Dr. Anand Deshpande is the Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director of Persistent Systems since its inception and is responsible for the overall leadership, strategy, and management of the Company. Prior to founding Persistent Systems, Anand began his professional career at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories. Anand has served numerous positions at various professional and non-profit organizations viz. NASSCOM’s Executive Council, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) India, where he was the first President, SEAP (Software Exporters’ Association of Pune), Pune Chapter of CSI (Computer Society of India), CII’s Pune Zonal Council, Trustee in the Computer History Museum, Dean’s Advisory Council in the School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering of Indiana University, and Member of the Executive Committee of MCCIA.

Dr. Deshpande and his wife, Sonali, founded the non-profit, DeAsra, which is committed to enabling people to start, manage & grow a small business successfully. In 2020, he announced that Persistent Systems will be donating to help with COVID-19 relief.

He has been recognized by his alma mater, IIT Kharagpur, as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2012 and by the School of Informatics of Indiana University with the Career Achievement Award in 2007.