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'Bug' Bucks to Fight the Big C

S Pasha

Cancer research in Michigan got a $40 million boost from a man who made his fortune fixing the Y2K bug.

Rajendra Vattikuti, the 47-year-old founder and co-chairman of Covansys, and his wife Padma announced on Tuesday that they would support the cancer programmes at Beaumont and Henry Ford hospitals with an initial donation of $4 million each, followed by more donations over the next 12 years.

Half of their $40 million donation will fund Henry Ford's prostate cancer research, education and treatment advances. The rest will go to Beaumont's research in breast cancer prevention, detection and treatment.

"We are challenging these two institutions to achieve new clinical knowledge through research, new treatment methods and expanded awareness and education, with the hope of preventing prostate and breast cancers," Vattikuti said in a statement.

"Padma and I feel our gift will be successful if through this philanthropic partnership we improve the treatment and prevention of these two cancers."

The donations are part of a personal commitment of Vattikuti. Funding breast and prostate cancer research were two reasons why he created the Vattikuti Foundation in 1997. When it began, he endowed the charity with 424,000 shares of company stock, worth nearly $8 million then.

"Over the next three to four years, I want to get more involved in philanthropy," Vattikuti had told the Detroit Free Press at the time. "I want to do a lot in education and health care."

His generosity, however, extends beyond healthcare. His campaign contributions of $165,700, largely to the Republican Party, ranked him 358th on this year's Mother Jones's 'MOJO 400' list. Vattikuti is politically active, having helped fund-raising campaigns for the current energy secretary and former Michigan senator Spencer Abraham.

The path to such success and influence began in February 1985, when he solely began Covansys (formerly Complete Business Solutions, Inc.) offering consulting and programming services.

He had been a CIO for Eureka Foods Corporation and worked in manufacturing systems Chrysler before deciding to strike it out alone.

Vattikutti said his experience working in such positions gave him an insight into the way businesses were gradually becoming more dependent on information technology. Leaving the climb up the corporate ladder and taking a chance in IT would be his opportunity to become an industry leader, he surmised.

Vattikutti's company became a dominant force due to his insight into the Y2K problem, colleagues said. He was reportedly one of the first in the IT industry to recognize the problem and assemble the manpower to fix it.

His company, headquartered in Farmington Hills, now employs over 5,000 people with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. It posted sales in December of $419 million, and ranked 61st in Fortune's Fastest Growing Companies list.

Vattikuti, a native of Madras, is a graduate of the College of Engineering at Guindy and has a master's degree in electrical and computer engineering from Wayne State University in Detroit.

A doting father and husband, Vattikuti has two young children, a son and a daughter. In his free time, he likes to play golf and listen to music.

He is also a spiritual person, and thanks God for giving him inner strength. As part of his daily routine, he told the Detroit Free Press, he spends 40 minutes exercising and 20 minutes in meditation.

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