Ravi Singh

Early life and education Singh was born and raised in Aurora, Illinois, to U.S. immigrant parents who came to the United States from India in the 1960s.

At the age of 14, Singh attended Marmion Military Academy in Aurora, Illinois where he was not allowed to wear his turban. Singh was allowed to wear his turban but was not allowed to participate in Army drills with his turban. He was expelled from the military school after he refused to remove his turban. Singh's parents went to U.S. Representative J. Dennis Hastert, to draft legislation where discrimination based on turbans would be declared illegal. He then graduated from Marmion Military Academy in 1990. Shortly after entering the academy, co-sponsored legislation introduced by Senator Paul Simon and Congressman Dennis Hastert and later signed by President Ronald Reagan, allowed him to graduate with his turban. During his time as student body president, he spoke at the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago. The district's population was only 2% Asian-American at the time. Singh gained the support of the owner of the local Domino's Pizza restaurant. Even though he did not win the elections, he landed on the position of administrative assistant for the Illinois Lt. Governor and State Treasurer.

He has served as a technology adviser for Nobel Prize Winner Juan Manuel Santos, the former Colombian President. He was invited to the 10th annual Art and Science of Public Affairs conference to discuss U.S politics. He has also served as an advisor to Enda Kenny, Prime Minister of Ireland (Center right candidate), and has assisted over 9 heads of states get elected using his software.

Tech entrepreneur In 2000, Singh founded ElectionMall™ Technologies, Inc., a non-partisan technology company headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Election influence and criminal conviction Singh founded ElectionMall Technologies in 1999. He realized after his loss in the Illinois State Legislature election that there was no company offering candidates any type of technology solution for fighting campaigns digitally.

ElectionMall, founded in 1999 a non-partisan campaign technology company in Washington, D.C., hit the headlines when a criminal complaint against its Founder and CEO Singh was unsealed, revealing that the Justice Department had charged him with illegally helping a foreigner to influence the election process in San Diego during the 2012 and 2013 election cycles through an independent political action committee. Singh was arrested 17 January 2014, and released on bail four days later. On 9 September 2016, a Federal Jury found Singh guilty on 4 felony counts related to a conspiracy to make contributions in a U.S. election on behalf of a foreign national. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and was quoted as saying "I've always wanted to serve my country, now I can't even vote"