Anil K. Rathi
CEO & Founder
Anil founded Idea Crossing in 2002 with the vision to empower producers of skill-based competitions with the valuable tools and resources needed to run effective awards programs, incentive prizes and promotional challenges. Eight years ago, Anil created the Innovation Challenge® competitions, a franchise of university-based competitions that bring together global brands to solve real-world challenges. Companies such as Hilton Hotels, Google, IBM, American Express, Harley-Davidson, Shell and Whirlpool and foundations like The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have sponsored the competitions.
Anil is a recognized expert and has been featured in McKinsey & Company's report on philanthropic innovation prizes and numerous articles such as CNN Money, Business 2.0, Inc. Magazine, Chicago Tribune, MIT Innovations and books on the topic of innovation prizes and crowdsourcing. Anil graduated from the University of Wisconsin and received his MBA from Thunderbird-The School of Global Management.
Ryan Wilson
Chief Marketing Officer
Wilson formerly ran Global Alliances for the X PRIZE Foundation, the world’s preeminent prize institute. Prior to that, he helped start a global technology services and marketplace management software company called Marketworks. In 2007, the company was acquired by ChannelAdvisor. Ryan initially cut his teeth in advertising at HA-LO Industries, once the largest promotional agency in the world. There he designed and executed global promotional campaigns for Fortune 500 clients, which included activating sponsorships with NASCAR and the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney.
Wilson also serves on the board of advisors of the International Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Science and Technology (iFEST), a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating the rising generation of entrepreneurs across international borders. Ryan received his BA from Emory University and his MBA from Thunderbird's School of Global Management.
Denis KhooChief Technology Officer
Denis Khoo consulted X PRIZE Foundation with their online initiative for bringing the prize model to a broader audience. He assisted in formulating the strategic and technical vision for the online initiative, and performed fundraising presentations to lock in seed capital. Denis is also a Founder a social media platform that keeps business travelers connected in the physical world with their network, called Placely. Prior, Denis was the CTO at Market Wire where he worked with the CEO, Jim McGovern, to turn the company profitable. Market Wire was venture backed by Hummer Winblad, Sequoia Capital, Blue Chip Ventures, Osprey Partners, and STV. The company was sold to CCNMatthews, the dominant newswire in Canada, in April 2006. He was formerly a Software Architect at Ticketmaster, Project Lead for CitySearch’s personalization engine, QA Team Lead for NetDynamics, Architecture Designer and Development Lead for Health Alliance Plan, SAP Sapphire Conference Developer, performed QA for Broderbund Software’s Banner Blue Division, and provided Technical Support and Beta Testing for Software Ventures Corporation.
In 1997, Denis was inducted into the Smithsonian Institution for his work in pioneering extranet applications for Health Alliance Plan. In addition to being Patent Bar Certified by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Denis currently holds 20 patents of his own. Khoo received his B.A. in Computer Science from UC Berkeley with a minor in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business.
