economic impact. I will cherish my memories and connections at our centers and the organization in India. I am confident that the work will continue to make a significant impact based on the solid foundation that was laid in the past decade.”
The Deshpande Foundation was founded to battle income and wealth disparity through innovation and entrepreneurship. The foundation itself has helped over 100,000 people across three countries. The Deshpande Foundation aids rural development by promoting entrepreneurship, finds ways to make urban living more sustainable, works to improve the quality of life in developing countries, and supports innovation through research and opportunity.
