President, Ohio Collaborative Learning Solutions (Cleveland, Ohio)
Anand “Bill” Julka was appointed as a non-voting community member of the Cleveland State University Board of Trustees on June 28, 2011, by then Chairman Ron Weinberg. He served on the board until June, 2016.
Prior to his appointment to the governing board of the university, he served a number of years on the Visiting Committees of the College of Education and Human Services, as well as the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Most recently, he has served as an officer and member of the Board of Directors of the Cleveland State University Foundation Inc.
Julka has more than 30 years of experience in the information technology services industry. He started his own technology business in 1983 after leaving a very successful career as a senior industrial engineer at Eaton Corp.
He is the owner and president of OCLSI a regional computer systems integration company. Earlier he started and sold Smart Solutions Inc., which had grown to more than 100 employees in four offices in Cleveland, Canton, Columbus and New Delhi with value-added information technology sales over $30 million. Smart Solutions, headquartered in Cleveland, was a leading provider of systems integration and networking solutions across the United States and in 20 countries around the world.
Julka is a 1974 graduate of Cleveland State University’s Fenn College of Engineering with a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering. He has an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.
In 2001, Gov. Bob Taft appointed Julka to the Management Improvement Commission for the Ohio Lottery, which was recognized for its contribution to government improvement. Among his awards and recognitions are the President’s Club award for being an outstanding franchisee of MicroAge for six years, and a triple recipient of the Weatherhead 100 Award as the president of one of the fastest-growing companies in Northeast Ohio and making a positive contribution to the economy of the area. He was nominated in 2003 and 2004 as a finalist for the Northeast Ohio Entrepreneur of The Year Award sponsored by Ernst and Young. In 2005, he received award as the Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2010, Julka and his wife, Dr. Neeraj Julka, donated $6 million for scholarships to Cleveland State University, which represented the largest single gift in the 46-year history of the University at that time. The new College of Education and Human Services building was named Julka Hall in recognition of their generosity.