Pradeep Anand came to Houston from Bombay in 1978. Born in 1950, his grandparents and ancestors were originally from Tamil Nadu. He attended a private Catholic school in his youth and trained as an engineer at Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT). Like his relative, Mr. Anand sought a scholarship for an advanced degree overseas and because his sister had moved to Houston, he applied to the University of Houston. He worked toward a PhD in business marketing but ultimately decided to graduate with a MBA in 1981. On campus, Mr. Anand was president of the Indian Students Association and was actively involved in Indian campus activities. After struggling through Houston’s economic recession in the early to mid-eighties, he founded Seeta Resources, a marketing strategy firm, in 1994. In 2006, Mr. Anand published a semi-autobiographical book, An Indian in Cowboy Country.