Born and raised in India, Raj Mehta came to the United States when he was in his early twenties. He says he arrived in Maryland with $6 in his pocket, the most the Indian government would exchange per person at the time, and “a great desire to do things on his own.” Schooled in Gujarat, India, Mehta earned undergraduate degrees in business and law, and worked for IBM, where he says “a seed was planted.” After taking a job as an account clerk in Maryland, he went back to school to study computer technology. Later, Mehta joined Sperry-Univac Corporation and traveled throughout the country, working on projects with NASA and the United States Air Force.

In 1982, he met and married Meghna. Soon after, he took a consultancy position for Grumman Data Systems Corporation’s New York welfare management system project, and moved to Long Island. For the past 25 years, he has played an active role in enhancing the economic, technology and social environment in his “new” community. In 1986, when the Grumman project was winding down, Mehta launched Raj Associates, the forerunner of his privately-held company, Infosys International, from his home. He admits that he was “a little shy” back then. “I didn’t have a story to tell,” claims Mehta. “So honestly, all I could say was ‘Look at my face and give me business.’” Technology was growing and personal computers were coming into many homes. Mehta began building and selling PCs and helping businesses with their technology systems. No job was too small. “ There was a challenge every step of the way,” says Mehta. “I was making calls, but no calls were coming in.” His secretaries lasted 2 hours to 2 weeks, and then he’d go through the interview process again. “It was tough going,” he adds. “When speaking to a potential client, I had to spell my name 10 times—R like in Robert, A like in apple, J like in John. They always remembered Robert and John, but they never remembered Raj.”

But as computers and the technology industry took off, so did Mehta’s business. He began engaging clients like Ernst and Young, Suffolk County government departments, BOCES, which gave him an entryway into projects with Long Island school districts, and mortgage companies, which were booming in the Nineties. After ten years in business, he expanded his client base to include New York State government projects, Fortune 500 corporations, local small businesses, and nonprofit organizations, and provided information technology consulting services, training and software product creation. “ My aggressiveness and persistence helped me grow my reputation and move my company forward,” say Mehta. For a native of India, he exhibited the “stick-toitiveness” that has become the hallmark of American entrepreneurial success.

For his first nonprofit client, Women’s Sports Foundation, he developed a software program called BluePearlTM, which facilitates the creation and maintenance of detailed information about donors, referrals, and community members and a history of their relationship with the organization. The software targets communications for promotional events and services, and provides features to manage volunteers, promotional literature and event scheduling. In 1998 Infosys was honored as the “Fastest Growing Software Company on Long Island,” receiving the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, sponsored by Hofstra University and KPMG- Peat Marwick. In addition, Inc. magazine named Infosys one of the 500 fastest growing companies in the country—one of only 24 named in New York State and the only company from Long Island. Mehta was recognized by Newsday’s LI Business Report as one of the “Five People to Watch in Technology” in 1999 and 2000. He was also named “Small Business Exporter of the Year” by the LIA and received the Small Business Administration Community Service Award.

Mehta says, “Long Island is a big family to me,” and he enjoys mentoring small businesses, including those in the technology field, helping people in need, and bringing awareness of different cultures. He is a founding member of LISTnet, the Long Island Software and Technology Network, and served on its board of directors. He was a member, treasurer and vice chairman of former Suffolk County Executive Pat Halpin’s Coalition of Minority Businesses. He serves on the advisory board of the Town of North Hempstead Business and Tourism Corporation, and in 2004, he was the inspiration behind the Town’s first annual Diwali Festival, commemorating India’s festival of lights and colors. A member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Sight and Sound, Mehta has cochaired the nonprofit’s annual Blind Wine Tasting Gala, and was instrumental in fundraising to purchase and donate a visual care machine for the Port Washington Public Library which assists persons who are visually-impaired in reading newspapers and other print documents. He is also enthusiastic about promoting persons of Indian origin as candidates for local political office.

His community service efforts radiate from Long Island. Following 9/11, he created a website designed to help small and mid-sized companies get into the game of bidding on federal contracts through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The site scrolls for procurement contracts during the night, and makes them available to members the next day. While designed for local and New York State companies, Mehta says companies anywhere can register free and learn of DHS solicitations. Mehta is a member of BAPS Cares, an international organization helping individuals, families and communities throughout the world, while maintaining a focus on India. It provides emergency care and longterm solutions in health, education, the environment, community development, tribal uplift and disaster relief. He assists the Blind Foundation of India, which helps children under five receive medical attention to prevent blindness, and personally donates funds to provide basic necessities for several Indian families.

A Manhasset resident, Mehta and his wife have a teenage daughter, Robin. His hobby is singing and telling jokes, and without cracking a smile, he says he opens and closes every speech with a joke. His life’s desires are simple: “To see people smile and change lives for the better.”

NETWORKING® January 2008