Previous Occupation: Programmer Analyst, Infosys Technologies Ltd
Present Occupation: Vice President – Sales, Equipment Finance, GE Capital Services India
Sector: Corporate Finance
Work Experience: 9.5 Years
Interests – Professional/Personal: Health and Fitness, Long drives and partying with friends and family.

Tell us about yourself - your profile, recap your professional life after ISB including your career progression.
Post ISB, I joined GE Capital in India under the Experienced Commercial Leadership Programme (ELCP). This allowed me to experience four different business functions within the same business vertical.

I started off with the Aviation Financial Services in Mumbai, which looks at funding of commercial aircraft for airlines. I was then rotated to Corporate Lending, first on the sales team, then to the Credit Underwriting Team. For my fourth and final rotation, I moved into the marketing team at Gurgaon. In marketing, I worked mainly on the New Product Introduction (NPI) initiatives.

I worked in these various roles over a two-year period, where I underwent training at our global centers along with the class of 124 global ECLPs. I was also involved in many global projects with multiple ECLP members across the world. Today, I represent the India Alumni community on a global team and provide program inputs and mentoring to new recruits.

Post the ECLP programme, I got an opportunity to work with the strategic initiatives team, where we looked at establishing new lines of businesses for the company. One of the businesses we worked upon and successfully launched was Equipment Leasing and GE Capital Fleet Services. We spent six months building a proper business case for the platform, which was approved by the end of the year in 2009.

Within six months of my ECLP graduation, I joined as a regional sales leader for Leasing and GE Fleet Services for western India.

What was your key take-away from the ISB?
Before ISB, I felt I had a limited view of what I can do with my career. Having worked with Infosys for 5.5 years, I had great exposure to IT and Finance but was missing the breadth of experiences outside of my domain. Not surprisingly, there was a surprise waiting for me at the ISB. ISB had so much more to offer than I could ever imagine. The class and the atmosphere were supercharged, with extremely passionate people undertaking many initiatives. It was definitely a very valuable lesson in filtering out noise from the environment and prioritizing my time. These lessons came very handy at my programme at GE Capital.

As an ECLP, I had to balance local business expectations with global program directives. I also was not only working on projects at the local level, but also had to multi-task on non-business projects with global significance. Identifying what is right for you while managing expectations of those around you was key to success.

ISB also polished my ability to talk to and network with people at various levels and functions. I interacted with people from across the industry and experience – Finance, Marketing, Sales, Consulting etc., and gained from my interactions with such a diverse group of people. My ability to build a network at ISB is what I leveraged upon to build a solid network while at the ECLP programme.

How do you think the ISB has contributed to your career growth?
Two things that I developed while at ISB were a stronger sense of self-belief, and the practice of following my heart. Self-belief has helped me stay grounded during the highs and tide through the lows. By following my heart, I am able to push past the mental barriers and get into action without fear or confusion. It is better to act and fail rather than not act and see opportunities go by.

What is your vision for the School?
I would like ISB to be a leader and motivator for others to bring a change in our Indian education system. Currently, in India, a lot of emphasis is given to rote learning with a lack of focus on experiential/developmental education. We are at the cusp of a large change movement and ISB should take steps in leading the thought process. ISB should also leverage the Industrial connect a lot better to source better opportunities for students to gain experience while on campus and hone their talents.

One specific example will be to utilize the ELPs in a way that the students take out a month, to focus on strong Industry relevant projects. The ELP must be more flexible so that we can devote proper time to the project and meet industry requirements.

What are the strengths that the School can leverage upon and areas it can improve?
The way the School reacts to feedback and suggestions is very commendable. I have not seen any other school take so much pain in gathering feedback and acting upon the feedback received. This is testimony to ISB’s dynamic culture. On the improvement aspect, as discussed above, industry connect should improve.

How do you think alums can associate with the School or alum’s role in building the School?
I think the alums are doing a lot at the moment. They not only talk to the industry and community-at-large about ISB but also stay in touch with the School by helping out with exercises such as recruitments, ELPs etc. I think alums are doing enough out there.

What is the area you can contribute in?
Besides being involved in the above-mentioned activities, I am part of the Mumbai chapter which organizes initiatives that promote connect within the alumni community. We also ensure that the School is updated on what members of the alumni community are doing. I would like to continue engaging and growing this channel to other global schools, who have chapters in India. This will give the ISB Alumni a window into a wider global community of MBA graduates and school initiatives.

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