22 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • OCTOBER 2019
CORNER OFFICE
RAJ TECHNOLOGIES CEO RAJ MEHTA
THE PROBLEM SOLVER BY JAMES BERNSTEIN
When he came to the United States
from India in 1978, Raj Mehta knew
he had to make money, so he took a
minimum-wage job in the Washington,
D.C. suburbs before earning a
computer science degree from the
University of Maryland. He would
soon start his own company, Infosys
International in Plainview, now Raj
Technologies, with just a single computer
and a determination to succeed.
Your company was known as Infosys
International for some 30 years.
Now it’s Raj Technologies Inc.
What happened? We had to reach a
settlement with a big company, Infosystems
of India. We had to change
our name. There was no way we could
fight a $12 billion company.
Was the name change difficult for
you? It was definitely a lot of work.
People know who we are. We have
contracts with federal and state
governments. I have worked hard
for over 30 years and I’ve been using
this name all of that time. It’s going to
take some people time to adjust. All
of our contracts had to be renamed,
with the new name. But I also like Raj
Technologies.
Why did this big company do this
now? We asked this question. They
said, “So what? We came after you
when we did.”
What does Raj Technologies
actually do? We are an information
technology company and we
work primarily in the public sector
and for Fortune 500 companies.
What we do all depends on what
the client wants. They may want to
change their finance systems, or their
HR systems. This means they have to
change their software. So we go out
and do an analysis. We implement the
solutions they want.
Is the company profitable? We are
a privately held company so we don’t
disclose those figures. But we are a
healthy company with an excellent
reputation.
When did you come to this country?
In 1978, from India. I first
went to Maryland. I knew I had
to make money so I got a job as
an accounting clerk in Maryland.
I was making minimum
wage, about $5 an hour.
What happened
next? I went to
the University
of Maryland
and studied
c o m p u t e r
science. I
a l r e a d y
had two
bachelor’s
degrees
in India.
After I
graduated
Maryl
a n d ,
I joined
Sperry Corp. in
Virginia, working on
NASA programs. I worked
on a lot of different
government programs,
including for the U.S.
Air Force. I went out
and made the customer
happy.
How was the business
started? I started the
business in 1986. I had
four years of savings. If
I didn’t make money for
four years, it wouldn’t
have mattered.
How much were start-up costs? I
just had to buy a computer for myself.
I spent my time going out getting
clients. At that time, if somebody
offered me $500 I would do their job.
You need to grow. You want to establish
yourself. Money isn’t
important. I would
just say, “Give
me the work.”
When did
the company
start
to grow? I
would say
in the early
1990s. Until
then, I had only one or two people.
Business reports say the company
now has 65 employees. But we
remain basically a small, minority
owned company.
Are you finding it hard to hire
qualified people in this strong
economy? It is always hard to find the
right people to match your culture.
We are very family oriented here.
We don’t have set things for people
to do. Nobody says, “That’s not my
job.” When we hire people, we don’t
expect them to know everything. But
we do expect them to find the answer
to things.
You operate a television production
studio that broadcasts your own
show. Why? I started this six years
ago. It’s a public service from me.
I help a lot of people. I was
thinking, “How can I help
more people?” By having
my own show I can give
people knowledge. I
interview government
officials, political
figures. I once interviewed
a cardiac
surgeon. He described
the operating
room. That
was important
for people to
know.
What keeps
you up at
night? I think
of whatever
happened that
day. I say, “Okay,
this or that happened.
Let’s move on.” Then I
sleep well.
“When we hire people, we don’t expect them to
know everything. But we do expect them to find
the answer to things.”
Raj Mehta, CEO of
Plainview-based
Raj Technologies,
formerly known
as Infosys
International, was
honored as one of
the Kings of Long
Island in 2017.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
