The board of TiE Boston, the region’s chapter of the world’s largest not-for-profit network dedicated to helping startups grow, today announced it has elected Nilanjana Bhowmik as its President. A venture capitalist who last year co-founded VC firm Converge, Nilanjana was elected to a two-year term to succeed Praveen Tailam. Nilanjana is the chapter’s 11th president, and the first woman to hold the role.

“TiE Boston is a vibrant organization doing tremendous work with the next generation of rising entrepreneurs,” said Bhowmik. “I am very bullish on Boston and its innovators, and look forward to strengthening the collaboration between our venture community, industry titans, academic institutions and our entrepreneurs. We will extend the great work started by Desh Deshpande two decades ago, with an eye on fostering further inclusion within the region’s innovation economy.”

Started 25 years ago by entrepreneurs who immigrated from the Indus region, the TiE network has become a vibrant ecosystem for entrepreneurs, professionals, industry leaders, and investors to interact with one another and to forge long-lasting relationships. The Boston chapter is best known for its flagship event StartupCON, a celebration of Boston’s innovative spirit; TiE Boston Angels, which connects early-stage companies with advisors and investors; its ScaleUp accelerator, helping growth stage companies overcome barriers to scale and identify pathways to growth; and TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE), an award-winning program educating high school students who wish to become the next generation of entrepreneurs that is now taught globally.

“At our anniversary last year, I compared TiE Boston to ‘an inquisitive child, a 20 year-old startup always looking at ways to stay ahead and remain vigilantly innovative,” said Praveen Tailam, TiE-Global vice chairman and immediate past president. “We have created a trusted network for the evolving innovation ecosystem - and I am excited for Nilanjana to lead TiE Boston into our third decade.”

Bhowmik is a charter member of TiE Boston and received the organization’s Entrepreneurial Achievement Award for 2017. She also previously served on the TiE Boston Board.

In 2017, she co-founded Converge, a Boston-based venture firm bringing long term, committed capital to B2B tech entrepreneurs and their teams.

Prior to founding Converge, Bhowmik was a General Partner at Longworth Venture Partners where she led the firm’s investments in enterprise tech. As an investment banker at Broadview (now Jefferies), Bhowmik executed numerous tech M&A transactions and led the bank’s research publications of market maps on middleware, application and security software, and honed her ability to assess emerging tech markets with massive potential.

Bhowmik began her career at Object Design Inc., where she held several leadership positions. She holds an MBA from INSEAD — France, a Master’s in Computer Science from University of S. Carolina and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.

 

ABOUT TIE BOSTON

TiE Boston supports entrepreneurs by offering education, mentorship, networking, and funding opportunities. Founded in 1997 by entrepreneurs who immigrated from the Indus region, TiE Boston is uniquely positioned to champion inclusion in the innovation economy, and helps innovators and enthusiasts from all backgrounds. TiE Boston’s core strength comes from its charter members — innovators and business leaders who have led, scaled, and exited their own companies. They are deeply engaged and committed to giving back to the TiE Boston community by providing mentorship, tactical advice, and expertise to rising entrepreneurs. TiE Boston has built a network to guide and connect entrepreneurs with each other and with other stakeholders in the ecosystem, including seasoned entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, service providers, and early customers.

TiE Boston is the second-oldest chapter of TiE-Global, the largest global not-for-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship. TiE has 12,000 members throughout the world, and has contributed more than $250 billion in wealth creation.

For more information about TiE Boston, visit boston.tie.org.