Mr. Vinod Gupta
11218 John Galt Blvd., Suite 201
Omaha, NE 68137
402.537.3000
402.505.7592 (Fax)
Omaha, Nebraska, entrepreneur Vinod Gupta overcame an impoverished upbringing in his native India to acquire a Bachelor’s, two Master’s, and three honorary doctorate degrees.
Vinod Gupta’s background in engineering and business administration prepared him to become a specialist in the database and information services industry.
Working as a General Partner since 2008 at Everest Capital Partners, Inc., Vinod Gupta brings decades of business experience and acumen to the private equity, venture capital, and management consulting firm that he founded with his family in 1987. Through Everest Equity, Vinod Gupta can take minority ownership or acquire companies outright. Vinod Gupta and Everest Ventures have supported the development of start-ups with funding, relevant contacts, and management expertise. Everest Consulting offers Vinod Gupta’s advice on strategic planning, and handles an array of business transactions, including IPOs, mergers, and acquisitions.
Vinod Gupta took a big risk in 1972 and left his first job, a position as Marketing Research Manager for The Commodore Corporation of Omaha, to found Business Research Services and American Business Lists. With just a $100 bank loan, two part-time employees, and 4,800 Yellow Pages phone directories that were free for the asking, Vinod Gupta and his associates eventually created a priceless database listing of every American business. In its first month, American Business Lists received checks for $13,000 and orders totaling $22,000. After this auspicious beginning, Business Research Services and American Business Lists and Vinod Gupta were on their way.
In 1993, Vinod Gupta managed the IPO of Business Research Services and American Business Lists. Following a restructuring, Business Research Services and American Business Lists became infoUSA, Inc., and subsequently broadened its scope to emerge as infoGROUP, Inc. By 2002, infoGROUP/infoUSA.com had expanded from a handful of employees to a workforce of more than 1,800 with sales topping $300 million.
Vinod Gupta retired as infoGROUP/infoUSA.com's Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board in 2008 to spend more time pursuing his philanthropic projects. Infogroup was sold to CCMP for $650 million in July 2010.
Valuing education for its positive transformative powers, Vinod Gupta now focuses his efforts on establishing academic and vocational institutes and endowing scholarships.