Sreedhar Menon, Retired Deputy President and Former Member of Board of American Express Bank Ltd

Sreedhar Menon, Retired Deputy President and Former Member of Board of American Express Bank Ltd

Sreedhar Menon, Retired Deputy President and a former MEMBER OF THE BOARD of American Express Bank Ltd, and a Senior Finance Professional, is currently engaged and focused on philanthropic activities primarily targeted at Educational Sector both in India and the U.S.

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In this episode, Ashutosh Garg converses with Sreedhar Menon, Retired Deputy President and Former Member of Board of American Express Bank Ltd. Sreedhar is a philanthropist, and a legendary figure in the Indian American community.

Sreedhar shares with us his experiences working on the board of American Express. One of the earliest Indians in the upper management of global financial services tells how to build business relations in different parts of the world.

As a VC, Sreedhar analyzes the risk factors involved in lending to Indian businesses. He tells how he managed to raise a huge sum while working with RRE.

Sreedhar then talks about his philanthropic involvement in the Indian American community. He explains what it takes to become a philanthropist. Before concluding, he tells why it is important to have a goal in life.

Sreedhar Menon, Retired Deputy President and a former MEMBER OF THE BOARD of American Express Bank Ltd, and a Senior Finance Professional is currently engaged and focused on philanthropic activities primarily targeted at Educational Sector both in India and the U.S.

Mr. Menon was also a Member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of United Spirits Limited, India, the largest alcoholic beverages manufacturing company in the world and it’s then wholly-owned subsidiary, Whyte and Mackay Limited, Glasgow, Scotland for a period of seven years from 2006 to 2013 in addition to serving on the Boards of Viteos Fund Services Inc, McLeod Russell Limited and an Advisory Board Member of Sutherland Global Services Inc.

Previously, he held a variety of Senior Management positions in Asia, Europe, and the United States with American Express Bank Limited (AEB). These positions included serving as Deputy President and Head of AEB’s 82 branch network spread across 36 countries, a member of the Board of AEB, and Chairman of the Board of American Express Bank International. Mr. Menon, who joined American Express Bank in Calcutta in 1963 served several years in Calcutta, London, Mumbai and Singapore prior to relocating to AEB New York Headquarters in 1985.

Prior to joining American Express, Mr. Menon was associated with the UNION BANK OF INDIA in Calcutta from 1959 to 1962.

From October 1996 to February 2001, Mr. Menon was a General Partner and Vice Chairman of RRE Ventures, LLC (RRE), a venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurial information technology companies. At RRE, Mr. Menon was responsible for strategic investor relationships, review of investment opportunities, and monitoring the performances of portfolio companies on whose Boards he served as a nominee Director of RRE.

Prior to joining RRE in 1996, Mr. Menon spent two years as Managing Director in the Emerging Markets Group at Lehman Brothers Inc, New York, then a leading advisory and corporate finance global investment bank, serving the financial needs of corporate, government and institutional clients, and high net worth individuals. 

Mr. Menon is the Lead donor and Founder of the Endowed Jagdish Bhagwati Chair in Indian Political Economy at Columbia University in the City of New York and a Founder/Lead donor of the Endowed Chair of the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, the only research institution in the U.S. focused entirely on economic and political issues and challenges facing contemporary India. Mr. Menon served on the International Advisory Board of CASI since its Endowment in 2001 until 2010 providing leadership and direction to its programs and activities. He is also a driving force behind the establishment of the Endowed MATTOO Center and Chair for India Studies at Stony Brook University, New York, and the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies at the School of International and Public Affairs of the Columbia University in the City of New York.

Mr. Menon has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S.- INDIA Business Council, ASEAN-U.S. Business Council, President of India-America Chamber of Commerce in New York, Business Council of the Asia Society in New York, and the South Asia Task Force of the Council of Foreign Relations in New York. Mr. Menon now devotes a great amount of his time on philanthropic Institutions focused on providing high quality education to the children born into the lowest social and economic class, such as the SHANTI BHAVAN SCHOOL, near Bangalore, India.

Mr. Menon received his Masters Degree in Economics from Maharaja’s College of the University of Kerala, India in 1959. He resides in New York City with his wife, Saroj. His only daughter Jyoti is a Director and Head of GLOBAL DIGITAL PAYMENTS AND SOLUTIONS at Citibank, New York. Jyoti is married to Santosh Sekar, an entrepreneur.  They both live in New York City.