2026 RPI Entrepreneur of the Year Award Celebration

The Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has named Ajit Prabhu ’98, co-founder and CEO of Quest Global, as the 2026 recipient of the William F. Glaser ’53 Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The honor recognizes his role in co-founding and leading Quest Global, a global engineering services company.

Established in 1990, the award honors RPI graduates who have achieved success as entrepreneurs and serve as role models for current students and aspiring entrepreneurs. The annual honorees share their career experiences with students.

The event is free and open to the public on October 21, 2026, from 1–3 p.m. in the EMPAC Theater on RPI’s campus. It will include an awards ceremony, a fireside chat with RPI President Marty Schmidt ’81, a startup pitch competition, and poster presentations by RPI students and faculty. Pitch and poster topics include products in healthcare, e-commerce, energy, and space technology.

“Ajit is an entrepreneur whose experience across diverse sectors reflects commitment to innovation and positive business impact,” said Eric Ledet, Director of RPI’s Severino Center. “We challenge our students to think big, and Ajit exemplifies this mindset with a passion for solving complex engineering problems.”

Ajit was an RPI student when he and his partner started Quest Global in 1997. Under his leadership, the company has grown to operate in more than 20 countries, with 104 delivery centers and more than 23,000 employees. Built on the principles of aspiration, humility, and hunger, Quest Global provides end-to-end engineering solutions for customers in aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, high-tech, medical device, rail, semiconductor, and communications industries.

“RPI is where my entrepreneurial journey began, and this recognition means a great deal to me,” said Prabhu. “We started Quest Global with a simple but powerful belief: that engineering can address complex challenges. I hope our story shows the next generation of engineers and founders that thinking big, staying humble, and never giving up is the only way to build something that truly matters.”