Sanju Bansal

Sanju K. Bansal
Born	Patiala, India
Education	B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) & M.S. in Computer Science from The Johns Hopkins University
Occupation	Co-Founder, Vice Chairman of the Board, and Executive Vice President of MicroStrategy
Years active	1990–2013
Board member of	CSRA, The Advisory Board Company, Clarabridge, EverQuote, Vestmark, Verato

Sanju K. Bansal is an American businessman, Indian born, and the co-founder of MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), a worldwide provider of enterprise software platforms for business intelligence (BI), mobile software, big data and cloud-based services.^[1] He served as the company's vice chairman of the board of directors and executive vice president till November 14, 2013.^[2] From 1993-2012, he served as chief operating officer of MicroStrategy. Bansal serves or has served as a member of the board of directors of CSRA (NYSE: CSRA), a technology services provider to the US government, Cvent (NYSE: CVT), a cloud-based event management software provider,^[3] and The Advisory Board Company (NASDAQ: ABCO), a technology research services company.^[4]

Early life and education

Bansal was born in Patiala, India and emigrated with his parents to the United States when he was two years old. The family settled in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. He attended Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia where he was a valedictorian.

His father, Ved Bansal, came to the United States in 1959 with $1. His father's work ethic and emphasis on math and science in childhood has been cited as the foundation for his later education and career.^[5]

Bansal received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from MIT and a Master of Science in computer science from The Johns Hopkins University.

Career

Directly out of college, Sanju Bansal worked for the technology and management consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton.

In 1989, with MIT classmates Michael Saylor and Thomas Spahr, Bansal co-founded MicroStrategy.^[6] Bansal helped build MicroStrategy with no venture capital, often working 80 to 100 hours per week to get the company off the ground.^[7] During this time, the company experienced rapid growth, increasing revenues by 100% every year between 1990 and 1996.^[8] In June 1998, MicroStrategy had its initial public offering^[9] and, on its first day of trading, the stock price doubled.^[10] By March 2000, the company had a market cap of approximately $24 billion, making Bansal and other company leaders billionaires on paper.^[11]

Later that month, MicroStrategy announced that it would restate its financial results for the preceding two years, which resulted in an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.^[12] In December 2000, Saylor, Bansal, and the company's former CFO settled with the SEC without admitting wrongdoing by each paying $350,000 in fines. The officers also paid a combined total of $10 million in disgorgement.^[13]

Subsequently, the company's stock price plummeted, from a high of $333.00 in March to a low of $9.25 by December 2000.^[14] As chief operating officer, Bansal played a significant role in getting MicroStrategy back on its feet.^[15] He was instrumental in raising more than $175 million in the following 17 months to keep the company going and expanding business into China in 2002.^[16] The company employed more than 3,200 people worldwide^[17] and reported revenue of $594.61 million^[18] in 2012. As of 2013, the company has operations in 26 countries.^[19]

In 2013, Bansal founded Hunch Analytics, which currently contains two portfolio companies: NavHealth, a healthcare data analytics firm, and Equate Analytics, a performance marketing firm.

Board memberships

Bansal serves as a board member for the following companies:

• CSRA (NYSE: CSRA), as a member of the board of directors since January 2016. CSRA, a Fortune 500 company with over $5B in revenue, serves the U.S. government by modernizing computer systems, protecting networks and assets, and improving government effectiveness and efficiency.
• The Advisory Board Company (NASDAQ: ABCO), as member of the board of directors since November 2009.^[20] From 2011-2013, The Advisory Board Company’s revenue grew 20% each year and, in 2012 and 2013, ModernHealthcare named The Advisory Board Company to its second annual “Healthcare's Hottest” recognition program, which honors the fastest growing companies and organizations in the industry, as measured by revenue growth.^[21]
• Clarabridge, as member of the board of directors since March 2010. Clarabridge utilizes sentiment and text analytics to automatically collect, categorize and report on structured and unstructured data.^[22]
• EverQuote, as member of the board of directors since May 2014.^[23] EverQuote is a quantitative internet marketing firm focused on applying sophisticated mathematics and enterprise class technology to its partner's online customer acquisition programs.
• Vestmark, as a member of the board since January 2016. Vestmark offers a technology platform to enable broker dealers, investment managers, RIAs, bank trusts, and other financial firms to deliver wealth management and advisory solutions.
• Verato, as a member of the board of directors since January 2016. Verato is a SaaS-based platform that cleans, updates, and links customer records within and across systems.

Previous Boards

• MicroStrategy, as vice-chairman of the board of directors. Bansal served on the MicroStrategy board from September 1997 to November 2013.^[24]
• Cvent, (NYSE: CVT), as co-founder and member of the Cvent Board of Directors since 1999. Providing the seed capital for the event-management software company, Bansal is credited with helping Cvent navigate the burst of the dot-com bubble and, more recently, pushing the firm to expand into mobile and social applications.^[25] In July 2011, Cvent secured $136 million in venture capital financing from New Enterprise Associates and Insight Venture Partners, with Greenspring Associates also participating.^[26] On August 9, 2013, Cvent had its initial public offering with a price of $21, and Bansal owned approximately 3.3 million shares, or 7% of the company.^[27][28] On April 18, 2016, Cvent announced that the company was acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $1.65 billion.^[29]

Philanthropy

In 1999, Bansal established the Sanju K. Bansal Foundation. The foundation tagline is "helping people help themselves through improved access to information."^[30] The foundation is known for its financial sponsorship of WAMU 88.5, American University Radio.^[31] WAMU 88.5 is the leading public radio station for NPR news and information in the greater Washington, D.C. area.

The Bansal Foundation contributes to organizations including the Washington Humane Society,^[32] the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE),^[33] Upakar Indian-American Scholarship Foundation,^[34] the Kailash Goyal Foundation,^[35] The Global India Fund,^[36] and Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.^[37]

In May 2010, the Kailash Goyal Foundation, with aid from the Bansal Foundation, opened the JK Shanti Charitable Clinic, a free clinic to support the medical needs of the villagers and laborers near the Indian town of Panchkula. The clinic treats approximately 20,000 people a year.

Bansal served on the Board of Directors for Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts from 2000 to 2006. Located near Vienna, Virginia, Wolf Trap is the only National Park dedicated to the performing arts.^[38]

Recognition and awards

In 2013, Bansal received the Washington Business Journal's Outstanding Directors award for his work with Cvent.^[39]

In 2009, 2011, and 2013, Bansal was named one of The Washingtonian's 100 Top Tech Titans, a list honoring the top 100 leaders of Washington DC's tech world.^[40]

In 2009, he was named one of The Washingtonian's "Style Setters".^[41]

References

1. Salter, Chuck (2007-12-19). "The Reeducation of an Internet CEO". Fast Company. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
2. "Form 8-K for MicroStrategy, Inc.". Yahoo! Finance. 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
3. "Cvent Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering". Herald Online. 2013-08-08. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
4. "Forbes profile of Sanju Bansal". Forbes. 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
5. Martin Kady II, "In the shadows", Washington Business Journal, November 27, 2000
6. Chuck Salter, "The Reeducation of an Internet CEO", Fast Company, December 19, 2007
7. Carbasho, Tracy (2002-06-01). "Turnarounds are possible with strong guiding hand". IndUS Business Journal. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
8. Glasser, Jeff (1996-07-15). "From the Ground Up and Up". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
9. "Initial Public Offerings Key Data". NASDAQ. 1998-06-11. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
10. Kaplan, David A. (2012-07-12). "MicroStrategy's boy king grows up". Fortune. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
11. Carbasho, Tracy (2002-06-01). "Turnarounds are possible with strong guiding hand". IndUS Business Journal. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
12. Hilzenrath, David S. (2000-03-22). "For MicroStrategy, A Matter of Timing". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
13. Lau, Debra (2000-12-18). "Forbes Faces: Michael Saylor". Forbes. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
14. "Historical Prices: MicroStrategy, Inc. (MSTR)". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
15. Flook, Bill (2012-03-23). "30 Years: In 2000, MicroStrategy restated two years of earnings". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
16. Jeff Clabaugh, 'MicroStrategy reorganizes management', Washington Business Journal, October 22, 2012
17. MicroStrategy About Us
18. MicroStrategy Announces Fourth Quarter 2012 Financial Results
19. MicroStrategy About Us
20. "Advisory Board Company (ABCO): Sanju K. Bansal, Independent Director". MorningStar. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
21. "Healthcare's Hottest for 2013; 40 of the healthcare industry's fastest growing companies". ModernHealthcare. 2013-08-05. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
22. Clarabridge Adds MicroStrategy's Sanju Bansal to Board of Directors.
23. "EverQuote Appoints Sanju Bansal and John Lunny to its Board of Directors | Business Wire". www.businesswire.com. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
24. "Forbes profile of Sanju Bansal". Forbes. 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
25. Empson, Rip (2012-06-19). "After Seed Labs, Cvent Snags CrowdCompass For $10M To Double Down On Mobile Event Apps". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
26. "Outstanding Directors: Sanju Bansal". Washington Business Journal. 2013-03-01. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
27. "Cvent prices IPO at $21, above the range". NASDAQ. 2013-08-09. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
28. "Initial Statement of Beneficial Ownership of Securities". SEC Filings. 2013-08-08. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
29. "Cvent Enters into Definitive Agreement to be Acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $1.65 Billion". investors.cvent.com. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
30. "Nonprofit Report for Bansal Foundation". GuideStar. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
31. "WAMU Annual Report 2011" (PDF). WAMU. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
32. "Fashion for Paws". WashHumane.org. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
33. "Supporters". Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. 2012-06-01. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
34. "Donors". Indian-American Scholarship Foundation. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
35. "Form 990-PF" (PDF). IRS. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
36. Sridhar, Srimathi (2013-03-08). "Global India Fund's 'Invest in Girls, Invest in a Stronger Future' with Ashley Judd Raises $150K". WashingtonExec. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
37. "Form 990-PF" (PDF). IRS. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
38. "Wolf Trap names new directors". Fairfax Times. 2004-03-02. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
39. "Outstanding Directors: Sanju Bansal". Washington Business Journal. 2013-03-01. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
40. "Washingtonian Tech Titans". The Washingtonian. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
41. Washingtonian Magazine. Style Setters 2009: Sanju Bansal