S. Anil Kumar

Entrepreneur, Matchmaker, Career Mentor, Fitness Buff, and Story Teller

Earlier avatars: Angel investor, consulting engineer, researcher, insufferable vegan. UChicago, UMich, UIowa, IIT-M alum.

I am still writing my life's story.
Good luck writing yours, and be good.

About

Over the past two decades, I have enjoyed wearing many hats: inventor, code developer, researcher, consulting engineer, activist, entrepreneur, and angel investor.

I am the founder and CEO of FreeElective, the parent company of Jodi365.com, a bespoke matchmaking platform and service for elite singles.

I was previously the first lead associate at Hyde Park Angels, currently one of the largest angel investment networks in the midwestern United States. Prior to HPA, I spent seven years at a boutique consulting firm in Seattle, providing specialized engineering and consulting services to clients in the marine industry.

I am a graduate and Institute Blue of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and hold a Master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa and a PhD in computational hydrodynamics from the University of Michigan. I also earned an MBA in entrepreneurship and strategic management from the Chicago Booth School of Business. In addition to receiving a KPMG Award for Leadership and Scholarship at Chicago Booth, I was one of two graduating students to receive a Dean's Award of Distinction.

If trivia interest you, here are some tidbits

I may have earned four degrees over 13 years, but I almost didn't attend even college. I stayed home for a year after high school, to focus on another shot at the IIT entrance exam.

I filed my first patent application at the age of 16, just months out of high school.

Although I wasn't into bodybuilding (weightlifting and cycling were my thing in college), I was crowned Mr. Inter-IIT in my senior year.

I have been a vegetarian all my life and a vegan since 1995. (My body fat percentage and cholesterol level may have long been uncommonly low, but a word of caution to vegan wannabes: Don't neglect to take Vitamin D3 and B12 supplements.)

While in my mid-thirties, I achieved a perfect score of 300 on the US Marine Corps physical-fitness test (3-mile run in 18 minutes + 20 consecutive pull-ups + 100 crunches in 2 minutes).

While at the University of Michigan, I was honored with an MLK Spirit Award.

I did a final walk-through of my custom-built home in Seattle 10 years to the day that I first landed in the US, with two suitcases and a duffel bag. (I sold it a decade later.)

I traveled more than 300,000 km over a 16-month period, flying from Seattle to Chicago and back just about every weekend during the first half of my MBA program. That's 80% of the Moon's distance from Earth and my answer to, "How far would you go to pursue higher education?"

Up there among my life's eventual accomplishments may be this: Having provided promising career opportunities to many – 70+ and counting – and mentored many more along the way.