Start-up founder and global professional services leader Kumar Parakala has been honoured by his former MBA school CQUniversity for excellence in the business industry.
Mr Parakala moved to Rockhampton from Hyderabad in India to study his Master of Information Systems with CQUniversity in 1991. He also completed an MBA at CQUniversity in 2000.
He is now the President of professional services firm GHD Digital in Chicago, but his journey started with an entrepreneurial venture called the Centre for Business Information Management, which focused on the Central Queensland business community.
His career achievements saw him recognised with the university’s 2021 Alumnus of the Year for Industry Achievement gong.
After graduating, Mr Parakala became Director of Corporate Services for St. Andrew’s Hillcrest Private Hospital in Rockhampton.
He then went on to become the Queensland Government’s youngest ever Chief Information Officer at the time.
Arriving in Sydney, Mr Parakala joined the global consultancy firm KPMG, held many senior leadership roles and served as a senior partner, advising some of the world’s largest companies over the next 15 years, before founding the digital agency Technova in 2015.
Mr Parakala joined global professional services company GHD in 2017. GHD Digital was launched in 2018. It’s now one of the world’s fastest-growing digital businesses. It has grown from 30 to almost 600 people in less than three years.
“My advice is never to follow the crowd,” said Mr Parakala.
“I’ve taken risks that many hesitate to take because my ambition for greater good was always higher than the ambition I had for myself.”
“Be bold to go where no one has gone before and serve others in a way no one has ever served before.”
