Neeraj Chawla

Neeraj Chawla was born in New Delhi, India in 1971 into a family of Army Officers. He is currently serving as the Board Member of the Oracle Applications User Group (Public Sector SIG). He is also the Co-Founder of Proflinx and currently heads the Oracle Federal, State & Local Solutions Practice at [http://www.proflinx.com Proflinx] .

Neeraj has been featured as a "Notable Alumni" of his alma mater, Punjab Engineering College.

Early life

His parents were Major C.P. Chawla and Geeta Chawla, and has one brother who currently serves in the Indian Army. His father served the Indian Army in the Corps of Engineers and his mother was a Professor at The English Institute, an educational institution his parents co-founded in 1981 after his father's retirement.

Neeraj was an outstanding student at Guru Nanak Public school and subsequently D.A.V. College Chandigarh. With his mother's encouragement and constant support, Neeraj got selected for IIT Roorkee, one of India's elite engineering colleges but he decided to join Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh to stay close to his ailing mother. Neeraj graduated in First Class After completing his Bachelors Degree in Computer Science and engineering in 1993 from Punjab Engineering College. Neeraj was also the Joint Secretary of the Dramatics Club during his engineering days. He organized college festivals including PEC FEST with his other colleagues, participated and directed several plays that won national awards and also worked for a professional theater group for a while.

Neeraj's mother died when he was in college and he had to take over the day-to-day running of the institute to support his education and also his brother who was then studying at India's elite armed forces college, the National Defence Academy to become an Army officer. His brother is now a successful officer of the Indian Army.

He is married to his sweetheart from his Tata Unisys days, Reenaa. His wife is a highly accomplished software engineer, who is described by Neeraj to his friends and family as "a much smarter person" than himself. She is the founder & CEO of [http://www.thebrainstudio.com The Brain Studio]

Career

After his graduation, unlike his counterparts who chose software programming careers, Neeraj chose to work in sales. He worked briefly for PCL, a leading software firm in Chandigarh and then joined Tata Unisys Limited. Subsequently he worked for Tata IBM and Oracle Corp. in India in several sales roles before moving to the US in 1998.

Immediately after his arrival at Solix in 1998, an SEI CMM Level 5 Oracle Certified Advantage Partner, Neeraj was asked to open up their new office in NJ and setup the Oracle Practice. He joined Solix as an account manager and was promoted several times during his 5 year stay at Solix. He held the Vice President position at Solix [http://solix.com/news/press/solix_press_feb2003.htm (see Press Release)] until 2003 and was also the President of Siti Corporation, the BPO subsidiary of Solix.

In 2003 he co-founded Proflinx with his wife Reena, a national level Oracle Applications Consulting Firm. Neeraj presently Heads the Oracle Federal, State and Local Solutions Practice and also oversees the Technology Staffing & Recruitment Practice at Proflinx. Neeraj also established and presently runs the "CIO Practice" directly.

OAUG Involvement and Memberships

Board Member of the Oracle Applications User Group (Public Sector SIG) [http://govtsig.org/faq.htm#q6] Actively involved with the OAUG community for over 9 years. [http://www.proflinx.com/About_Proflinx.html]

Member of the Government and the Federal Financials SIGs. [http://www.proflinx.com/About_Proflinx.html]

Actively involved with the OAUG community at a regional level with NJOAUG, NYCOAUG, NEOAUG and DCOAUG. [http://www.proflinx.com/About_Proflinx.html]

National member of the PMI and a regional member of the NYC, NJ and Westchester PMI chapters. [http://www.proflinx.com/About_Proflinx.html]

Education

Neeraj has studied at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and is a BS in Computer Science and Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, India.

Community

Neeraj is also the founder of [http://www.proflinx.org The New Delhi Theater Company] , a nonprofit that supports South- Asian Theater and Performing Arts.

During his spare time Neeraj likes to play Golf and spend time with his family doing hiking, trekking and biking and volunteering at the local Boy Scouts Club.