Previous Occupation: Systems engineer, Sun Microsystems and senior analyst, Goldman Sachs
Present Occupation: Vice president, Goldman Sachs
Sector: Finance
Work Experience: 8 years
Interests – Professional/Personal: Professional Interests: Finance and risk management;
Personal: Motorcycling for long distances

Can you tell us a little about your family background/history?
I grew up in Chennai and completed by Bachelors in engineering locally, before going to the US to pursue my Masters. I lived in the US for 8 years before returning to India for ISB. I’ve been married for 7 years now and have an 8-month old daughter.

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards\special projects)
I have been fairly academically oriented and most of my successes have come that way. Fellowship at my masters university, merit awards, scholarships and such. But getting the Torchbearer award at ISB for citizenship was pretty special.

Tell us about your profile pre ISB,  and recap your professional life after ISB including your career progression
Prior to ISB, I worked in Sun Microsystems as a techie for a few years before joining Goldman Sachs as a business analyst in their tech division. Post ISB, I moved to the business side within Goldman Sachs and have been focusing on building the team and expanding the division in the Bangalore office.

Describe your fondest memory at ISB
As part of the entrepreneurship class, there was a competition where we had to start and run a new business venture within ISB and show profit within a week. We sold roses, snacks, shakes, dry fruits… everything we could sell. I learnt how not to run a business after that experience! It was so exciting, every penny we earned felt great. Eighth semester was clearly the fondest “period” of memory - no pressure whatsoever, I enjoyed every moment of being at ISB during that time.

In your personal life, how have you changed post-ISB? Do you see yourself doing something differently because you went to ISB? What has left a lasting impression?
I think I have become a more “people” person after ISB. I have become more patient and am able to manage relationships better. I am more confident of my abilities and know my strengths and weaknesses better. ISB provided the time to reflect and I am now more self and socially aware.

How do you think ISB has contributed to your career growth?
My current role is very similar to what I did pre-ISB in the same organisation so clearly ‘job’ was not the end-goal for me from ISB. However what it did was provide me with a safe haven to try things I had never done before like starting a club, getting consensus, making mistakes and learning from it – kind of honed by leadership abilities. Corporate world does not offer us as many chances as you may get at a B-school and that’s what ISB exactly helped me with. Talking about learning new things, I even tried my hand at learning Spanish while at ISB.

If you have to sum up ISB in one word:
Sabbatical - a well utilised holiday!

What was the main highlight of your programme at the ISB?
Most of my friends and professional network was in the US, but having 500 odd friends in some of the best companies across the world and the personal and professional network it brings has been my biggest takeaway and main highlight of my year at ISB

Word of advice for the current class?
Honestly, it is easy for me to sit in a corporate office and give free gyan to the current class and it is going to be clichéd. Getting a job should not be the end goal at ISB. If you are doing something you are comfortable with and good at, you probably are not doing the right thing for your career. Get out of your comfort zone and try something you wanted to do but have not had the chance to do yet. Try different things, hone your skill set for the long term – the jobs will automatically come.

What was your favourite course/class at ISB and why?
Quite a few classes were my favourites. Professor Kale, Ram, Bubna, the NASA professor on managing complexity to name a few. I wish some of the India airlines took professor Kale’s class and studied the Southwest airlines example.

Was there anyone during your time at ISB who acted as a mentor for you? Tell us a little about this relationship and why it was valuable.
My friends at ISB were my mentors so to say. Given the frenetic pace of the programme, it is possible for anyone to get stressed and negative in approach. Having the right set of people around me, my friends and family kept me going and helped me stay positive at all times.

What are the areas that you can contribute in to ISB?
 I would love to be associated with the school in any way or form. Given my proximity to the Hyderabad campus, I come for mock interviews, resume sessions, electives gyan etc. Given there is a lot of interest in the finance space, I can mentor students on how to break into the sector. I would like to do career sessions as well as any technical learning series that helps students. Hopefully, once my team is stable and mature, I want to come back to campus for recruitment as well.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?          
The best part about my current job is the balance between management and hands-on functional expertise. You can call it entrepreneurial to the extent that I need to grow my team and division within the firm like I would grow my business. Working with talented people, managing their expectations, their career, growing the team and making it commercial; and actually rolling up your sleeves and getting down to hands-on work makes it exciting every single day.

What is the next new thing in the industry or vertical you are working in? Any trends that you can see?
Financial crisis, economic slowdown and regulatory reforms pretty much sum up the state of the financial services industry. What I can say is that it is not the first and it will not be the last such period. Successful firms will find ways to innovate and drive profitable businesses.

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