Ravi Singh (businessman)

Ravi Singh is an American entrepreneur, author, and former politician convicted of 4 felony counts for illegally influencing the San Diego Mayoral election.[7] He was the founder and CEO of Electionmall Technologies,[8] a non-partisan company that offers technology products and services tailored to those running for political office.[9] Singh became known as the first U.S. cadet to graduate from a military academy with a turban.[10][11] His 1998 bid for the Illinois Legislature made him the first Asian to ever run for the position.[3] Singh has been honored with numerous awards and recognitions including the Sikh in Media Award in 2011, and a Rising Star, a prestigious honor given in politics.[12]

Ravi Singh
CitizenshipUnited States
EducationMasters in Political Science[1]
Bachelor of Science
Alma materNorthwestern University
Valparaiso University[2]
Known forFirst Asian candidate for Illinois Legislature[3]
ElectionMall Technologies[4]
Convicted of Illegally influencing San Diego Mayoral Campaign and Bribery[5]
Awards
Websitewww.ravisingh.com

Early life and education

Singh was born and raised in Aurora, Illinois, to U.S. immigrant parents who came to the United States from India in the 1960s.[13][14] He was raised in Sikh faith, in which wearing a turban and full beard are basic religious constituents.[15]

At the age of 14, Singh attended Marmion Military Academy in Aurora, Illinois where he was not allowed to wear his turban.[16] Singh was allowed to wear his turban but was not allowed to participate in Army drills with his turban. He was expelled from the military school after he refused to remove his turban. Singh’s parents went to U.S. Representative J. Dennis Hastert, to draft legislation where discrimination based on turbans would be declared illegal. He then graduated from Marmion Military Academy in 1990. Shortly after entering the academy, co-sponsored legislation introduced by Senator Paul Simon and Congressman Dennis Hastert and later signed by President Ronald Reagan, allowed him to graduate with his turban and with full honors as a 2nd Lieutenant.[17][14][13] His mother fought for the legislation which also allowed Jews to wear religious headdress while attending military academies. He graduated from the academy with full honors as a brevet 2nd Lieutenant in the Illinois National Guard.[13]

Singh attended Valparaiso University, a Lutheran university located in Valparaiso, Indiana. Singh got his Bachelor of Science degree from Valparaiso University, where he was elected to be the first Sikh-American student body president.[18][19] During his time as student body president, he spoke at the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago.[19] He went on to Northwestern University where he earned his master's degree in Political Science in 1995 and he completed his second Master Degree at Liberty University in 2019.[20][21][15][22]

He completed his Master Degree in Political Science in nine months and wrote a dissertation on Asian American political participation and talked about the challenges that Sikh-Americans had to deal with by being mislabeled and by not being considered Asian-Americans. In 2019, Singh acquired his Ph.D. in social media and technology from Ashford University and finished his studies at MIT, Duke, and Harvard in digital marketing and leadership programs.[23]

Political career
Ravi Singh at his graduation from Marmion Academy in Aurora, Illinois.

After graduating from Northwestern, he worked as a legislative assistant to then Illinois Lt Governor Bob Kustra. A year later he went to work for Illinois State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka and served as liaison to the Asian Pacific American community. In 1997, at 25, he ran for the State Legislature for the Illinois’ 42nd Assembly District.[24][25] The district's population was only 2% Asian-American at the time. Singh gained the support of the owner of the local Domino’s Pizza restaurant.[18] Singh lost the election and attributes the loss partially to his refusal to remove his turban during the campaign. He was quoted in the Outlook Magazine as stating, “if I do that, I will not be true to my faith and my work…If I give up my identity and values, I’ll not be Asian or an American. I’ll be nobody.”[26] Even though he did not win the elections, he landed on the position of administrative assistant for the Illinois Lt. Governor and State Treasurer.[18]

Singh was a member of EAPC (European), the AAPC (American) Associations of Political Consultants, and IAPC (International), where he is part of the board members. He has published articles for George Washington University, and these revolve around Campaign Relationship Management and Voter Space.[27]

He has served as a technology adviser for Juan Manuel Santos, the former Colombian President. He was invited to the 10th annual Art and Science of Public Affairs conference to discuss U.S politics. He has also served as an advisor to Enda Kenny, Prime Minister of Ireland, and has assisted over 9 heads of states get elected using his software.[28][29]

Tech entrepreneur

In 2000, Singh founded ElectionMall™ Technologies, Inc., a non-partisan technology company headquartered in Washington, D.C.[30] It was the first company in the industry to send a unique electronic card over the Internet known as eYardSigns. The company has campaigned for George W. Bush and the Democratic National Committee in Presidential Campaign in 2000.[17][31][32]

Singh has expanded his company in Latin America, Asia, and Europe. The company also acquired sponsorship funds from Microsoft and together created Campaign Cloud. Campaign Cloud, powered by Microsoft, is a campaign dashboard for all types of campaigns that use advanced cloud computing technologies.[14]

In 2007, nearly 640 campaigners signed up with the company. ElectionMall™ has an international patent and was the first to introduce digital certificates in elections.[33]

Election influence and criminal conviction

Singh founded ElectionMall Technologies in 1999. He realized after his loss in the Illinois State Legislature election that there was no company offering candidates any type of technology solution for fighting campaigns digitally.[34] In a 2004 cover story for USA Weekend, Singh was quoted as saying, “we want the mother running for school board to have the same tools as a senator.”[35]

ElectionMall, founded in 1999 a non-partisan campaign technology company in Washington, D.C., hit the headlines when a criminal complaint against its Founder and CEO Singh was unsealed, revealing that the Justice Department had charged him with illegally helping a foreigner to influence the election process in San Diego during the 2012 and 2013 election cycles through an independent political action committee.[30] Singh was arrested January 17, 2014, and released on bail four days later.[36] On September 9, 2016, a Federal Jury found Singh guilty on 4 felony counts related to a conspiracy to make contributions in a U.S. election on behalf of a foreign national.[37] He later appealed the case to the Appellate court but still could face 15 months in USA federal prison.[21][32][22][38][39] He was sentenced to 15 months in prison and was quoted as saying "I’ve always wanted to serve my country, now I can’t even vote"[32] ElectionMall has closed operations since December 2016 due to the ongoing cost of the litigation.

Personal life

Singh is a practicing Sikh. Singh is a resident of Aurora, Illinois. He is a member of the Chicago area Sikh community.

See also

References
  1. "Mouse-Click Pollster". Outlook Magazine. India. 31 May 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  2. Smith, Wes (1 May 1994). "Trial And Error". Chicago Tribune.
  3. Krol, Eric (9 February 1998). "Who Is Candidate Ravi Singh". Daily Herald. Questia Online Library. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  4. Roberts, Cokie (18 July 2004). "Year of the Net". USA Weekend. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  5. Sloss, Jason (9 September 2016). "Mexican businessman convicted in scheme to funnel money into mayoral campaigns". Fox5SanDiego. City News Service. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  6. "2010 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business". Asian American Business. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  7. "Mexican Billionaire Convicted in Campaign Finance Trial". Retrieved 2016-09-10.
  8. "How Technology Is Revolutionizing Democracy". CNN. 26 June 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  9. Basu, Indrajit (15 August 2008). "The Technology Behind Election Campaigns". Digital Communities. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  10. Singh, Ranjit (2008). Sikh Achievers. Hemkunt Press. ISBN 978-8170103653.
  11. Pais, Arthur J. (28 March 2003). "A Turbaned Ravi Singh Pens His American Story". India Abroad. HighBeam Research. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  12. Kumari, Sushma (10 June 2007). "NRi Sikh Honored One Of The Most Prestigious Honors To Be Given In Politics". NRI Politicians. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  13. Singh, Ranjit (2008). Sikh Achievers. Hemkunt Press. ISBN 978-8170103653.
  14. "Khalsanews". www.khalsanews.org. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  15. "Ravi Singh, wins prestigious 'Sikhs in Media Award' at the 2011 Sikh Awards". SikhNet. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  16. "Marmion Military Academy". www.sikhwomen.com. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  17. Minnema, Lindsay (2004-10-05). "Alumnus finds political niche through Internet". The Daily Northwestern. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  18. Hawley, Michael (2013). Sikh diaspora : theory, agency, and experience. Brill. ISBN 978-9004252608. OCLC 849740954.
  19. "PEACEFUL BELIEFS DRIVE RELIGIONS - Post-Tribune (IN) | HighBeam Research". 2016-03-09. Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  20. "Who Is Candidate Ravi Singh? Answers Found beyond Resume" by Krol, Eric - Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), February 9, 1998 | Online Research Library: Questia Reader". www.questia.com. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  21. Moran, Greg (2014-01-22). "Elections 'guru' has been controversial". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  22. "Indian-Origin Man Jailed In US Mayoral Election Funding Scandal". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  23. "Donald J. Trump's Social Media Voice Effects on Follower Engagement: An In-depth Tone Analysis of Leadership Personas in 35,647 Tweets from 2009–2018 Using Artificial Intelligence - ProQuest". search.proquest.com. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  24. "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Delhi and neighbourhood". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  25. Curran, Tom; Singh, Ravi (2011-06-01). "E-democracy as the Future Face of Democracy: A Case Study of the 2011 Irish Elections". European View. 10 (1): 25–31. doi:10.1007/s12290-011-0154-6. ISSN 1781-6858. S2CID 154078651.
  26. "Mouse-Click Pollster". Outlook Magazine. India. 31 May 2008.
  27. "Conference 2010 | Speakers | Personal Democracy Forum | Ravi Singh". personaldemocracy.com. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  28. "Singh's star turn for Fine Gael". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  29. "WINNERS 2011". The Sikh Awards. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  30. "Besieged Campaign Tech Company ElectionMall Has Had A Troubled History". TechPresident. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  31. Singh Tuli, Pritpal (2017). The Mighty Sikhs (PDF). Amritsar: Dr. S.S. Gill. p. 299.
  32. Davis, Kristina (2017-09-01). "'Campaign guru' gets prison in Azano San Diego mayoral election-funding scheme". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  33. "Internet Campaigning Comes to India- Technology News, Firstpost". Tech2. 2008-05-19. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
  34. "The Technology Behind Election Campaigns". www.govtech.com. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  35. "Year of the net". USA Weekend Magazine. 18 July 2004. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  36. "Campaign Services Professional Arraigned for Role in Campaign Finance Crimes". FBI. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  37. "Mexican Billionaire Convicted in Campaign Finance Trial". NBC 7 San Diego. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  38. "The Story Behind Those Illegal Campaign Contributions in San Diego". San Diego Free Press. 2014-01-22. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  39. "The Magazine for People in Politics | Campaigns & Elections". www.campaignsandelections.com. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
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