Kapil Viswanathan has played a central role in the conception and establishment of the University. Kapil is also the President of the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), a 50-year old not-for-profit society, focused on education and research. IFMR is the sponsoring body of Krea University.

Previously, he was the co-founder and co-CEO of Lumina Datamatics (erstwhile PreMedia Global), an ed-tech company employing over 2,000 people across the US, Europe and India. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Boston, the company grew rapidly to become the leading partner for global content companies such as McGraw Hill and Pearson Learning. The company’s organic growth trajectory was bolstered by a Mergers and Acquisitions strategy, which culminated in the successful acquisition and integration of four US-based companies between 2005 and 2008. The company was governed by a professional board of directors which included independent directors such as Tom Manning (former Chairman and CEO of Dun and Bradstreet) and Mukesh Aghi (former CEO of L&T Infotech). In 2014, the company merged with the content technology division of Mumbai-based Datamatics Global Services. After overseeing the integration of this merger, Kapil Viswanathan and his co-founder exited the business, 10 years after its founding. After his exit in 2016, he dedicated himself to the philanthropic cause of starting Krea University.

Earlier in his career, Kapil Viswanathan worked in global sales for Tata Consultancy Services, spanning markets in Australia, Asia, UK and the US, and participated in the corporate think tank. He is the Managing Director of Enfield Agrobase, a social enterprise focused on organic agriculture and rural development.

Kapil Viswanathan writes a regular column in Mint, titled Learning 4.0, where he shares his thoughts on the future of learning and the future of business and work. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.