Visionary Leadership
Vinod Nagi
Vinod Nagi has an impressive background in real estate development within the Austin metropolitan statistical area (MSA). Since 2005, he has sponsored the acquisition of over 1,200 acres for master planned community development, including a tract that has gone through the municipal utility district (MUD) creation process.
Vinod has a strong proficiency in capital raising, underwriting, and negotiations.
Apart from being a successful real estate developer and investor, Vinod is also the founder and co-owner of East Avenue Development, which is well-known for being the most active development company serving the Hilton and Marriott hotel corporations in the U.S. Vinod has received numerous hospitality awards, including the New Developer of the Year award from Hilton in 2016.
Vinod Nagi holds a bachelor’s degree from Osmania University and a graduate degree from Bowie State University. After completing his education, he worked as a technical consultant with Deloitte Consulting and served as a vice president at Sagarsoft, a software consulting firm. He later founded Cortex Consulting, a software consulting firm based in Cedar Park, Texas.
Vinai Thummalapally
Vinai Thummalapally is the executive chairman of Red Fort Strategies, a full-service public affairs and government-relations firm that specializes in connecting companies to Washington D.C.
Appointed ambassador to Belize in 2009, where he served until 2013, Ambassador Thummalapally helped strengthen the bilateral relationship between the United States and Belize in the areas of citizen security, economic development, education, agriculture, and health care.
He then served as executive director of Select USA, part of the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. As part of this government-wide initiative to attract and retain business investment in the United States, Ambassador Thummalapally’s role involved helping to create jobs, spur economic growth, promote American competitiveness, coordinate resources across the federal government, promote business investment, and address federal regulatory barriers.
Ambassador Thummalapally has also had a distinguished, 31-year career in the private sector. Prior to joining the foreign service, he served as president of MAM-A Inc., a division of Mitsui Chemicals America and the nation’s leading manufacturer and distributor of archival recordable optical discs.
Originally from Hyderabad, India, Ambassador Thummalapally moved to the United States in 1974 to pursue an engineering degree. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from California State University, completed post graduate business administration courses from Cal State University, and holds a diploma in lean production systems from the University of Tennessee. He is fluent in Telugu, Hindi, and Urdu.
Vinai Thummalapally serves on the board of directors of Cyient, a publicly traded Indian engineering services company. He also serves on the board of the Indian American Impact Project, a non-profit promoting Indian Americans to run for public office.