Anil Kumar (born 1958) is an Indian-American former senior partner and director at management consulting firm

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

, where he co-founded McKinsey's offices in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

and India and created its Internet practice (representing a quarter of McKinsey's business at the time) among others. Kumar is additionally the co-founder of the

Indian School of Business The Indian School of Business (ISB) is a private business school with campuses in Hyderabad and Mohali, India. It offers various post-graduate management programs. History The Indian School of Business (ISB) was started in 1996 by a bunch of b ...

with

Rajat Gupta Rajat Kumar Gupta (; born ) is an Indian-American business executive who, as CEO, was the first foreign-born managing director of management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company from 1994 to 2003. In 2012, he was convicted of insider trading and ...

and the creator of two different kinds of

outsourcing Outsourcing is a business practice in which companies use external providers to carry out business processes that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another ...

. He graduated from

IIT Bombay The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT- Bombay or IIT-B) is a Public university, public research university and Institute of technology, technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. IIT Bombay is mainly known for the hig ...

in India,

Imperial College Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...

in the UK, and

The Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

in the US. In 2010 he

pleaded guilty In law, a plea is a defendant's response to a criminal charge. A defendant may plead guilty or not guilty. Depending on jurisdiction, additional pleas may be available, including '' nolo contendere'' (no contest), no case to answer (in the ...

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

in a dramatic "descent from the pinnacle of the business world." He was the government's first cooperator and most important witness "in two of the most important securities fraud trials in history" against close friends and business partners Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire founder of the Galleon Group family of hedge funds, and Rajat Gupta, the former head of

McKinsey and Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

and a board member of

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

and

Procter and Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/cons ...

. Rajaratnam and Gupta were both convicted in separate high-profile criminal trials. He was sentenced in 2012 by Judge Denny Chin to two years of probation in exchange for testimony against Rajaratnam and Gupta. Chin stated that "greed wasn't the motive in umar'scase" and that "this was aberrational conduct ... Mr. Kumar has led a law-abiding and productive life." Federal prosecutors called Kumar "one of the best and most important cooperating witnesses" they had ever worked with. In 2015, an investigation noted that Mr. Kumar had illegally collected funds from insider trading in

offshore accounts An offshore bank is a bank that is operated and regulated under international banking license (often called offshore license), which usually prohibits the bank from establishing any business activities in the jurisdiction of establishment. Due to ...

in the name of his

domestic worker A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...

, Manju Das. The investigation alleged that Das had no knowledge of these accounts, which were created with identity documents falsified by Mr. Kumar; and that Mr. Kumar had paid Ms. Das far below

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

for several years in violation of US law.

Early life and education

Kumar graduated first in his class from

The Doon School The Doon School (informally Doon School or Doon) is a Selective school, selective all-boys Private school, private boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, which was established in 1935. It was envisioned by Satish Ranjan Das, a lawyer ...

, high school in India, and ranked among the top 100 students across India for admission to the competitive

Indian Institute of Technology The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are a network of engineering and technology institutions in India. Established in 1950, they are under the purview of the Ministry of Education of the Indian Government and are governed by the Instit ...

colleges. He graduated third in his class from

with a degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

, writing a thesis on

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

. Kumar attended

at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

on "the equivalent of the Rhodes scholarship" sponsored by Cecil Rhodes's De Beers Company.Morvillo, Gregory and Paul Grand
"Sentencing Memorandum"
''Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello, and Bohrer, P.C.'' Access via United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (access required). 20 July 2012. He became the first student to complete Imperial's two-year course in applied mechanics in 10 months, and also graduated first in his class. Kumar attended business school at the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

with a self-designed major on the management of technology and international business.

Career

Kumar was a "star senior partner,"Sharma, Amol and Joann Lublin
"A Star Partner's Galleon Arrest Shakes Up Ranks at McKinsey"
''The Wall Street Journal.'' 21 October 2009. and "one of McKinsey’s most senior employees ndbrightest stars."Rushe, Dominic
"McKinsey Jettisons Troubled Star Kumar"
''The Sunday Times.'' 6 December 2009. He co-founded McKinsey's offices in Silicon Valley and India and created and led the firm's business in three different areas of Internet companies (representing 25-30% of McKinsey's worldwide revenues at its peak), outsourcing, and intrapreneurship. He was the protégé of former chief executive Rajat Gupta, though he was blamed for the collapse of McKinsey's e-commerce initiatives after the dot-com collapse and never ran in the elections for managing partner (chief executive). Gupta and Kumar also co-founded the

Hyderabad, India Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

McKinsey and Company

Kumar began his career at

Hewlett Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, Californi ...

as a product manager before joining

in 1986 as one of the earliest Indian-Americans at the consultancy. In 1988 he co-founded McKinsey's offices in

with a partner, growing the office "from two people to approximately 35" by 1992. In 1993 as a partner he founded McKinsey's office in New Delhi, which along with the Mumbai office co-founded the consultancy in India. In India he pioneered the concepts of Knowledge Process Outsourcing and Business Process OutsourcingMcDonald, Duff
"Galleon Scandal Creates Investing Conundrum for Executives"
. ''CNN.'' 23 October 2009. and became the protégé of then-

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(chief executive)

.Rushe, Dominic
"McKinsey Implicated in Galleon Trial"
''The Guardian.'' 14 March 2011. Kumar returned to the United States to found and lead McKinsey's Internet practice during the dot-com bubble. "Under umar'sleadership, McKinsey's e-commerce practice grew to represent a full 25-30% of the firm's revenues," court documents revealed, though Kumar was blamed for the evaporation of this business in the subsequent dot-com collapse. He and Gupta briefly created a program to allow the firm to accept stock in lieu of consulting fees.Leonhardt, David
"Big Consultants Woo Employees by Offering a Piece of the Action"
''The New York Times.'' 22 October 1999. Kumar was also Chairman of the Knowledge Center and Chairman of the Asia Center.Bhambal, Juhi
"Knowledge@McKinsey: A Case Study"
. ''Global Services Media.'' 30 November 2005. He was a director and corporate officer of the firm. He lived and worked from multiple offices in New Delhi, New York, and Silicon Valley, traveling over thirty thousand miles a month. He was a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

and the Young Presidents' Organization, a founding charter member of TiE, and was the United States chairman of India's largest business lobby, the

Confederation of Indian Industry The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a Non-governmental organization, non-governmental business and industry organisation and advocacy group headquartered in New Delhi, India, founded in 1895. CII is a membership-based organisation. ...

. Criticism of Kumar centered around his close relationship with Gupta and a perception of arrogance. According to ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

,'' "the two operated as a forceful double-act to secure business for McKinsey, win access in Washington and build a brotherhood of donors around the Hyderabad-based ISB and a handful of social initiatives." Also according to the ''Times'', "as much as Mr Kumar was admired for his business ability and sharpness, he also drew fire for what was seen as his arrogance."

Galleon investigation

Kumar maintained an intentionally low profile outside McKinsey until an October 2009 arrest in conjunction with an ongoing and wide-ranging US governmental investigation into

.de la Merced, Michael
"Hedge Fund Chief Is Charged With Fraud"
''The New York Times.'' 16 October 2009. Former mentor Rajat Gupta was later arrested by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

in a related case, prompting inquiries into McKinsey's senior leadership and business model.Gapper, John
"McKinsey Model Springs a Leak"
''The Financial Times.'' 9 March 2011.Salmon, Felix
"McKinsey's Corrupted Culture"
''Reuters.'' 9 March 2011. As of December 2009, Kumar was no longer at the consultancy.Bray, Chad
"Galleon Figure Kumar No Longer with McKinsey"
''The Wall Street Journal.'' 4 December 2009. In January 2010 he pleaded guilty to insider trading chargesKouwe, Zachery
"Guilty Plea in Galleon Insider Trading Case"
''The New York Times.'' 7 January 2010. and was "the government’s star witness" in March 2011 against billionaire friend and Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam (''United States v. Rajaratnam'').Rothfeld, Michael and Susan Pulliam
"Calling Miss Manners: Tapes in Galleon Case Show Some Snark"
''The Wall Street Journal.'' 17 March 2011.Rothfeld, Michael, Susan Pulliam and Chad Bray
"Fund Titan Found Guilty"
''The Wall Street Journal.'' 12 May 2011. In the sprawling case his involvement was unusual; according to a ''Reuters'' blog, "He’s the only informant who could be considered even more successful than Raj was, at least professionally if not in terms of raw cash. Raj had money, more money than he really knew what to do with, but Kumar had much more societal acceptance and prestige."Salmon, Felix
"How to Set Up An Insider-Trading Network"
''Reuters.'' 12 May 2011. He settled with the SEC in May 2010 for $2.8 million, the amount after gains he received from Rajaratnam through a Swiss bank account in a domestic worker's name.Bray, Chad
"Kumar Settles SEC Charges in Galleon Case"
''The Wall Street Journal.'' 17 May 2010. Gupta, Rajaratnam, and Kumar were all close friends and had founded the $1.3-billion private equity firm New Silk Route together, though Rajaratnam and Kumar withdrew before the firm began operation.Scannell, Kara
"Insider Trading Star Witness Challenged"
''The Financial Times.'' 17 March 2011. Kumar was represented by the late Robert Morvillo,SEC v. Galleon
"Notice of Appearance"
Doc 50. 24 November 2009 who had previously led billionaire

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail business woman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety ...

’s defense in her own insider trading case.Smith, Chris
"Can This Man Save Martha?"
''The New Yorker.''Lattman, Peter and Benjamin Weiser

''The New York Times.'' 25 December 2011. He testified again as "the Government's key witness" in the May 2012 criminal trial of former mentor Rajat Gupta (''United States v. Gupta''), where he described the relationships between Gupta, Rajaratnam and himself."Gupta Trial: A Who’s Who of Those Who Will Come Up"
''The Wall Street Journal'' (blogs). 22 May 2012. To do so was difficult, according to federal prosecutors, "because

umar Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Mu ...

knew that he could be partially responsible for helping to convict someone with whom he and his family had deep and long-lasting ties."Hurtado, Patricia
"Kumar Seeks Probation, Citing Help To Gupta Prosecutors"
''Bloomberg.'' 19 July 2012. ''Bloomberg'' commented, "When business guru Rajat Gupta and his protégé, Anil Kumar, worked together to expand management consultancy McKinsey & Co in the 1990s, a date in court years later surely was not part of the plan."McCool, Grant
"Protégé testifies against McKinsey mentor Gupta"
''Bloomberg.'' 1 June 2012. Both Rajaratnam and Gupta were ultimately convicted in separate high-profile criminal trials. International media, business, and finance industry observers have analyzed extensively Kumar's actions in aiding Rajaratnam.Jenkins, Holman W
"A Hedge Fund's Neurotic Tipsters"
''The Wall Street Journal'' (editorial). 23 April 2011.Gapper, John
"Anil Kumar’s Cheap Betrayal of McKinsey’s Soul"
''The Financial Times'' (blog). 8 January 2010. Kim, Jim
"Life Of A Hedge Fund Informant: Easy Or Nerve-wracking?"
. ''Fierce Finance'' (blog). 16 March 2011. Consensus remains divided on the precise motivators of money, respect, and relationship, with ''The New York Times'' asking, "Why would people who seem to have it all — wealth, prestige, powerful jobs and infinite access to others with the same — risk that, and more, to provide inside information to the Sri Lankan-born billionaire?".Cohan, William D
"Why Is Enough Never Enough?"
''The New York Times'' (blog). 27 April 2011. Rajaratnam's annual payments were estimated at less than 5% of Kumar's annual income (and just 1-2% excluding a one-time bonus), further raising the question of motivation. Prosecutors wondered "why an incredibly bright, highly accomplished, professional consultant, and senior partner at arguably the world’s leading consulting firm, who contributed considerable time to start the Indian School of Business and to other charities, would betray his profession’s core values.""Anil Kumar, Star Prosecution Witness"
''The Wall Street Journal'' (blog). 19 July 2012. One media source questioned Kumar's sentencing report. Judge Chin would ultimately rule that "greed wasn't the motive in umar'scase." Federal prosecutors said "Kumar's testimony was nothing short of devastating. Kumar was credible, precise, and fully corroborated." In July 2012 he was sentenced by Judge Denny Chin to two years of probation, ending in July 2014.

Education and non-profits

Kumar co-founded the Indian School of Business with Gupta in 1997''.''"Anil Kumar Seeks Leave of Absence From ISB Board"
''The Economic Times.'' 20 October 2009. Court documents revealed he personally raised approximately 35% of all money donated to the school and kept a low profile as co-founder: "a large part of the intellectual vision of ISB is in fact Anil's, a point not many outside ISB's leadership will ever be aware of." In New Delhi, Kumar helped

IIT Delhi Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT- Delhi) is a public institute of technology located in Delhi, India. It is one of the 23 Indian Institutes of Technology created to be a Centre of Excellence for India's training, research and developme ...

double its student body with no increase in costs and was a founding board member of the Bharti Foundation. In San Jose, he served on the boards of the Children's Discovery Museum and San Jose Civic Light Opera. As of 2012, he was working with the

Baylor College of Medicine The Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a private medical school in Houston, Texas, United States. Originally as the Baylor University College of Medicine from 1903 to 1969, the college became independent with the current name and has been se ...

and Max Healthcare to start a medical university, teaching hospital, and nursing school in India, and also with the Hero Group to start an 8000-person engineering college in India.

Personal life

Kumar maintained an intentionally low public profile, and according to prosecutors was "earning significant amounts of money at McKinsey houghlived relatively modestly, his assets far exceeded his liabilities." He lived and worked for decades in New Delhi, New York, and Silicon Valley, traveling over thirty thousand miles a month for McKinsey. He had a

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

apartment in the

Time Warner Center Deutsche Bank Center (also known as One Columbus Circle and formerly Time Warner Center) is a mixed-use building on Columbus Circle in Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building occupies the western side of Columbus Circle and strad ...

and a house in

Saratoga, California Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Located in Silicon Valley, in the southern Bay Area, it had a population of 31,051 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Saratoga is known for its wineries, restaurant ...

. He is married and has one son.

References

External links

McKinsey & Company, Inc.

The Indian School of Business
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Anil 1958 births Living people Alumni of Imperial College London Engineers from California American chief executives American management consultants American financial businesspeople American financiers American investors American people of Indian descent Businesspeople from California Businesspeople from New York (state) Businesspeople from Delhi Indian emigrants to the United States IIT Bombay alumni McKinsey & Company people Private equity and venture capital investors Wharton School alumni The Doon School alumni American white-collar criminals American businesspeople convicted of crimes People from Saratoga, California Activists from California