Vidya Sundaram

Director of Research, GreatSchools, Inc. November 2010-present

• Lead research efforts for long range strategic planning, marketing and social impact assessments
• Regular use of MySQL, Omniture, MediaMetrix, QuantCast, Alexa, US Census and other tools to monitor and report market penetration for internal and external stakeholders.

Program Development Manager, GreatSchools, Inc.      April 2006-Sept 2007

• Raised $430,000 in foundation grants in six months. Donor cultivation led to $20 million in grants in 2008.
• Reported to President and oversaw business planning and program development to launch new products on GreatSchools.net Web site for parents of K-12 students.
• Led market research for new online products aimed at low- to middle-income parents of K-12 students. Managed two research interns to conduct market analysis, including surveys, focus groups and secondary research.
• Partner relationship management, including creating and delivering presentations to executives in nonprofit and private sectors, and writing monthly email newsletters to GreatSchools’ partners, supporters and sponsors.
• Project management interfacing with designers and outreach staff to design and oversee implementation of GreatSchools’ local outreach Web site.
• Coordinated internal and third-party program evaluation efforts with nationally recognized academic research teams.
• Regular use of MySQL, Omniture, MediaMetrix, QuantCast, Alexa, US Census and other tools to monitor and report market penetration for internal and external stakeholders (partners and foundations).

 Content Producer, GreatSchools, Inc.    May 2009 - February 2010

• Assisted executive management in designing the pilot version of College Bound, an innovative web-based education program, for low- to middle-income parents. College Bound has received more than $20 million in support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, among others.
• Produced more than 2 hours of original animated and video interactive parenting courses within a five-month timeline, within budget.
• Compiled extensive research on parenting topics ranging from child psychology to elementary school standards. Identified and worked with nationally recognized subject matter experts. Conducted usability tests with target audience.
• Developed character biographies for five families based on ethnographic survey data. Wrote scripts and storyboards for more than forty-five minutes of content.
• Managed contract negotiation and relationships with casting agents, studio facilities and film makers. Secured voice-over talent and directed voice over recording sessions. Heavy relationship management with overseas Indian Flash production and graphics service provider.

Founder, Two Roots.    Jan 2004 – Aug 2005

• Launched media site for teenagers in the South Asian diaspora.
• Assessed business potential and social impact of site.
• Knapp New Venture Competition semi-finalist.
  

Product Engineer, E-Stamp Corp.    July 1999 – Aug 2000

• Proposed the creation of and managed a dedicated operational tools development team (of 4) to implement inventory tracking applications and interface with government systems. Our group successfully met all government regulations to help E-Stamp become the first government-approved internet postage vendor.
• Selected to research additional applications of E-Stamp's secure postage generation technology. Developed the world's first print-at-home airline boarding pass system. Deployed this system in Europe for a major airline.

Associate, Claremont Creek Ventures       May 2008-May 2009

• Primary responsibilities include identifying and evaluating new investment opportunities in Internet media, including social networking, online gaming and e-commerce. Provided key research, and interfaced with legal teams and entrepreneurs to negotiate terms on a $2 million investment in November 2008.
• Provided key support in raising a $175 million investment fund in fall 2008 by performing thorough portfolio analysis and creating investor presentations.
• Developed a system to rate the health of portfolio companies. This system was highlighted in a January 2009 article in the Wall Street Journal.

Business Development Consultant, GreatSchools, Inc.    June 2005-March 2006

• Created a prospect list and recommendations for sale of GreatSchools’ licensing products, which increased revenue by more than $150,000 per year.
• Provided analysis for online advertising, SEO and lead generation strategies.
• Identified technology vendors for email marketing and social networking tools.
• Researched and made recommendations for GreatSchools’ international expansion strategy.

Team Leader, Xtime, Inc.              Aug 2000 – Jan 2003

• Identified, analyzed, and developed software solutions to address the service scheduling needs of our enterprise clients, including one $2M client and two Global 500 companies.
• Selected as one of three team leaders to help guide Xtime's technical direction and project management for essential product features, including writing product requirements and technical specifications, managing a product roadmap and leading group design sessions.

Software Engineer, Xtime, Inc.                Aug 2000 – Jan 2003, June-Dec 2004

• Front-end and server-end development on both UNIX and Windows in Java, JHTML (Dynamo), JSP (WebLogic), and PL/SQL (Oracle 8i) using ant, cvs, Perforce, Together, and IntelliJ.

Software Engineer, E-Stamp Corp.            July 1998 – Aug 2000

• Designed and developed an automatic software update component, which E-Stamp used to deploy software releases to over 50,000 customers. This feature saved the company more than $200K in production costs.
• Developed on Windows in C++, and ASP, using MFC, Visual Studio, SiteServer, SQL Server, and SourceSafe.

Software Engineer Intern, Homestead Tech. (acq. by Intuit)   June - Sept 1997

• Developed widgets for an online website editing tool in Java, including a whiteboard, chat application, and antialiased graphics.
• Introduced and implemented editing features such as rulers and snap-to-grid.

Embedded Software Intern, Divicom, Inc.  June - Sept 1996

• Developed diagnostic tests for a RISC processor in a set-top video encoding system.