Pratik Kothari, director of information technology for reQuire, is one of the youngest candidate for the Top 40 Under 40 Award. Although he started out as a computer programmer for reQuire — his very first job ever — he rose through the ranks quickly to become the IT director.

“Over the past three years, Pratik has been instrumental in the growth of reQuire,” said Robert Pleasants in nominating Kothari. “He has managed our research and development, in-house IT, project management, programming and field implementation. In the past three years reQuire’s on-line system has grown from 50 clients to nearly 600 which equates to approximately 3000 current individual users.”

Kothari’s original position with reQuire involved maintenance of legacy systems, networks and system administration and developing small in-house projects. He quickly took on the role of a senior computer programmer and started developing projects working for reQuire’s internal IT team, before being promoted to IT director.

“What makes Pratik outstanding is his grasp of the post closing aspect of the industry along with tremendous talent in every aspect of the information technology world,” Pleasants said.

My passion has always been to solve challenging problems in the most efficient manner. I have also been fascinated with computers since my childhood.

The beauty of my job is that when I get up in the morning, I am excited to get into my office. I know that every day, I am going to work on something totally different – whether its brainstorming on a new idea, improvise on an existing one, solve critical problems, or meet business clients It is also very satisfying when I see that the entire management team of reQuire™ understands the needs of IT and provide the right mix of freedom, appreciation, healthy work environment and trust to foster our ideas.



I get thrilled when I face a challenging task that involves new concepts, innovative ideas and more state-of-the-art technologies to learn. It’s very challenging to be a part of such a fast growing company as the responsibilities and expectations are enormous, but this is specifically what excites me the most.



As a professional in the technological field, my best advice would be to not just innovate but innovate to meet organizational goals. Innovate, because this is what keeps you miles apart from anyone else in your arena but attaining goals must be the ultimate objective of the innovation process.



I have been very lucky to learn from very talented people in different phases of my life. First and foremost, are my parents. They have taught me to work hard to achieve success and to never give up. I am very proud of the virtues that I have earned from them - loyalty, dedication to work and honesty. Also, Matthew Mizenko, a senior developer at Fotis Logic, Inc. has been a role model for his high morals, work ethics and discipline. Last, but not the least, Daniel R. Morris, president and CEO of reQuire™, has been very fundamental in my progress because of his enthusiasm, creativity and his motto of “Work Smarter, Not Harder”.



I am a task-oriented person. I can’t leave a task outstanding just because the clock hits 5.00 pm. To me, every task is personal and I strive to get it done as soon as possible without worrying about the time it takes.



The most inspiring speaker I have heard is Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the President of India. I got this opportunity when I attended technical meet at Indian Institute of technology, Mumbai, India. He did not reflect politics in any shape or form. He spoke with passion and conviction. He talked about achievable targets, not lofty goals. However, it was truly inspiring to hear the great man. His scientific approach touched a chord amongst the largely technical audience. This could well have been a CEO of a large corporation presenting his business plan and urging his employees to take the company to greater heights!



Given an opportunity, I would like to have lunch with Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American businessman, whose life embodied the American Dream; the immigrant who rose from rags to riches. One of his famous quotes is that to become rich you should put all your eggs in the same basket and watch that basket. He was a widely respected philanthropist who gave away most of his self-earned riches in the latter part of his life.



Not many people know that I enjoy playing pranks and I am very jovial at heart. At my work, I am very sincere and disciplined so this quality of mine doesn’t show up very often.



I was actively involved in several disaster relief operations in various tsunami affected areas in India. This has been the most fulfilling because I was able to help the needy, suffering from this disaster which was one of the worst that had happened in a long time on such a large scale.


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