User:SevaCall/Sandbox

Manpreet Singh (born February 15, 1983) is a Sikh Indian-American entrepreneur, philanthropist, asset manager, and one of the youngest professionals to ever receive the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in the World. In 2006, the CFA Institute gave him the distinction of "Most Ambitious" CFA Charterholder. He has been featured on several prominent financial news networks such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg.Com, Indus Business Journal, Potomac Almanac, India Today Indian Panorama, Wharton Journal, Reuters, Fortune Magazine, CFA Magazine, Tampa Bay Tribune, TheStreet.com, Dow Jones/MarketWatch, and many others. He is also continually recognized for his contributions to the Sikh community in America.

He is the founder and Director of the LaKan Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to promoting religious, scientific and educational causes. He is also involved with supporting a number of American and Sikh Charities including the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, United Way, GNFA, GGSF, Sikh Coalition and Sikh Arts and Film Foundation.

Early Life
Singh was born in Silver Spring, Maryland and raised in Burtonsville, Maryland. His father, Dr. Lakhbir Singh is President of Nathan Associates. Singh attended middle school at Benjamin Banneker Middle School and High School at Paint Branch High School, where he played football.

Education
Singh attended the University of Maryland, College Park as Presidential Scholar from 2001-2003, earning his Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Citation in Entrepreneurship in only 2 ½ years, while working full time at Profit Investment Management. He later attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School from 2007-2009, earning his Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a triple Major in Finance, Real Estate, and Entrepreneurial Management. While at Wharton, Singh served as a Fund Fellow managing a part of the school’s endowment and had an internship at Stark Investments, focusing on investing in the Long/Short equity book.

Career
DesiVibes

In 1998 he started a social media networking site with his brother Gurpreet Singh called Desi Vibes, which targeted the Southeast Asian community initially in the Washington Metropolitan area, but eventually had visitors from all over the world. With Desi Vibes, Singh was successful in establishing an extensive network connecting people with interests in South Asian culture. The site quickly gained popularity with site traffic peaking at 250,000 unique visitors per month during the 1998-2001 period which the site was running.

Desi Vibes was a "Social Networking Site" before it's time and designed to give users an online platform for sharing information and media. Users were given accounts which allowed them to create personal profiles, share photos, music, and other popular forms of media through the site. It also provided a forum for discussing and posting events in the United States.

In addition to facilitating the sharing of information, Desi Vibes strengthened the community that it established with its users by also serving as a vendor for tickets to various social events and concerts. Desi Vibes was involved with bringing some of the most well known South Asian artists to Washington DC including, but not limited to Bally Sagoo, Sukhbir, Punjabi MC, Jazzy B, Sukhshinder Shinda and RDB.

Profit Investment Management

In 2000 at the age of 17, Singh joined Profit Investment Management, a small investment firm in the Washington, DC area. His interest in investment management was sparked by his experience with Desi Vibes and exposure to the internet sector during the period of rapid growth commonly referred to as a dot-com bubble. He joined Profit Investment Management as an intern while still attending high school. His initial duties included assisting the portfolio manager (PM) and other personnel with day-to-day tasks. After graduating from Paint Branch High School, he began working for the firm full time while attending the University of Maryland, College Park. After completing his undergraduate degree, he was promoted to the position of research analyst. Since then he has held various positions with the firm and continued to work at the firm while also completing a Masters in Business Administration from the Wharton School. He is currently a Senior Equity Analyst.

Seva Search

Singh is a founding member and advisor for Seva Search Inc, an internet technology company he started with his brother Gurpreet Singh and friend Amandeep Bakshi. The company has developed a next generation local search engine known as Seva Call designed to instantly and directly connect businesses and consumers. Singh is responsible for providing guidance on business development matters.

Philanthropic Efforts
LaKan Foundation

By the age of 21, Singh was earning an income that was in the top five percent of wage-earners in the United States. At that time Singh founded the LaKan Foundation in October of 2004 to promote religious, scientific and education causes. He has risen over $100,000 for the foundation.

Singh is the grandson of Ishar Singh Bindra who has donated generously to a number of causes including establishing the Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize and Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies at Hofstra University.