Mr. Mukesh Sehgal

(BT/ME/1978)

Mr. Mukesh Sehgal has been the President and CEO of Relational Systems Group ( RSG) Media Systems since 1985.RSG Media is a media tech company which believes in using both art and science to deliver radical insights and deeper connections to drive the evolution of the media ecosystem. It uses deep analytics, AI, enterprise systems, and expert advisory services. Its customers include the worlds' leading TV Networks, MVPDs, Studios, VOD & OTT Services, and Brand Licensors.



Profile

Mr. Sehgal did his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1978.Subsequently, he went on to obtain his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad in 1980. In his first position with Citibank, based in New York City, he was part of the team who built and rolled out the first set of ATMs for Citibank worldwide, an innovation that brought a competitive strategic edge to Citibank for many years.

After this groundbreaking launch, Mr. Sehgal sought new challenges. Inspired by a paper shared with him by a professor at IIM entitled "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks," written by Edgar F. Codd on relational database management systems, he founded Relational Systems Group to focus on financial services companies and investment banks in 1985.

To help market his fledgling business, Mr. Sehgal authored a book on DB2-the emerging relational database at the time--called DB2: Programming Concepts and Design. He bootstrapped the business and carried zero debt throughout his ownership of the company, renamed in 1996, RSG Media. He created business software solutions for many of the top Fortune 500 entertainment brands including content programmers, cable operators, studios, and sports leagues worldwide (NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL, among others) who continue to depend on RSG Media to run their businesses.

In 2007, Mr. Sehgal teamed up with Professor Sridhar Seshadri, his IIM classmate, who is now an esteemed Professor of Business at Illinois Institute of Technology, to develop an innovative analytics solution that drives $50 million annually in incremental revenue for a major media conglomerate in New York City. At the conclusion of this project, he realized that succeeding in the Media and Entertainment industry requires both art and science. RSG Media Systems went on to develop unsupervised and supervised Machine Learning models to optimize inventories for content, consumer products, marketing, advertising, and audience.

Over its 36 years in business, RSG Media has had to reinvent itself seven times to stay ahead of technological change. In 2021, Mr. Sehgal sold RSG Media to Vista Equity Partners, 36 years to the day from when he started it. Ultimately, he defines success as having the ability to work with the people he chooses. In addition to remaining President and General Manager of RSG Media, Mr. Sehgal is a seed round investor and sits on the board at Nidus AI, founded by a team of medical researchers and surgeons dedicated to finding optimal treatment strategies on a range of brain and spine health conditions. He is also the CEO of Aqaba Ventures, LLC a VC firm specializing in investments in cryptocurrency and healthcare startups.