Sandilya Vadapalli
Class of 2005


 

Tell us a little about your family background/ history. How has it influenced you?
I was brought up in Hyderabad, in fact quite close to ISB, in Jubilee Hills. My father was a senior civil servant and mom an english teacher – both are now retired. A typical middle-class upbringing meant a focus on values like integrity and authenticity along with a strong work ethic and a can-do spirit. My wife Aarti is also an ISB alum (class of 2004). We have two daughters, aged 6 yrs and 15 months.

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards).
Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum (2009) - A cohort of around 20 people selected each year from different walks of life, public policy, non-profit, corporate, academia and others working on projects related to some of the most pressing problems facing society today along with classroom trainings at Wharton, INSEAD, Columbia and other top institutes.
Helios Fellow at British Petroleum (2005 ) – A batch of 10 people selected each year from the top B-schools in the world on a fast track leadership program. This was my campus placement at ISB. Two policy and finance publications on the Energy sector published by the World Economic Forum
One patent filed in GE. Apart from these, there have been various in-company awards and recognitions at GE, BP and earlier at Satyam (pre-ISB) that most ISB-grads must be getting in their roles.

Tell us about your profile prior to attending ISB and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
My work experience doesn’t fit into any neat boxes, by industry or by function. It was not by design and the dots don’t always connect, even in hindsight. If at all there is a common thread it is one of setting up new businesses or units. Living in six countries, working in five industries and taking on multiple roles over the years have made it a fun journey so far.
I worked for seven years after my engineering and before ISB. I started at Schlumberger in Gurgaon as a manufacturing engineer running a production line for two years. Then I switched lanes to software and worked at Satyam for five years as a project leader and solution architect and was involved in both delivery as well as sales of IT projects. I worked in Chennai, Singapore, Sydney and Hyderabad. It was at the height of the IT services boom and I got multiple opportunities to travel, work in new places, set up new projects and customer accounts and lead large teams.

Then I came to ISB.

Post ISB, my first stint was everything that one hoped for while on campus and more, new challenges, increasing responsibility, fantastic colleagues and a great environment. I joined British Petroleum in London from campus and did strategy projects in the first year and led commercial initiatives in the second. Being the commercial lead for BP’s oil and gas deals (going up to ~1bn) and capital projects (in the range of ~$500m) apart from working on multiple strategic initiatives presented at the board level was a new and exciting experience for me. Then, I led a global cross-functional team to develop the business case to start a new emerging markets business. The business case was approved and I moved to Hanoi, Vietnam to set up and run the P&L and my stint as the MD of the business remains one of my most cherished experiences. I worked closely with the late Prof.C.K.Prahlad during my BP stint and to this day it is a personal highlight for me.

My risk appetite had increased and I changed tracks. I quit BP and while still being based in Hanoi, started my own software and market analytics business along with my wife. This did not work out as planned, but not for a second do I regret following my convictions and taking the plunge.

The track changed a bit again when I was selected for the 2009 cohort of the Global Leadership Fellows program at the World Economic Forum and went to Geneva, to work on their energy sector programs for a couple of years. From a life experience point of view, it was a deeply enriching experience. Working in a non-profit think tank had a profound and lasting impact on my views on what career and success means. It is a very non-corporate view of the world. The diversity of the people who were in the program and what they have gone on to do is difficult to describe in a few lines. For my projects, interviewing, briefing and working with many people who can make a difference to society is an experience that will stay with me. The relationships formed there will remain lifelong.

I returned to India and corporate life after three years in 2011 to set-up the Oil & Gas upstream equipment business for GE in India, based in Gurgaon. I lead a small team of specialist sales managers and work with multiple global hubs. We work on product-lines that GE has brought together through acquisitions in the last five years. Participating for the first time and winning in the Indian market for these products and solutions is something we are proud of. Today we have an established business with a steady topline and a great pipeline of deals coming up. I also led a couple of innovation projects, one of which resulted in us filing a patent

How do you think your time at ISB has contributed to your career and personal growth?
ISB definitely changed the orbit of my career by exposing me to great opportunities starting with my campus job. The opportunity to work on large cross border deals, starting new businesses, corporate strategy assignments, contributing in think-tanks and front-line sales roles have all come through ISB. On the personal level, ISB helped complete me as a professional, gave a network of accomplished friends. Even in 2011 when I wanted to return to India, I found my current job through a posting in the ISB alumni mails.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
The thrill of closing a deal or winning a tender makes this role tick. I like the opportunity to put it into action the strategies we develop. I also enjoy the professionalism in GE and the clarity in the job, where performance doesn’t have to be claimed or explained, it is apparent. The opportunity to set up this business for GE in India from scratch has been both challenging and rewarding.

What is the next new thing in the industry or vertical you are working in? Are there any trends that you can identify?
The energy industry is undergoing massive change globally, renewable prices are dropping and the shale oil & gas revolution is fundamentally altering hydrocarbon economics. One thing that often goes unnoticed is that the innovation, pace of change and technological advances in the energy sector, especially in North America to exploit difficult oil & gas reserves are as dramatic and impactful on the economy as any other business. The pace of change in India unfortunately is not where it needs to be.

What was the main highlight or most memorable aspect of your programme at the ISB?
The ELP Project with Google, economics classes, chilling and ‘gyan sessions’ in the common areas - apart from getting married at the end of my first term in ISB!

If you could offer a word of advice to the current class at ISB, what would it be?
ISB is an investment for the next many years of your life and career. Look at the long term. A substantial number of people come in with fixed notions of what success is or what they should do. A little bit of flexibility and keeping an open mind may lead to opportunities that were not planned for and which are probably not as risky as imagined. A lot of leaps of faith in my career choices have happened because I took the opportunities that came my way and were not necessarily planned.

How do you feel you can contribute to ISB?
Information sessions, interviews, mentoring, if possible.


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