A regular columnist in Venture Capital Journal, Chiruvolu is widely recognized as a thought leader in the venture capital industry. Currently, he serves as Venture Partner at GKM Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on investments in expansion-stage technology companies located in the Western U.S. From June 2000 through June 2005, he was Managing Director of Charter Venture Capital, a $150 million early stage technology and life science fund. Previously, Chiruvolu was a Principal at Alta Partners, a $225 million technology and life sciences fund. Prior to Alta, he held operating positions at Peapod, where from July 1996 to October 1998, he served as General Manager of Online Services and Director of Business Development. Before that, Chiruvolu was in the Strategic Planning group at Ameritech, where he was nominated for the Chairman's Award,which is reserved for the ten top performers, in the Wireless Infrastructure group at Motorola, andthe Systems Integration group at Mitre Corporation. Chiruvolu also spent two years as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company in Washington DC. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Minor in Economics from MIT,and a MS in Engineering (specialization in robotics and control systems) from MIT.