Desh Deshpande

Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande is Chairman of A123Systems, Tejas Networks and Sycamore Networks. Dr. Deshpande is an influential technology entrepreneur and visionary whose companies and ideas often reshape entire industries. Dr. Deshpande co-founded Sycamore Networks in 1998 with the vision of creating next-generation optical networking technology. Prior to co-founding Sycamore Networks, Dr. Deshpande was founder and chairman of Cascade Communications. Between 1991 and 1997, Cascade grew from a one-person startup to a company with $500 million in revenue and 900 employees. In June of 1997, Cascade was acquired by Ascend Communications for $3.7 billion. Dr. Deshpande serves as a member of the MIT Corporation, and his generous donations have made possible MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.