Umang Gupta

Umang Gupta
Born	(1949-08-03)August 3, 1949 Patiala, Patiala and East Punjab States Union, Dominion of India
Died	April 19, 2022(2022-04-19) (aged 72) San Mateo, California, U.S.
Nationality	Indian-American
Education	IIT Kanpur (BTech) Kent State University (MBA)
Occupation(s)	Entrepreneur, philanthropist
Mother	Ramnika Gupta

Umang Gupta (August 3, 1949 – April 19, 2022) was an Indian-American entrepreneur and Silicon Valley, California, executive credited with writing the first business plan for Oracle Corporation.^[1][2][3][4] He was also the founder of enterprise software company Gupta Technologies and was later the CEO of Keynote Systems.

Early life

Gupta was born on August 23, 1949, in Patiala, the son of Ramnika Gupta and Ved Prakash Gupta. His mother was a politician and activist, while his father worked with the Indian labor ministry. He was raised by his father, Mr. Ved Prakash Gupta after his parents separated when he was a young child. He obtained his Bachelor of Technology degree in chemical engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1971.^[5][6][7] During his time at IIT Kanpur, Gupta was exposed to the first IBM computers in the country helping him develop his computer programming skills.^[7][8][9] After immigrating to the United States, Gupta also earned M.B.A. degree (1972) from Kent State University.^[10] In 1996, Umang received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT Kanpur.^[8]

Career

IBM and Oracle

After graduating, he joined IBM as a computer sales representative.^[4] After working seven years at IBM, in 1981 Umang Gupta joined Oracle Corporation as their 17th employee. He was credited with writing the company's first business plan in 1981 and was eventually promoted to vice president of the company's microcomputer products division. He remained in the role until his departure from the company in 1984.^{[citation needed]}

Gupta Technologies

He was the founder and chief executive of Gupta Technologies, a client/server database and tools company, from 1984 to 1996, where he helped to usher in the era of client server computing with the first SQL database server and application development tools for PC networks.^[11] In the 1980s, products of Gupta Technologies included interfaces for programming custom applications and tools for programmers with a background in Cobol, dBase, or Visual Basic.^[12] Gupta was the first executive who had worked under Larry Ellison to start his own company.^[8] Gupta Technologies was the first Indian-run enterprise software company to go public on Nasdaq.^[8] Gupta sold the company in 1997.^[12]

Keynote Systems

Gupta was chairman and chief executive officer of Keynote Systems from December 1997.^[12] He oversaw the company as it went public in 1999.^[13] Gupta was able to negotiate the merger between Keynote and Vividence in 2004 after meeting Vividence CEO Peter Watkins at a poker game.^[12] It was sold to private equity company Thoma Bravo in August 2013.^[14][15][16]

Other

Gupta served as an advisor and investor in William Draper’s project to establish a venture capital fund for India in 1994.^[17] He served on the board of Mosaix, a company that developed call-center software, from 1997 to 1999, before it was sold to Lucent Technologies.^[18]

After selling Keynote Systems, Gupta dedicated his efforts to education for young children, founding SeaShells Education. One of his main initiatives was Reading Racer.^[19][20] Gupta developed the Reading Racer app with a team including Carnegie Mellon graduates Melanie Lam and Rodrigo Cano and also launched a foundation to continue support for Reading Racer.^[21] Gupta also began investing in educational technology companies such as Front Row Education.^[22]

In 2000, Gupta was honored with the Shreyas Mavanoor Foundation Award^[4] for Civic Leadership and Philanthropy. Gupta served on the board of the Peninsula Community Foundation, California, which later merged with another foundation to form the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the largest community foundation in the United States. He along with his wife Ruth were donors to, and served as board members of PARCA, a non-profit organization in the San Francisco Bay Area devoted to the needs of the developmentally disabled and their families,^[23] and helped to found Raji House, a respite home for the developmentally disabled, located in Burlingame, California. Gupta also had an avid interest in history and served as Chairman of the Board and on the President’s Advisory Committee of the San Mateo County Historical Association (SMCHA); SMCHA operated the San Mateo County History Museum, where he and his wife helped sponsor the "Immigrants Gallery", also known as the “Land of Opportunity” Exhibit, a permanent exhibition to honor the contributions of immigrants to San Mateo County.^[24][25] Gupta and his wife Ruth also contributed $500,000 for the renovation of the San Mateo County History Museum, which was acknowledged as the biggest private contribution received by the museum.^[9]

Gupta was also a co-founder of the IIT Kanpur Foundation^[5] and served as Global Board Chairman of PanIIT,^[5] the alumni organization of over 200,000 alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology. Bagla is credited with drafting the constitution of the Global PanIIT Association, which is used in the association's chapters around the world.^[26] He participated as an angel investor and advisor to various Silicon Valley technology companies.^[7]

Gupta was also a guest contributor to The New York Times.^[27]

Personal life

Gupta was married to Ruth Gupta, an immigrant from the United Kingdom.^[9] The couple had two sons and a daughter.^[27] One of his sons died at an early age. The couple founded Raji House, a support center for developmentally disabled children. The center was associated with Partners & Advocates for Remarkable Children & Adults.^[7]

Gupta died on April 19, 2022, at his home in San Mateo, California, at the age of 72. He was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer more than two years earlier.^[1][6][7]

References

1. "Indian American Software Pioneer Passes Away". India West Journal. April 21, 2022. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022. Umang Gupta, who wrote the first business plan for Oracle Corporation, founded and led Gupta Technologies, and was CEO for Keynote Systems passed away peacefully on April 19, at his home after a two-year battle with bladder cancer. He was 73.
2. "Umang Gupta". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 23, 2015. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
3. "Umang Gupta Chair". Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010.
4. "Umang Gupta". Asian Pacific Fund. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
5. "Mr. Umang Gupta (BT/CHE/1971)". www.iitk.ac.in. Office of Resources and Alumni, IIT Kanpur. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
6. "IIT Kanpur mourns the passing of Distinguished Alumnus and Indian American Software Pioneer Umang Gupta". www.iitk.ac.in. IIT Kanpur. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
7. Clark, Don (April 22, 2022). "Umang Gupta, Who Paved Way for Indian Tech Executives, Dies at 73". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
8. "ON THE RECORD / Umang Gupta / Chairman, PanIIT USA". SFGATE. July 1, 2007. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
9. Heredia, Christopher (February 20, 2004). "Gifts give History Museum a boost". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
10. Tahmincioglu, Eve (September 30, 2006). From the Sandbox to the Corner Office: Lessons Learned on the Journey to the Top. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-05416-1.
11. Gupta, Umang; Gietz, William (June 1989). SQL Programmer's Guide. Que Corporation. ISBN 9780880223904.
12. Martin, Neil A. (December 2, 2004). "Deal Done, With Perseverance and a Poker Game". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
13. Abelson, Reed (May 16, 2001). "MANAGEMENT; Cyclical School of Hard Knocks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
14. "Thoma Bravo Completes Take-Private Acquisition of Keynote". Press release. Reuters. August 22, 2013. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
15. "Keynote Completes Sale to Thoma Bravo: Becoming a Privately-Held Company". Press release. Keynote. August 22, 2013. Archived from the original on September 3, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
16. Clark, Don (August 23, 2013). "Keynote sale shows what Umang Gupta learned". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original (web.archive.org) on May 27, 2018.
17. Writer, Peter Sinton, Chronicle Senior (March 14, 1995). "Venture Capital Fund Will Focus On Fueling India". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
18. "Umang and Ruth Gupta". Hindustan Times. February 21, 2004. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
19. "New reading app released: Reading Racer | Entertainment Technology Center". www.etc.cmu.edu. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
20. "Readers' Biggest Retirement Surprises". Wall Street Journal. February 10, 2017. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
21. Hagerty, James R. (April 29, 2022). "Immigrant From India Headed U.S. Software Firms". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
22. Singer, Natasha (March 11, 2015). "Privacy Pitfalls as Education Apps Spread Haphazardly". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
23. "PARCA » You're Remarkable Dinner 2020". Retrieved April 19, 2022.
24. "Land of Opportunity - San Mateo County History Museum". San Mateo County Historical Association. August 15, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
25. "About the San Mateo County Historical Association". San Mateo County Historical Association. June 12, 2020. Archived from the original (web.archive.org) on January 21, 2021. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
26. "Indian American Software Pioneer Passes Away". IndiaWest. April 21, 2022. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
27. "The Boss: Love That Lemonade Stand". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved April 19, 2022.

External links

• Biography of Umang Gupta prepared and presented at the 2000 Asian Pacific Fund gala by Board Member and KRON TV News Anchor Emerald Yeh Archived April 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine