Sri Satish Ambati
Sri Satish Ambati | |
|---|---|
| Born | India |
| Education | University of Memphis (MS) |
| Occupations | Technology executive, entrepreneur |
| Known for | Co-founding H2O.ai and Platfora; advocating for democratization of AI |
| Title | CEO and Co-founder of H2O.ai |
Sri Satish Ambati is an Indian-American technology executive and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of H2O.ai, a company specializing in open-source artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning software. Prior to H2O.ai, he co-founded Platfora, a big data analytics company later acquired by Workday, Inc.[1]
Early life and education
Ambati was born in India.[2] He attended the University of Memphis, where he earned a Master of Science degree in Mathematics and Computer Science.[3] He later pursued academic sabbaticals focused on theoretical neuroscience at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.[1]
Career
Ambati's early career included engineering and leadership roles at several technology startups, including RightOrder, where he worked on NoSQL indexing, and Azul Systems, where he was a partner and performance engineer focused on Java scalability.[4] He also served as the director of engineering at DataStax.[1]
In 2011, Ambati founded Platfora, a company specializing in big data analytics tools for Apache Hadoop. Platfora was later acquired by Workday in 2016.[3]
In 2012, Ambati co-founded H2O.ai (originally 0xdata) with Cliff Click. Under his leadership as CEO, the company developed the H2O open-source platform, which became widely used for distributed machine learning.[1] He has advocated for the "democratization of AI," aiming to make machine learning tools accessible to non-experts through products like H2O Driverless AI.[2]
Philanthropy
During the Delta wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, Ambati spearheaded the "o2forindia.org" initiative. The project sourced and distributed oxygen concentrators to more than 200 public health organizations in rural and Tier 2 cities across India.[2][3]
Awards and recognition
- 2019: Named one of the "12 People to Watch" by Datanami[3]
- 2021: Named "AI Person of the Year" at the 5th Annual AI Achievement Awards.[5]
References
- ^ a b c d "Sri Ambati, CEO & Co-Founder at H2O.ai Biography". Rosenblatt Securities. Retrieved 2026-01-30.
- ^ a b c "Purpose-Driven AI: How Sri Ambati Leads H2O.ai Forward". The Key Executives. 2025-08-27. Retrieved 2026-01-30.
- ^ a b c d "Sri Ambati - IndiaAI". IndiaAI. Retrieved 2026-01-30.
- ^ Keynote by SriSatish Ambati - H2O World 2018 NYC. H2O.ai. 2018-06-21. Retrieved 2026-01-30.
- ^ "The 5th AI Award Winners". AI Awards. Retrieved 2026-01-30.