Bhushan Kulkarni
President & CEO
Bhushan Kulkarni was born in India and came to the United States in 1985 to pursue graduate studies at West Virginia University. After earning his M.S. in Engineering, he joined the Ford Motor Company as a Project Engineer. While at Ford, Bhushan decided to follow his dream of building his own company.
Bhushan established himself as a master at growing businesses in his relatively short career as an entrepreneur. Most recently, since its inception in 1993, he has grown GDI Infotech from a start-up to a profitable business solutions provider. GDI has been named to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies three times and named the fastest growing private company in the state of Michigan in 1999 and 2000.
Bhushan’s team-building and open-book approach to management has had a powerfully positive effect on the company’s development. Employees are encouraged to contribute strategic ideas for business growth and profitability. This approach has allowed Bhushan to build a dynamic management team and to transition his involvement in GDI to the visionary and oversight role that is crucial to the next stage of GDI’s development.
Bhushan was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Michigan Technology Services for 2001. He has received the American Dreamer Award, "40 under 40" recognition and has been listed in Who’s Who in Technology Services by Crain’s Business Weekly Magazine. He is currently serving as the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce and is also serving on the Executive Committee for Ann Arbor SPARK and on the Board of Walsh College of Business and Management Studies. Bhushan has held previous board positions with the Ann Arbor IT Zone, Ann Arbor Art Center, Information Technology Association of Michigan (ITEAM) and the American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI).
George Levy
Executive Vice President and CFO
George Levy earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from UCLA in 1968 and joined the General Electric R&D Center. After five years and publication of his first book, he moved into academia. George continued his career in academia as a professor for over 20 years. During his tenure, he taught in the Chemistry and Biophysics programs, as well as in an interdisciplinary graduate Entrepreneurship program.
At the beginning of the second decade of his academic career, George and his wife started a software firm that became an Inc. 500 company in 1989. That same year the company was sold, providing its investors with a profitable exit. The process of growing his first company enhanced his interest in entrepreneurship and developing technology businesses.
George offers broad experience in corporate and financial strategy and vast knowledge of how businesses work. GDI is George's fourth Inc. 500 company.
John Poonnen
Senior Vice President, Solutions Division
John is the Senior Vice President and Managing Principal of GDI’s Solutions Division. At GDI, his responsibilities include the development of our Solutions Division practice through client focused Engagement Management teams. John is also responsible for the business development aspects of our Information Management and Data Integration Services offered through the Solutions Division. He concentrates on developing scalable practices and solutions that support an Information Management, Data Integration and Advanced Analytics focus.
John has a unique combination of skills and over 25 years of international IT consulting, program management, product management and systems engineering experience. His expertise includes a strong focus on Data Warehousing (DW), Business Intelligence (BI), Information Architecture as well as eBusiness solutions delivery coupled with an in-depth knowledge of the healthcare, insurance and financial services domains.
Previously John was the Vice President of the Health Care Payer Practice at CSC-Covansys and Director of Information Strategy / Enterprise Architecture at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.
John holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA).
Mark Fontana
Vice President, Client Services
Mark Fontana serves as our Vice President of Client Services. In this capacity, he works with clients to understand their business needs and helps formulate IT solutions that improve efficiencies and ultimately yield bottom line results.
Previously, Mark was a Practice Director at Commerce One in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In this position, he served both as an Operations and Engagement leader. On the operations side, Mark led delivery teams, ensuring on-time and on-budget delivery. On the engagement side, he worked with clients to determine which Commerce One products and services would maximize shareholder value within the enterprise. At Commerce One, Mark helped clients such as CF Stinson, Toronto Dominion, Entergy and DaimlerChrysler to utilize the strengths of Commerce One’s core applications and services.
Prior to Commerce One, Mark was a General Manager and Director of Operations at Bowne Internet Solutions where he was responsible for P&L on all projects within the Michigan office. In this role, Mark led the business unit to profitable operations while retaining 100% of his employees. The business unit worked with numerous Fortune 1000 clients including General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Fleet Bank and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Prior to Bowne Internet Solutions, Mark was a Software Development Lead at Ford Motor Credit in Dearborn, Michigan where he developed the world’s first Internet-based commercial paper trading application.
Mark holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Michigan State University.
Raj Ganesh
Vice President, Sales and Business Development
Raj Ganesh is our Vice President of Sales and Business Development. In this role, all sales, business development, recruiting and engagement management functions report to him.
Over the last 10+ years with GDI, Raj has worked successfully in several capacities as a QA Manager, Project Manager, HR Manager, VP of Human Capital Management, Sales Executive and Sales Manager. Raj has done an excellent job in not only developing a strong client base for GDI but he is also well versed in digging deeper into the needs of our clients to ensure quality in our endeavors as well as project success. As the Vice President of Human Capital Management, Raj developed several of the GDI's award winning employment and training practices. While leading GDI’s Projects Division, he was the Quality Assurance Project Manager for Solomon Software, Comcast and NSK during 1999-2000.
Raj earned his Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and his Postgraduate degree in Computer Science at Madras University.
Thomas John
Vice President of Administration
Thomas John is the Vice President of Administration. In this role, Thomas has diverse responsibilities including legal, contractual, infrastructure and networking related issues. He acts as the Supervisor of Corporate Facilities and Systems and is a senior member of the GDI Financial Team. He is responsible for immigration related issues and employee, client and vendor contract management and oversight.
Prior to joining GDI in 1997, Thomas worked at several international companies. In the 1980’s, he was Operations Manager of a Media Ad and Printing establishment in U.A.E. and in the 1990’s worked for the Government of India as a Project Manager. In 1996, Thomas worked for InTouch Communication Services.
Thomas earned his diploma in Mechanical Engineering at Madras University and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Bombay.