Thulasiraj Ravilla worked for British Paints (now Berger Paints) following his PGP from IIM-C and in 1981. Dr G Venkatswamy was in need of an administrator to put his ideas and vision into action. Thulsi left his corporate job and joined Aravind for a fraction of his previous salary. He then spent about a year at the University of Michigan as a visiting scholar to get an academic foundation in Hospital and Health Management. Since then, he has been part of the leadership team that built Aravind into the world’s largest provider of eye care. He developed the LAICO-Aravind Eye Hospital Care System in 1992 and continues to head it. He also served for five years as the regional chair of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness for the South East Asia region.
When contacted by IIM-C representatives, he said “At this juncture, we would like to acknowledge that this is really a testimony to the contribution of every employee of the organization who worked together as a family in nurturing the seed of service that our founder Dr G Venkatswamy. We also want to acknowledge the contributions made by countless individuals who came as volunteers and organizations that helped us in building our own capacity and in propagating the model. It is also the right moment for us to rededicate ourselves with renewed vigour to achieve the mission of eliminating needless blindness.”
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