Forty Under 40: T.J. Sangam

T.J. Sangam describes his arrival in Northwest Arkansas as a coincidence.

Born and raised in one of southern India’s largest cities, Sangam moved to the U.S. in 2006 to attend college at the University of Arkansas.

“They offered me more scholarship money than any of the other universities I applied to,” he explained.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering with a minor in physics and mathematics in 2010. With a focus on machine learning, he earned a master’s degree in computer science in 2014. With a preference for startups rather than large corporations, Sangam looked for a job in other areas of the U.S., where the landscape was more established.

“Luckily, that’s when I met Dan Sanker,” Sangam said.

Sanker, CEO of Fayetteville firm Case-Stack, a cloud-based supply chain management business, convinced Sangam to stay in Northwest Arkansas and offered him a job directing research for the company. One of Sangam’s projects spun off last year into its own business, called SupplyPike. It’s a suite of applications that helps consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies manage their supply chain.

“We give companies a holistic view of their supply chain, which we look at from all different angles,” said Sangam, who describes himself as a scientist at heart. “It’s an industry that has not changed a whole lot the past 20 or 30 years, so there’s a lot of room for disruption.”

With about 40 software engineers among a staff of 80, SupplyPike has the largest software engineering roster in Fayetteville, and counts some of the biggest CPG brands in the world among its clients.

Sangam believes SupplyPike is positioned well to potentially be Northwest Arkansas’ first technology IPO.

Away from work, Sangam is a passionate mentor for STEM K-12 outreach.