Chandra Kotaru is the founder & CEO of the GAIAN group of companies, and is recognized as a visionary innovator and entrepreneur with 25+ years track record in leading successful deep-tech products and services businesses. Chandra started GAIAN in 2006, with a vision to offer leading-edge, tech savvy solutions to the media & entertainment industry. Over the years, under Chandra’s leadership GAIAN developed and deployed multiple award winning solutions such as OTT Monetization Framework, Cloud Playout, Geo-Targeted Broadcast TV Localization, Enterprise Video Network & DOOH Solution, & PayTV middleware apps platform. Chandra was also the Chief Architect of an international award winning alerting platform.Chandra is instrumental in scaling up GAIAN’s portfolio of products & solutions that are deployed across the world including North America, APAC, & South Asia, serving diverse businesses with corporate communication needs, government emergency response agencies, public transport networks, commercial, public, and community broadcasters. Chandra is an internationally recognized expert in NextGen TV technologies and is a member of FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council. Prior to GAIAN, Chandra held several technology leadership positions at DIRECT TV, Microsoft TV, and Hewlett-Packard. Chandra holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Jawaharlal Nehru Technology University, Hyderabad, India, and an advanced graduate degree from University of Maryland, College Park.In addition to his entrepreneurial responsibilities, Chandra is also the founder of Seelamsetty Ramarao Foundation (SRF), a non-profit that serves the under privileged sections of the society in his home state of Andhra Pradesh, India.