Bio

Mr. Rao has several decades of business management experience from managing large organizations to owning and operating his own companies. His experience in M & A began when he acquired his first company from then employer Air France. He takes an active role in selecting the target companies to acquire and is involved in the entire acquisition process. He then serves on boards of the acquired entities and provides oversight of portfolio companies until exit from the investment. He works closely with his investor partners who include high net-worth individuals, fund-to-fund managers, family offices, partner equity funds, mezzanine lenders, and other financial institutions. Most recently, Mr. Rao helped found Skyview Capital and led most of their acquisitions. He also provided oversight through board membership of all of its portfolio companies from 2005 until February of 2013. Previously as Chairman & CEO of Global Leisure, Inc. he rolled up several leading wholesale travel brands that generated revenues of $250M with an employee base of 450. Mr. Rao successfully divested some of his portfolio companies to billionaire Carl Icahn. He sold several other subsidiaries to entities in the travel and e-commerce industries. Prior to his role in the private equity world, Mr. Rao held several other key executive positions including: SVP at Evergreen International Airlines, CEO of Airlift USA, CEO of Salence Technology, Regional General Manager of Air France, British Airways, Swissair and Director of Circle Airfreight for their Latin American operations. Mr. Rao holds an MBA and BS in Business Administration from Alliant International University (USIU) in San Diego. He also completed undergraduate degrees in the subjects of Geography, Geology and Astronomy from the University of Madras in India. Mr. Rao also served as Special Advisor to the Tax Reform Workshop in 2001 in Washington DC, and subsequently was made House Majority Trust member of the US Congress. He has been a guest speaker and served on panels at various industry and trade organizations. Mr. Rao was featured as America’s Top Leaders in the Travel Industry in 1998, and one of his operating companies (Maupintour) received a World’s Best award by Travel & Leisure magazine in 1999. Mr. Rao has served on several Boards. As an investor and advisor, he has served on the boards of NewNet Investment Group LLC, (NewNet Communications Technologies LLC), Media Market Group, LLC (HotelReservations.com) TRM Copy Centers, LLC, PAS Technologies, Inc. and Fastech Integrated Technologies LLC prior to the sale of these companies.