Previous Occupation: 4 years in international trading / Infrastructure project management with Mitsui & Co.
Present Occupation: General Manager at Mylan Pharma
Sector: Pharma / Lifesciences
Work Experience: around 12 years
Interests – Professional/Personal: Reading (especially enjoy corporate biographies), music, meditation (reiki /yoga), travel, theatre and running

Tell us about yourself – your profile, recap your professional life after ISB including your career progression
Prior to ISB, I spent almost four years in international trading and project management at Mitsui. The work entailed trading of agri derivatives and machinery for infrastructure projects such as cold chain and solid waste management.

After ISB, I joined Lupin Pharma in their strategy group followed by a stint at TCG Lifesciences and currently I am working with Mylan Pharma in the Sourcing and Business Development function. As it is quite evident my roles / function and even Industry has been in marked contrast pre and post ISB.

The past eight years have exposed me to different facets of the pharma industry. At Lupin, I was screening, evaluating and negotiating in-licensing opportunities and undertaking valuation of the overall generic product pipeline. At TCG Lifesciences, I got a flavour for early stage drug discovery. The strategic planning responsibility included fund raising from domestic and global outfits for various projects such as RNA-interference project, developing plan for the incubator program and creating the operating model for the group’s foray into human tissue repository.

Currently at Mylan I have been part of the integration team post Mylan’s acquisition of Merck Generics. Since mid 2007, I have been extensively involved in the implementation of the multi-million dollar finished dosage projects for capacity enhancement, risk mitigation and synergy realization projects.

Key take-away from the ISB.
Of the various take-aways from ISB, I think one of the most valuable "armour" as I left the campus was an appetite for ambiguity – a sense that resources, outcomes and business landscapes will change and that I must adapt to it. The ISB experience may not have provided me with all the answers but I definitely developed the ability to ask the right questions
Specifically, I think ISB has provided me with ‘zoom’ capabilities: ‘Zoom in’ to understand the multiple tangible and intangible nuances at work and ‘zoom out’ to get the big picture.

But above all the most cherished take-away would be the lifelong friends that I made during the year which served as a tipping point for my career..

How do you think the ISB has contributed to your career growth?
The ISB experience has clearly changed the way I think and possibly the way I see the world now. It has simplified the complexities. In a world of whys, it gave me the courage to ask why not ?
However, I must confess that in almost every career field, you will be judged on your skills much more than your pedigree. As a matter of fact, I would be willing to bet that people would care more about how well I do my job, about how well I get along with my colleagues, about my leadership abilities, about my business sense, about my vision, about my ability to make more money for the company and ISB has given me the ammunition to do just that.
Joining ISB gave me enough acceleration and velocity to move into a completely different corporate orbit.

What is your vision for the School?
To be a leading global business school, ISB must be demand-oriented. It should undertake research that focuses on thought leadership and should work with the business world through lifelong learning networks Anybody can buy a textbook off the shelf and teach. But our faculty, which is on leading edge of research in business, should be looking ahead. The School should be known as the change agent for the change we all want to see in the global corporate world.
I would hope that ISB continues to be nimble enough to easily adapt to the changing needs of business and economy.

What are the strengths that the School can leverage upon and areas it can improve?
One of the greatest challenges is to leverage the budding alumni network so as to set up a virtuous circle that benefits all stakeholders of the school.
Alumni advocacy would be one of the greatest value creators for the school and for fellow alumni. Though various efforts from the alumni relations department are taking shape, it calls for a more cohesive support from us alums as well.

How do you think alums can associate with the School or alum’s role in building the School?
Simply by being there whenever the school needs you – for admissions, mentoring, placements or social events. Besides, there are many ways in which this microcosm of ISB’s strong social network can still work wonders for the alum’s personal and professional growth. So participate in the evolution of the school. It is very easy to sit back and comment on a cricket shot gone awry its time we land up on the crease ourselves.

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