Raj Melville
Mechanical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, with MSc and Doctoral degrees from MIT. Currently working as Principal at Ambient Engines.
| Headline: | Entrepreneur |
| Website: | http://socialecosystem.wordpress.com/ |
| Industries: | Information Technology, Internet |
| Skills: | Business, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Management, Marketing |
| Interested in: | Advising startups, Consulting opportunities, Meeting new people, Mentoring, Offering Expertise, Professional opportunities, Providing services to startups |
| Tags: | marketing, social entrepreneur, Strategy |
| Schools: | Indian Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
WORK EXPERIENCE
| Employer: | Ambient Engines |
| Position: | Principal |
| Time period: | October 2006 - Present |
| Description: | Launched a social incubator, a consultative services company to provide marketing and strategy consulting services to emerging non-profits and social entrepreneurs focused on building bottom of pyramid solutions. |
| Employer: | Community Activities |
| Position: | Volunteer |
| Description: | Technical Entrepreneurship
• Active Charter Member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE), Boston Chapter, an 800 member chapter of a volunteer-run non-profit that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation. • Chair, Software SIG, 2004 - 2006. For one of the most active Special Interest Groups (SIGs) in TIE Boston, organized several programs a year on cutting edge software and technology topics that drew leading VCs, software entrepreneurs and technologists and helped emerging entrepreneurs establish key business connections and obtain valuable feedback. • TiE SIG Coordinator, 2006 - 2007. Coordinator for over 12 SIGs, nurtured four new SIGs to extend TIE membership to previously untapped audiences. • Founder and Chair, Annual Outsourcing Workshop, 2004, 2005, & 2006. Founded and organized highly successful annual conference on leading trends in Outsourcing. • Mentor and counsel emerging technical entrepreneurs on a regular basis Social Entrepreneurship • Founder, TIE Social Entrepreneurship SIG. Launched a successful SIG to support and mentor social entrepreneurs with over 400 interested members. Joint programs with Ashoka, Grameen Foundation, and other leading social organizations. • Founder and Chair, ForSE: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs. Founded Boston’s first regional conference on social entrepreneurship jointly with Boston University and the Deshpande Foundation. Over 200 attendees consisting of entrepreneurs, investors, and other thought-leaders committed to social change attended in 2007 & 2008. • Judge for MIT 100K Social Track competition and MIT IDEAS competition. |
| Employer: | nTAG Interactive |
| Position: | Vice President of Product Management |
| Time period: | February 2006 - October 2006 |
| Description: | For nTAG, a MIT Media Lab spin-off providing social networking solutions via wearable interactive mobile technology, was responsible for managing the overall product strategy including product roadmap, version features, release-cycle planning and launch strategy. |
| Employer: | Vaultus Mobile Technology |
| Position: | Various positions |
| Time period: | February 2001 - February 2006 |
| Description: | V.P., Client Services (since 1/04)
Managed Client Services team that delivered multiple projects, utilizing an accelerated applications delivery approach. Clients include Fortune 1000 companies like TJ Maxx, ING, National City Bank, and Prudential Securities. Trained a dozen consulting partners on company's mobile solutions approach to augment consulting resources. Supported sales with pre-sales presentations and proposals. V.P., Marketing & Product Management (8/02 – 1/04); Director, Product Management (3/1 – 8/02) Managed marketing and product management team. Managed release of versions 1 through 3 of Java-based application server for mobile enterprise solutions. Message-based, client/server platform for BlackBerry and Pocket PC devices provides secure wireless message delivery, encryption and compression. Worked closely with customers and sales to define requirements for rapidly evolving market. Developed marketing collateral and website. Launched channel partner program resulting in 20 plus active channel partners in 6 months. |
| Employer: | Be Free, Inc., Marlboro MA |
| Position: | Sr. Director, Product Management |
| Time period: | October 1999 - February 2001 |
| Description: | Managed team of 8 Product Managers for market leading Affiliate Marketing E-commerce solution. Software managed over 4 million affiliate relationships, kept track of 6 billion impressions per quarter. Provided 400 merchants with daily updates on click-throughs, sales and commissions. Managed three key releases featuring a major redesign of the reporting interface, content syndication and automated vendor email notification. Received U.S. Patent 7,032,168 for “Method and apparatus for generating website links”. Set up Customer Product Board to share product strategic direction. Turned around critical customer situations with customer responsive product features. Implemented product management processes that improved schedules and organization readiness. Also responsible for internal product training and customer communications. |
| Employer: | Engage Technologies, Andover MA |
| Position: | Director of Product Management |
| Time period: | May 1999 - October 1999 |
| Description: | Managed seven product managers, developing a suite of user-profile driven, web banner ad server products including a localized product for a Japanese partner. Redirected team from platform to service-focused product. |
| Employer: | CSC Onward, Internet Division of CSC, Natick, MA |
| Position: | Director of Engineering |
| Time period: | March 1998 - May 1999 |
| Description: | Managed 13 member engineering team delivering business-to-business Internet solutions on a variety of platforms including BroadVision, MS Site Server and IBM’s WebSphere. Hired and managed team, developed proposals, and provided overall team direction and project management. Sample engagements include:
• For a major financial publisher, created an end-to-end XML solution that converted diverse input formats to provide simultaneous Internet and high-end print output. • For a prominent Japanese corporation, managed a project to design and develop a new knowledgebase product that integrated different information sources using an internal XML schema. • For a large content website spanning multiple web properties, developed content management strategy, conducted product evaluation and implemented content management processes. |
| Employer: | Inso Corporation, Electronic Publishing Solutions, Providence, R.I. |
| Position: | Senior Product Manager |
| Time period: | July 1996 - March 1998 |
| Description: | Senior Product Manager, DynaBase Product (8/97 - 4/98)
Directed product definition and delivery of next generation DynaBase product, one of the first XML-based content management platforms. DynaBase allowed distributed teams to manage and version control HTML and XML documents. Publishers could provide a consistent ‘look and feel’ to web sites using XML templates and a rich scripting language. Demonstrated dynamic distribution of content to mobile devices, PDAs and web browsers. Developed product specifications, managed schedule, beta programs and product rollout including marketing collateral, packaging and production processes. Supported Sales on strategic account calls. Senior Product Manager, DynaWeb Product (8/96 - 7/97) Directed the successful launch of DynaWeb, an Internet publishing server for large (1000+ page) documents. DynaWeb generated HTML ‘on-the-fly’ from documentation sources like Interleaf, Framemaker, Word and SGML. DynaWeb is imbedded in major vendor websites such as Sun, SGI, Sybase and IBM (Redbooks). First software to dynamically render complex scientific equations on the web. Responsible for business plans and market requirements. Primary interface for Customer review board and beta programs. Developed product collateral, demos, and sales training materials. Launched seven city seminar series. |
| Employer: | Anumedia Edusoft, Northboro, MA |
| Position: | Founder |
| Time period: | February 1994 - July 1996 |
| Description: | Founded Anumedia Edusoft, a consulting firm providing marketing and business planning advice in emerging technology areas, such as multimedia. Assignments included developing technology and market forecasts for telecommunications growth for the Malaysian government as part of their long range planning. |
| Employer: | Microsoft Corporation, New York, NY |
| Position: | Managing Consultant, Microsoft Consulting Services |
| Time period: | February 1993 - February 1994 |
| Description: | Managed a consulting team providing technical direction to Microsoft’s strategic customers and partners. Provided customer feedback to Microsoft’s product development groups. Developed and negotiated proposals, schedules and deliverables with accounts. Managed relationships with over 25 major customers including AIG, Reuters, Dow Jones, and Viacom. Sold over $2.75 million in revenue, exceeding plan. Key assignments include:
• Delivered one of the first mobile applications for Microsoft’s PDA prototype. For a prominent financial news agency developed a news clipping and stock ticker application. Managed development team, defined interface requirements and resolved development issues with Microsoft software engineering. Determined product deliverables, schedules and managed code reviews and meetings with vendor. • For a leading Insurance company, led project to design and develop a client/server claims processing application that was integrated with legacy DB2 backend database. |
| Employer: | Digital Equipment Corporation, Marlboro, MA |
| Position: | Various positions |
| Time period: | August 1987 - February 1993 |
| Description: | Desktop Product Marketing Manager, Manufacturing Industries (1/92 – 3/93)
Responsible for Personal Computer (PC) and Office solutions for Manufacturing accounts, a $10 million market segment. Redirected sales from selling traditional Digital products to focusing on PC opportunities. Developed field sales campaigns that increased PC-based revenue in select accounts from 10% to 50%. Developed prioritized requirements and coordinated design of mobile, pen-based computer with a third party systems vendor. • Developed user interface design targeting pharmaceutical sales force automation market • Conducted usability testing and delivered prototype at Decworld, a major tradeshow event. CIM Services, Product Marketing Executive (3/90 - 12/91), Strategy Manager (9/87- 3/90) Responsible for developing new market segment targeting the $5 billion Manufacturing Systems Integration (SI) services opportunity. Launched two new service offerings. Managed $3 million budget. Hired and managed team of 15 marketing professionals. Managed worldwide sales and consultant training. Developed market messages, customer testimonials, advertisements, brochures and sales programs. Media Trained. Digital Marketing Achievement Award, March 1989. |
| Employer: | Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Inc., Boston, MA |
| Position: | Various positions |
| Time period: | September 1982 - August 1987 |
| Description: | Associate, Information Technology Center (4/84 - 9/87), Senior Consultant (10/82 - 4/84)
Developed and implemented a variety of information systems for corporate and institutional clients. Sold over $1 million of new commercial business. Managed project budgets up to $500,000 for an on-time, under-budget record. Created marketing presentations, conducted direct mailings, responded to inquiries, developed and presented proposals. Selected projects include: • Defined new Executive Information System (EIS) product requirements with key client’s development team. Developed sales presentations, trained client’s sales force and helped launch product at major tradeshow. • Directed a client/server project using a rapid prototyping methodology that reduced project time by 50 %. • For a leading Office Automation vendor, conducted customer surveys and defined product requirements. |
EDUCATION
| University: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Time period: | 1982 |
| Degree: | Doctor of Science, Mechanical Engineering |
| University: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Time period: | 1981 |
| Degree: | Mechanical Engineering, MSc |
| University: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Time period: | 1981 |
| Degree: | Management, MSc |
| University: | Indian Institute of Technology |
| Time period: | 1974 |
| Degree: | Mechanical Engineering, BTech |
Raj's Contacts (3)
View all-
Asif Anwar
Asif Anwar is a Search and Internet Marketing specialist working in Bangladesh working with Email Marketing and SEO since 2003. Currently, providing Natural and Organic Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing (SMM), & Other Internet Marketing