Ankit Desai ‘06
Outstanding Young Alumnus

Ankit Desai honored with Outstanding Young Alumnus Award

ATHENS, GA— Ankit Desai is the founder and CEO at Snafu Records, a 21st century music company based in Los Angeles, California and Stockholm, Sweden. Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Ankit moved to the US after high school and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Grady College at The University of Georgia. He completed his Master’s degree at The Stockholm School of Economics, where his love for music turned from hobby into profession.

Ankit worked as a digital strategist at the world’s largest record label, Universal Music Group, and was instrumental in running global marketing campaigns for superstars ranging from Avicii to Shawn Mendes to Paul McCartney. This was his ticket to Hollywood, and he was offered a role at the iconic Capitol Records group in Los Angeles. While there, he worked on artist’s projects like Katy Perry, Sam Smith, and Halsey.

In 2018, Ankit decided to start his own record label – Snafu Records. Snafu’s uniqueness lies in using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify future superstar artists. In just a few short years, the label has raised $10 million and racked up hundreds of millions of listens among the artists it represents.

Among other accolades, Ankit has been named a ‘Supertalent Under 40’ by one of Sweden’s largest business magazines, a Top 20 Music Executive Under 30 by the Nordic Music Business, and one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Europe.

The Phi Kappa Theta Foundation is pleased to recognize Brother Desai with its Outstanding Young Alumnus Award. The Outstanding Young Alumnus award was established in 2014 to recognize Brothers under the age of 35 who have exemplified the ideals of Phi Kappa Theta in their careers and in service to society.