V. M. Muralidharan

Muralidharan was born on 29 December 1959 in Chennai, India. After completing his school education at St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School and pre-university course at Loyola College, Chennai, he went to the College of Engineering, Guindy and graduated in 1983 with a bachelor's with honours degree in electronics and communication engineering.[1]

Muralidharan started his career with two of India’s biggest IT giants – Wipro, between 1983 and 1990, and HCL, from 1990 to 2000, where he rose to the position of General Manager. He was later the Director & President of Precision Techserve.[2] Since 2010, he has been the Global COO of Bahwan CyberTek Group, a global software products and solutions group.[3]

As the Chairman of Ethiraj College Trust from 2013 to 2019,[4] he headed the Ethiraj College for Women, Chennai and the Ethiraj Matriculation School, Vellore. Muralidharan, great grandnephew of the founder and first chairman V. L. Ethiraj, became the first member from the founder's family to head the Trust. Prior to being elected as the Chairman, he served as the Financial Trustee.[5]

He is also the Chairman of ALERT NGO, Executive Committee Member at Southern Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Panel Member on the Education Panel, TNSC at FICCI, Charter Member at TiE Chennai, Member at The Chennai Angels, and Charter Member on the Concordia India Advisory Board of Concordia College (New York).[6][7]

• 2015 - "Edupreneur Award" by Raindropss for his initiatives, commitments, excellence and significant contributions in the field of education.[8]
• 2016 - "Eminent Educationist Award" at the Indo-American Education Summit 2016 in recognition of his excellence in the field of Educational Leadership.[9]
• 2017 - "Vocational Excellence Award" by Rotary Club of Chennai Velachery Rotary International Dist. 3230 in recognition and appreciation of his outstanding contributions to the cause of Women's Literacy.[9]
• 2018 - "Distinguished Alumnus Award" by the Alumni Association College of Engineering, Guindy in recognition of his outstanding service to India and elsewhere in the world in the field of Education and Information Technology.[1]
• 2018 - "Literary Excellence Award" by Bharat Nirman, at the 10th Asiad Literature Festival, in recognition of his contributions in the field of education.
• 2020 - "Lifetime Achievement Award" by Lions Club International 324 A1 in recognition of his dedicated service to the cause of Education, Industry and the community.