TELECOM PIONEER TO LECTURE AT ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Sam Pitroda is credited with connecting rural India with the rest of the world. Today, as CEO of WorldTel, headquartered in London, UK, Pitroda is considered a leading authority on telecommunications and technology for developing societies.

On Thursday, Nov. 21, 2002, Pitroda, who received a Master of Science in electrical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 1966, returns to his alma mater to lecture on entrepreneurship. The lecture is the second in IIT’s series of “Thought Leaders Seminars,” sponsored by IIT’s Ed Kaplan Entrepreneurial Studies Program and the Leadership Academy.

Along with his leadership of WorldTel, Pitroda, a native of India, is also a founding member and vice chairman of the World Telecom Advisory Council in Geneva. By 1980, Pitroda was a successful telecommunications entrepreneur in the United States. He was involved in the invention and evolution of digital switching at GTE. He then struck out for himself—founding Wescom Switching Inc., which Rockwell International later acquired. Since then, Pitroda has started numerous businesses.

In the mid-1980s, he helped create the Centre for Development of Telematics, a nonprofit group that developed small digital switching systems for the Indian telephone network. He also served as Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's Minister for National Technology Missions and was the first chairman of India's Telecom Commission. Before his work in India, Pitroda had a successful career in the United States, designing and manufacturing digital switching technology. He also invented the popular picket electronic diary.

Pitroda holds over 50 worldwide patents and has received numerous awards including, India's National Citizen's Award for work on telecom from the Prime Minister of India. In 1993, he was awarded the IIT Alumni Medal, and in 1995 the International Distinguished Leadership Award.

Pitroda’s lecture is the second of six in the “Thought Leaders Seminar” series at IIT, and are free and open to the public. All take place at Perlstein Hall Auditorium, 10 W. 33rd Street, at 4 p.m. A question and answer session follows.

The remaining schedule of “Thought Leaders Seminars” is as follows:

Feb. 13, 2003 Karl Klessig, former CEO, Xdrive Technologies, Inc.
March 11, 2003 Craig Watson, president, Payment Engineering, LLC.
April 8, 2003 Frank Kreusi, president, Chicago Transit Authority
April 22, 2003 Sandy LaMantia, CEO, Shure, Inc.
Christine Schyvinck, VP for operations, Shure, Inc.

About Illinois Institute of Technology

Illinois Institute of Technology, also known as Illinois Tech, is a private, technology-focused, research university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, architecture, business, design, human sciences, applied technology, and law. One of 16 institutions that comprise the Association of Independent Technological Universities (AITU), Illinois Tech offers exceptional preparation for professions that require technological sophistication, an innovative mindset, and an entrepreneurial spirit.