Neville Roy Singham
Neville Roy Singham (born 1954) is an American businessman and self-identified socialist activist who founded the information technology consulting firm ThoughtWorks in 1993 and served as its chairman until selling the company for $785 million in 2017.[1][2][3] After relocating to Shanghai, China, Singham has directed tens of millions of dollars from his fortune toward funding left-of-center nonprofits and media entities, such as Code Pink—co-founded by his wife Jodie Evans—and The People's Forum, which promote anti-capitalist, anti-American, and pro-Chinese government viewpoints, including defenses of the Chinese Communist Party's policies on issues like Xinjiang and COVID-19 origins.[2][4][5] These activities have drawn scrutiny from U.S. congressional investigations alleging that Singham's network functions as a conduit for Chinese Communist Party influence operations, funneling undisclosed foreign funds to U.S.-based groups engaged in protests against Israel, immigration enforcement, and domestic policing.[4][6][7]Early Life and Education
Family Background and Upbringing
Neville Roy Singham was born on May 13, 1954, in the United States, to parents of diverse international origins.[8] [9] His father, Archibald Wickeramaraja Singham, was a political scientist born in Burma (now Myanmar) to Sri Lankan parents, who later became a professor of political science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, specializing in Caribbean politics and anti-imperialist scholarship with left-leaning perspectives.[2] [10] His mother was Cuban, contributing to a multicultural household influenced by Third World leftist ideologies.[11] [12] Singham's upbringing occurred primarily in Connecticut and New York, environments shaped by his father's academic career and activism, which exposed him from an early age to radical political discourse.[9] [2] Archibald Singham's work emphasized critiques of Western imperialism and support for non-aligned movements, fostering an atmosphere of ideological engagement in the family.[13] Singham has a sister, Shanti Singham, whose own professional ties later extended to academic roles in China, reflecting enduring family connections to global leftist networks.[14] This familial immersion in far-left politics, including exposure to Maoist and socialist ideas through his father's circles, laid the groundwork for Singham's lifelong commitments, though he later channeled them through entrepreneurial rather than purely academic avenues.[11] [15] Archibald Singham passed away on March 13, 1991, after decades of influencing progressive scholarship.[16]Academic Pursuits and Initial Activism
Singham attended the University of Michigan, earning a degree there in 1971.[17] He subsequently studied at Howard University from 1976 to 1978, obtaining a bachelor's degree in political science.[2][16][10] His academic background was shaped by familial influences, as Singham was the son of Archibald Singham, a Sri Lankan-born political scientist known for Marxist scholarship and affiliations with leftist institutions.[2][18] This environment fostered an early exposure to socialist ideologies, though specific student-led political activities during his university years remain undocumented in available records. Following his education, Singham engaged in initial activism through manual labor in auto and steel factories in Detroit and Chicago during the late 1970s and early 1980s.[19][20] These experiences immersed him in working-class environments, aligning with his self-described socialist orientation and reflecting a commitment to proletarian causes amid deindustrialization and labor unrest in the U.S. Rust Belt.[2] This phase preceded his transition to technology consulting, marking the foundational period of his political involvement.Professional Career
Entry into Technology Sector
After graduating from Howard University with a degree in economics, Singham entered the technology sector as a software engineer, working in the field for several years during the late 1970s and 1980s.[21][3] This period followed manual labor roles in auto and steel factories in Detroit and Chicago, reflecting a shift from industrial work to emerging computing roles amid the growing demand for software development expertise.[19] Specific employers or projects from this phase remain undocumented in public records, though his technical experience laid the groundwork for entrepreneurial ventures in IT consulting. By the early 1990s, Singham had accumulated sufficient domain knowledge to launch his own firm, marking a pivotal transition from employee to founder in the burgeoning software industry.[22]Founding and Expansion of Thoughtworks
Neville Roy Singham established Thoughtworks in 1993 in Chicago, Illinois, as an information technology consulting firm focused on custom software development, design, and delivery services.[21][3][23] The company originated from Singham's prior experience as a software engineer and his efforts to build a team emphasizing innovative technology solutions.[24] Under Singham's direction as founder and chairman, Thoughtworks pursued aggressive international expansion, establishing a presence in multiple countries and developing expertise in agile software methodologies that positioned it as a global consultancy leader.[1][3] The firm grew its client base to include major corporations, prioritizing scalable software engineering practices.[25] Revenue and headcount expanded markedly in the early 2000s; by 2003, annual revenues had reached $50 million, sustained by a workforce of 425 employees.[25] This period marked sustained operational scaling, with the company leveraging its agile-focused model to secure contracts in diverse sectors and extend operations beyond the United States.[1]Exit from Corporate Leadership
In August 2017, Neville Roy Singham, founder and chairman of Thoughtworks, sold the company to London-based private equity firm Apax Partners for $785 million.[26][24] At the time of the transaction, Thoughtworks operated with approximately 4,500 employees across 15 countries and specialized in agile software development and digital transformation services.[24] The sale marked Singham's divestment of his majority ownership stake, which he had held since founding the firm in 1993.[27] Singham had transitioned from CEO to executive chairman in March 2007, when Trevor Mather assumed the CEO role, allowing Singham to focus more on strategic oversight amid the company's global expansion.[28] The 2017 deal enabled his full exit from operational leadership, with official records noting his cessation as a person with significant control over the UK entity by October 12, 2017.[29] Singham cited a desire to leave the business world, stating, “I wanted to get out of the business world,” shortly after his marriage to activist Jodie Evans earlier that year, redirecting his efforts toward philanthropic and ideological pursuits.[24][27] Post-sale, Apax retained control until taking Thoughtworks public via an IPO on the Nasdaq in September 2021, but Singham had no further executive involvement.[28] Reports of his continued listing as an officer in the company's Chinese subsidiary, Thoughtworks Beijing, as late as June 2025 in government records, appear inconsistent with the divestment timeline and may reflect administrative delays or inaccuracies in foreign filings rather than active leadership.[30]Ideological Commitments
Maoist and Socialist Influences
During his youth in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Singham joined the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, a Detroit-based group that blended Black nationalism with Maoist ideology, advocating for worker control of factories and drawing inspiration from Mao Zedong's emphasis on peasant and proletarian revolution.[2] This affiliation reflected his early radicalization amid the era's labor unrest in the automotive industry, where the group organized wildcat strikes and published literature promoting Maoist principles of anti-imperialism and self-reliance.[2] Singham has maintained a longstanding admiration for Maoism, the communist framework that propelled China's 1949 revolution, viewing it as a model for transformative social change through mass mobilization and ideological purity.[24] He has publicly praised Maoist-influenced governance, such as Venezuela's policies under President Hugo Chávez, which he lauded for redistributive economics and anti-U.S. stances aligned with Third World socialism.[24] This affinity extends to his self-identification as a socialist committed to revolutionary causes, influencing his later funding of organizations promoting Marxist internationalism and critiques of capitalism.[2][24] His ideological commitments emphasize proletarian internationalism and anti-imperialist struggle, echoing Mao's theories of protracted people's war adapted to global contexts, as seen in his support for groups framing contemporary conflicts in class-war terms.[2] Singham's relocation to Shanghai in the 2010s further immersed him in an environment where Maoist legacies persist in official rhetoric, though he frames his views through a lens of independent socialist praxis rather than uncritical endorsement of contemporary Chinese state policies.[24] Critics, including U.S. congressional investigations, have noted these influences as underpinning his financing of entities that propagate narratives of Western decline and revolutionary upheaval, though Singham attributes his positions to empirical analysis of capitalist contradictions.[31][2]Advocacy for Revolutionary Causes
Singham's early advocacy for revolutionary causes traces to his involvement with the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, a Black nationalist-Maoist organization in Detroit during the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a teenager, he joined the group, which aimed to radicalize autoworkers through strikes and ideological agitation against capitalist exploitation in the auto industry, including work at a Chrysler factory.[2] [15] Identifying as a socialist, Singham has long admired Maoism, the revolutionary ideology that propelled the Chinese Communist Party's 1949 victory and emphasized peasant-led class struggle and anti-imperialism.[24] This commitment shaped his post-2017 philanthropy after selling Thoughtworks for approximately $785 million, redirecting wealth toward groups espousing revolutionary socialism and critiques of global capitalism.[24] He has channeled millions into the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a Marxist-Leninist party founded in 2004 that advocates proletarian revolution to dismantle capitalism, nationalize industries, and establish a socialist state, while organizing protests against U.S. foreign policy.[32] PSL, described as Singham's primary backed entity, has mobilized demonstrations including anti-war rallies and responses to events like the 2023-2024 Gaza conflict.[33] Through entities like The People's Forum, established in 2017 in New York City, Singham supports educational programs and events promoting Marxist theory, anti-capitalist organizing, and solidarity with global socialist movements, hosting figures aligned with revolutionary ideologies.[34] His network also funds Code Pink, co-founded by his wife Jodie Evans in 2002, which pursues anti-imperialist campaigns often framed in revolutionary terms against U.S. militarism.[35] These efforts prioritize narratives of systemic overthrow, drawing from Maoist principles of protracted people's war adapted to contemporary activism, though primarily executed via nonprofit channels rather than direct leadership roles.[24]Philanthropic and Funding Activities
Creation of Nonprofit Networks
Following the 2017 sale of his software company ThoughtWorks for $785 million, Neville Roy Singham established a network of nonprofits to finance socialist activism, political education, and media projects aligned with his ideological commitments.[24] These entities, often structured as grant-making pass-throughs, channeled tens of millions in donations to support groups promoting anti-capitalist narratives, wealth redistribution, and defenses of policies associated with the Chinese government.[36] By 2019, the network included at least a dozen organizations operating across the United States, Europe, and Asia, with minimal public footprints beyond tax filings.[32] A central vehicle was the Justice and Education Fund, incorporated on May 1, 2018, as a 501(c)(3) entity focused on "wealth equity" through grants for curriculum development, popular education schools in Latin America, Africa, and the U.S., and left-leaning social media content.[37] Singham directed substantial funding into it, including over $20 million via donor-advised funds like the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund in 2018 and 2019, enabling disbursements such as $8.33 million to the United Community Fund and nearly $900,000 to the People's Welfare Association.[37] Tax records show the fund's revenue reached $20.7 million in 2022, primarily from contributions tied to Singham's wealth.[38] Complementing this, Singham supported the United Community Fund, a 501(c)(4) advocacy group formed in New York in 2019, which functioned as a fiscal sponsor and grant distributor for progressive causes.[39] In its inaugural year, it reported $39.9 million in revenue—almost entirely from grants—and expended $38.3 million, including $3 million to The People's Forum and $700,000 to the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research.[39] The fund's executive director, Franziska Kleiner, previously worked at ThoughtWorks, linking it operationally to Singham's prior ventures.[39] This structure allowed rapid scaling, with subsequent years showing diminished activity after initial outflows.[40] These nonprofits interconnected to form a broader apparatus, funding entities like The People's Forum—a Manhattan-based organization that received over $20 million from Singham and his wife Jodie Evans—and initiatives such as No Cold War, a collective opposing Western criticism of China.[5][24] Congressional probes have characterized the setup as a "dark money network" facilitating opaque transfers, with some groups registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act due to influence activities.[31] Independent analyses, including those from the George Washington University Program on Extremism, trace the network's expansion to Singham's post-sale philanthropy, emphasizing its role in sustaining activist infrastructure amid geopolitical tensions.[36]Financial Support for Media and Activist Groups
Neville Roy Singham has channeled tens of millions of dollars through U.S.-based nonprofits to support media outlets and activist organizations promoting socialist, anti-capitalist, and pro-China narratives. These funds, originating from his personal wealth after selling Thoughtworks shares, flow via entities like the Justice and Education Fund and United Community Fund, which have collectively disbursed at least $275 million to aligned groups since around 2017.[24][39] Singham has acknowledged providing money to such intermediaries but maintains it supports independent progressive journalism and activism, not foreign government directives.[24] Key recipients include The People's Forum, a Manhattan-based nonprofit described as a "political education and cultural hub" for Marxist organizing, which received over $20 million from Singham and his wife Jodie Evans between 2017 and 2023.[5][7] This funding supported events, publications, and training sessions critiquing U.S. foreign policy, including anti-Israel protests.[36] Similarly, Code Pink, an anti-war activist group co-founded by Evans in 2002, has obtained major donations from Singham, including at least $1.4 million, enabling campaigns against U.S. military interventions and NATO expansion.[41][42][7] Singham's support extends to international media, such as NewsClick, an Indian online portal, which received approximately $5 million in foreign contributions traced to networks involving Singham's associates from 2018 to 2021.[43] Indian authorities raided NewsClick in 2021 and filed charges in 2023, alleging the funds—funneled through U.S. and Chinese entities—promoted narratives favoring Beijing, including downplaying COVID-19 origins and supporting farmers' protests against government policies.[44][45] Singham denied fraudulent intent or Chinese Communist Party direction in a 2023 statement, asserting the contributions aided independent reporting on global inequalities.[46][47] Other funded entities encompass the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which organized anti-Israel demonstrations, and think tanks like Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, receiving multimillion-dollar grants for research critiquing Western imperialism.[32][6] Congressional probes, including by the House Oversight Committee in 2025, have scrutinized these transfers for potential foreign influence, noting overlaps with Chinese state media partnerships, though Singham's network operates under U.S. tax-exempt status without proven illegality.[4][7]| Organization | Estimated Funding from Singham Networks | Focus Areas |
|---|---|---|
| The People's Forum | Over $20 million (2017–2023) | Marxist education, anti-U.S. protests[5] |
| Code Pink | At least $1.4 million+ | Anti-war activism, opposition to U.S. foreign policy[42][41] |
| NewsClick | ~$5 million (2018–2021) | Pro-China narratives in India[43] |