Neville Roy Singham is an American businessman and social activist. He is best known as the founder of “Thoughtworks”, an IT venture that provides advice on computers. He sold it in 2017 for $785 million. In November 2023, the Enforcement Directorate summoned him for questioning regarding a money laundering case related to an Indian news channel “Newsclick” and he was accused of spreading Chinese propaganda in India and other countries. World.
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Wiki/Biography
Neville Roy Singham was born on Thursday, May 13, 1954 (age 69 years; as in 2023) in the United States. Their zodiac sign is Taurus. After completing his schooling, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Howard University in the United States. Later, he went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan to pursue higher studies.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 9″
Hair Color: Bald
Eye colour: brown
Family
parents and siblings
Singham’s father, Archibald Singham, was a Sri Lankan political scientist and historian who taught political science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. He died in 1991.
A photograph of Archibald Singham, father of Neville Roy Singham
His mother Shirley Hayon is from Cuba. He has a sister named Shanti Singham.
wife and children
In 2017, Neville Roy Singham married Jodie Evans, a political activist, writer and filmmaker. ‘Democracy Now!’ Several notable celebrities including Amy Goodman, host of; Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream; and playwright Vee (formerly known as Eve Ensler) attended their wedding ceremony.
Neville Roy Singham posing with his wife
The couple have a son named Nathan (Nate) Singham who works for Tricontinental, a social research institute.
A photo of Nathan (Nate) Singham
livelihood
Neville Roy Singham joined a group called the League of Revolutionary Black Workers when he was young. This group believed in being proud to be black and followed Maoist ideas. Meanwhile, he also worked at a Chrysler factory in Detroit in 1972. Subsequently, he went to Howard University, and after completing his graduation, he moved to Chicago and started a company “Thoughtworks” in the late 1980s and incorporated the same in 1991. His company helped its customers rent computer equipment and also specialized in computer consulting and custom software development. He was the owner of the majority shares of his company. Meanwhile, he also worked as a strategic technical advisor for Huawei from 2001 to 2008. In 2008, “ThoughtWorks” had 1,000 employees and helped large companies such as Microsoft, Oracle and banks. In 2010, it began working with Daimler AG, Siemens and Barclays. Meanwhile, it also opened a new office in Bangalore, India.
Neville Roy Singham during his meeting with Sitharaman in Bengaluru.
Neville Roy Singham sold “ThoughtWorks” to a private equity firm in 2010 for the amount of $785 million. When he sold it, the company had 4,500 employees in 15 countries. As the company’s chief scientist Martin Fowler explained in a media interaction, Singham had not been actively managing the company for several years before selling it. Fowler shared that Roy was actively involved in his work as he built a management team that was able to run the company without Roy. Fowler said,
Although I was surprised to hear that he was selling the company, the news was not unexpected. Over the years Roy has become increasingly involved in his activist work, spending less time running ThoughtWorks. … He’s been able to do that because he’s built a management team that is largely capable of running the company without him. But as I watched him spend more energy on his activist work, it was clear that it would be attractive for him to intensify that activism with the money he would make from selling ThoughtWorks.
Logo of the company ‘Thoughtworks’
Neville Roy Singham was a key leader at ThoughtWorks, where he was known for his ability to create software quickly and efficiently. He was a proponent of working with a lean manufacturing approach similar to Toyota’s business model. Singham believed strongly in open access and the Creative Commons movement, and he disliked the idea of keeping software ideas secret. His idea was that everyone should have free access to the best software ideas. In 2008, he said during a media conference that his goal was to solve the world’s problems by developing technologically superior infrastructure. He said,
As a socialist, I believe the world should have free access to the best ideas in software. My goal is to create technologically superior infrastructure to solve the world’s problems.
Neville Roy Singham during a business conference
During a media interaction, Singham once shared that he admires former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and believes that China is a good example of how to run a country. He believed that China was a place of both free-market adjustment and long-term planning. Singham was known to praise Maoism, and was described by some as “a Marxist with a huge software company”!
Neville Roy Singham during a conversation with the media
In 2022, Singham was attempting to create a movement in the United States to promote peace in Ukraine and oppose NATO expansion. In 2023, he began investing in Chinese companies in the food and consulting sectors. He also began operations from Shanghai in the same year, where he worked with the Maku Group. The group aims to inform foreigners about China’s victory and Singham has reportedly provided them with $1.8 million in funding. In July 2023, Singham participated in a workshop organized by the Communist Party aimed at promoting the Chinese Communist Party internationally.
Neville Roy Singham with Chinese Communist Party workers
Controversy
“Singham’s funding controversy”
In 2021, Singham was accused by “The New York Times” of supporting pro-Chinese government messages by funding certain causes and groups in the US. Later that year, India’s Enforcement Directorate also accused Singham of involvement in a money laundering case. The allegation was that he provided Rs. ₹380 million (about $5 million) were given to the Indian news site “People’s Dispatch” between 2018 and 2021, which was allegedly used to promote a pro-Chinese viewpoint in the Indian media. The funds were said to have gone through various companies and NGOs, including some from the United States such as Worldwide Media Holdings (believed to be owned by Singham), Justice and Education Fund, GSPAN LLC and Tricontinental. Institutes are included. Similar concerns were raised about the Centro Popular de Medias in Brazil. In August 2023, The New York Times again published an article alleging that Singham had close ties to the Chinese government. The article claimed that he used non-profit groups and shell companies to donate money to various organizations, including news outlets and institutions, with the intention of spreading messages in support of the Chinese government. Some of these nonprofits include the Justice and Education Fund, the United Community Fund, and the People’s Support Foundation. Groups funded by Singham include Newsclick in India, the Nkrumah School, the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party in South Africa, the Brasil de Fato newspaper in Brazil, and activist groups such as No Cold War, Code Pink, People’s Forum, and Tricontinental in the United States. Singham denied these allegations and said that he did not work for any political party or government. However, US Senator Marco Rubio has requested the Justice Department to investigate entities linked to Singham for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) following the publication of the article in The New York Times.
A photo of Xi Jinping, Prabir Purkayastha (owner of NewsClick) and Neville Roy Singham
net worth
In 2023, his net worth was estimated to be around $785 million.
Facts/General Knowledge
- Singham is a supporter of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. He, along with fellow activist Peter Thiel and former American political activist and economist Daniel Ellsberg, spoke in defense of Assange at an event in 2011. Singham had also expressed his support for hackers like Jeremy Hammond and Aaron Swartz. Swartz, who worked for Singham, ended his life in 2013 while facing legal issues.
- In 2013, Neville Roy Singham stressed the importance of efficiency during a business conference and shared that his company “Thoughtworks” has invested in several projects in India, Brazil and China to promote this idea.
Neville Roy Singham during a business conference
- In January 2022, a report by New Lines Magazine revealed that Singham had donated approximately $65 million to non-profit organizations, including Code Pink.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn