Today, the memory lane took me to thirty years in the past; the day I arrived in the United States from India. Wow! It has been thirty years! It was a hot, sunny, summer day in June 1989 in Atlanta. AMI was then in its steep growth spree. A small technology bud in Norcross, a suburb of Atlanta, was looking its way to bloom, to become a world-renowned company and very instrumental in the whole computer industry and its ecosystem. My association with the AMI family started back in 1988 when I joined MegaDesigns in India, a subsidiary of AMI. A young, energetic, thirsty engineer was then convinced by the management dreaming to be present someday at the doorsteps of its parent, AMI. Finally, that dream came true!
On the very first day at AMI, I met a young entrepreneur with all black hair, who eventually turned my entire professional career and became my inspiration for many things from making innovations to running a business. I was introduced to him by my colleague, “He is Shankar, President of AMI.” My trembling hand shook his hand, but surely felt an assurance that I am in good hands. Two years later, I permanently relocated to the USA and joined AMI.
It is an immense honor for me to lead and serve this incredible company of ours. Shankar had laid a strong foundation which made AMI a very well reputed and universally admired company in the world. I was very lucky to work with him closely for the lion share of my career at AMI, learning the basics of AMI’s business and its core culture. Now that I step in as CEO, and fortunately, Shankar being the Chairman of the Board, I asked him for all the extra guidance he can provide me for taking AMI to the next level. We are also very fortunate to have the right partner in HGGC to help us capitalize on the numerous growth opportunities that lie ahead of us.
As we are ready to turn on to the next chapter of our company, I would like to share some of my backgrounds and the motivations to be here with all of you.
First of all, who am I?
I am 54, married, have a wonderful family and we have one child. My family values and the life experience shaped me to be a matured thinker and enabled me taking decisions in every respect at my work and my personal life wisely, rationally. I honestly believe and value both creativity and innovations to be an integral part of our day to day life. The harmony between the left and right side of our brain can make us much better human beings, well achievers and pioneers for bringing true success.
Why am I here?
The same reason you are all here – to create something, to innovate something for this world. So, what has been my inspiration to be around AMI so many years? The simple answer is the joy of feeling lucky to be constantly surrounded by highly smart, innovative and emotionally intelligent beings. Let me quote a Time Magazine article in 2016 based on an independent study – “Stories of invention and genius are part of the American fabric, stretching from Thomas Edison to the Wright Brothers to Steve Jobs. So where have American inventors, from garage tinkerers to millionaire software engineers, turned out the most innovation? When factoring in population size and number of patents over the last forty years, Princeton, N.J., is America’s most genius city, according to TIME’s exclusive ranking.” Moreover, Norcross, the home of AMI, surprisingly ranked fourteenth in our nation. The proud smart “AMItes” placed our company even in the first place with 373 (at the time of the article published) awarded patents by a distant follower, bagging 196. Where innovation is the root of the company’s culture, what more inspiration do we need to be part of such a culture?
What is our next mission?
Since the birth of AMI, our cutting-edge products had become an essential part of the PC. Many of our industry veterans still remember AMI to be seen every single time when a computer was switched on. With the roaring success throughout our journey, we powered on a major share of the number of computers produced in the industry to date. The baton has been passed; the onus is on us; we must now carry forward the legacy we all have created.
With the abundant talents, innovations, hard work and intelligence of our foundation, I am very excited, fortunate and confident about making AMI great to the greatest.
Please reach out to me at any time you have any concern or suggestion.
Let’s innovate together! Let’s build on this solid foundation together! Let’s succeed together!
Best Wishes,
Sanjoy
