Leadership
Ramu Yalamanchi is the founder and chief executive officer of hi5 Networks, Inc. Ramu oversees key partnerships, business and product strategy, and helps guide the overall growth of the organization. After launching hi5 in 2003, Ramu brought the service to profitability within the first year of operation, and continues to drive the evolution of the service and business to millions of customers worldwide.
Prior to starting hi5, Ramu played a key role in technology companies that have advanced online advertising and the progression of Internet communities. He was an early contributor serving in product management, business development, and sales at eGroups (acquired by Yahoo!) and AdKnowledge (acquired by CMGI). In his final year of college, Ramu helped launch Sponsornet – the Web’s first advertising network. Prior to these experiences, Ramu learned about company building and business leadership from his entrepreneurial father, who established and managed more than a half dozen companies as Ramu was growing up in the suburbs of Chicago.
Ramu holds a B.S. in computer science from the University of Illinois – Urbana, Champaign.
Akash Garg co-founded hi5 Networks, Inc., and is the company’s chief technology officer. Akash oversees hi5’s technology infrastructure and software development, and originally developed the core product concepts and underlying technology that has helped to fuel the rapid growth of the service. To support one of the most-trafficked sites in the world, Akash has guided the design and implementation of a highly scalable, highly available platform using a combination of open source and homegrown technologies on low-cost Linux machines.
Prior to hi5, Akash was at Reactivity, assisting early-stage startups with technology strategy and direction, as well as architecting and implementing key portions of Reactivity’s flagship product. His interest in computers and technology began at a very young age. His family had purchased one of the early IBM PCs, and Akash’s initial interest in PC gaming led to an exploration and passion in programming.
He later graduated with a B.S. and M.S. in computer science from Stanford University.
Jeff Stephens is the chief financial officer of hi5 Networks, Inc. Jeff oversees the finance, accounting, human resources and administration functions of the company. He brings over 15 years of Internet and software experience to hi5.
Prior to hi5, Jeff was the senior vice president finance and administration and corporate controller at QuinStreet, Inc., a leading online marketing and media company. At QuinStreet, Jeff built the financial and control infrastructure that allowed the company to scale effectively. During his tenure, QuinStreet experienced substantial growth in revenue, profits and headcount. Jeff has also served as corporate controller at Sonnet Financial, and started a software company while in college.
Jeff holds a B.S. in finance from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
David Kim is the vice president of business development and strategy at hi5 Networks, Inc. In this role, he formulates and leads the execution of hi5’s corporate strategies; develops, fine tunes and scales hi5’s sustainable business model; and drives revenue through strategic partnerships. David also oversees recruiting to grow the size and talent of the company, and directs the localization of hi5 for the numerous global markets served.
Prior to hi5, David was at Harcourt Education in New York where he was responsible for corporate oversight, business development and strategy for the education division of the Reed Elsevier media group. Previously, David spent a number of years consulting at The Boston Consulting Group, managed business development for a consumer e-commerce start-up, and practiced corporate law at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, as well as at Sullivan & Cromwell. He has extensive international experience, and has worked in numerous locations around the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, China, Germany, Finland and several countries in Latin America.
David earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and his A.B. in Economics from U.C. Berkeley.
Mike heads up hi5's global marketing organization, including corporate marketing, product marketing, international marketing and communications.
Prior to hi5, Mike was co-founder and vice president of marketing at Truviso, a real-time data processing company specializing in web analytics. Previously, he was vice president of marketing and interim CEO of Spoke, a professional social networking site. Mike was also vice president of corporate and product marketing at Epiphany, a leading provider of marketing analytics and web personalization (now Infor). As an early employee of Octane Software, he led product management prior to the company's $3.2 billion acquisition by Epiphany in 2000. Mike has also held marketing and products positions at 3Com and MCI.
Mike has his B.A. from Northwestern University and M.B.A from the University of California at Berkeley.
Ram leads hi5's product development and engineering organization. Since joining hi5 in 2004, Ram has been instrumental in developing one of the world's most scalable web sites and building out a world-class engineering team.
Ram was one of the original architects of the company’s initial web site. As lead engineer at hi5, he managed the infrastructure team, ensuring the site could scale to support massive user growth. Prior to hi5, Ram held engineering positions at Mixonic, a new media duplication, printing and fulfillment service.
Ram has his B.S. in computer engineering from the University of Illinois – Urbana, Champaign.
Anil Dharni is the director of products at hi5 Networks, Inc., where he drives the product roadmap and key product initiatives. Anil works closely with hi5’s engineering team to deliver new features and services from concept to launch for hi5’s members globally.
Most recently, Anil was co-founder of an Internet based knowledge-sharing community for college students, where he led a pilot of his company’s offering at 10 universities. Previously, he served in product management roles at Yahoo! and held consulting and engineering roles at Wipro, Ariba, and Engineering Animation. Shortly after completing his undergraduate in engineering, Anil founded and sold a Company that provided a collaborative workflow management software tool.
Anil holds a B.E. in aeronautical engineering from Punjab University and an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management (where he was co-president of both the MIT Venture Capital Club and MIT Innovation Club).
Noelia leads the hi5 mobile team and overall mobile strategy. From product design to strategic partnerships, Noelia is responsible for all aspects of hi5's mobile business.
Noelia joins hi5 from Buongiorno, a worldwide provider of mobile value added services, where she was first Vice President of Sales & Operations and then COO for the company's North American division. She previously ran international business development at Buongiorno and was instrumental in the company's commercial successes across a diverse set of international markets including United Kingdom, South Africa, Greece, Australia, and Kuwait. Prior to Buongiorno, she worked in professional services at iPIN (now Valista).
Noelia holds a Physics Degree from Santiago de Compostela University and a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Karthik is responsible for hi5's strategic transactions and legal matters. Since joining hi5 in 2005 Karthik has played a key role in hi5's revenue and venture financing activities. In addition, Karthik has been responsible for hi5's financial and administrative functions.
Prior to hi5, Karthik was an associate at Cooley Godward LLP where he advised and represented technology companies throughout their business lifecycle. Furthermore, Karthik has been a regular speaker on start-up company matters at events organized by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).
Karthik holds a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from Stanford Law School where he was a member of the law review.
415-962-7075
Note:
For Customer Support, please Submit a Question via our Help section. More Information
About Us
Timeline of Milestones
Leadership
Board of Directors
Multimedia Gallery
Blog
Speaking Engagements