Q:Where is your hometown?
A:I was born and raised in Mumbai, the financial capital of India.
Q:What did you study at D'Amore-McKim and what is your graduation year?
A:I was a full-time MBA student, and my specialization is in supply chain. I graduated in 2018.
Q:What did you do in your corporate residency? What were your responsibilities? How did you impact the business?
A:My first corporate residency was with the logistics strategy and supply chain analytics team at Staples. I assembled the financial business case for a delivery strategy project geared towards reducing delivery lead time by 80%. In addition, I developed an approach for estimating labor hours for a new network strategy.
My second residency was with the global procurement services team at State Street. I was involved in end-to-end services procurement processes including market research for identifying potential service providers; RFX development, execution and vendor evaluation for legal, IT consulting and HR services with total estimated amount of $100M+. For driving procurement process improvements, I designed and launched a preferred vendor program and then worked with each category manager for its implementation. In addition, I drove furlough a program for approximately 4,800 contractors, resulting in multi-million-dollar savings.
Q:What skills did you build at D'Amore-McKim that you are using in your corporate residency or will use in your future career?
A:The first year of the program is rigorous, to say the least, but it prepared me so well in multi-tasking that I am able to handle multiple projects with ease during my corporate residency.
The global consulting project with IBM in São Paulo, Brazil offered me the hands on experience of acclimating in a different corporate and country environment quickly, and applying my skills in diverse settings.
Knowledge gained about procurement best practices at the school has helped me enormously while working on developing a preferred vendor program as well as RFXs. Technology orientation achieved through various classes helped me in self-learning SQL when my job demanded the same.
Q:What was the biggest take-away from working toward your MBA at Northeastern? What can you do today that you couldn't do before you started your MBA?
A:The D'Amore-McKim School of Business has helped me in developing the fundamental mindset of asking the right questions, identifying the issues, and applying the knowledge to find the best possible solutions.
Q:What was your most valuable experience?
A:Corporate residency at State Street was my most valuable experience so far. This residency gave me an opportunity to work on multiple important projects and deal with the highly-ranked people (senior vice presidents and above) across different business units. Driving most of these projects helped me exhibit my capabilities and contribute to the organization significantly. This experience prepared me in the best possible manner for working in corporate America.
Q:Why did you choose D'Amore-McKim?
A:A deep look at the D'Amore-McKim MBA program structure had assured me that this program truly incorporates experiential learning. Coming with over four years of previous experience, it was an extremely important consideration for me. Corporate residency with reputed, Fortune 500 employers was one of the biggest strengths of the program. In addition, I was also impressed by the efforts taken by the school in ensuring cultural/background diversity of the cohort, with students coming from different parts of the world and with varied backgrounds.
Q:What would you say to a prospective student considering D'Amore-McKim for their business degree?
A:If you plan to acquire not only theoretical knowledge but also develop a tested ability to apply that knowledge to the real world, then D'Amore-McKim is the place for you.
With the completion of three-quarters of my course, I could not have been more convinced about the experiential component offered by the program. Apart from corporate residency, the program offers many other experiential learning opportunities including the global project course, executive luncheons, networking events and field visits through various student clubs. However, the best part of the program and the school is its advancing nature. The school continues to find ways of making the already well-polished program better each year, which is a great sign for prospective students.
Q:Where do you see yourself in 5 – 10 years?
A:I see myself leading major business operations in a global corporation with senior leadership position.
Q:How has D'Amore-McKim helped you to become more?
A:D'Amore-McKim has pushed and supported me to look beyond the curriculum. The graduate newsletter issued every week keeps me updated on interesting events/ competitions taking place, such as two intercollegiate competitions I participated in (National Association of Business Economics Brandeis University Chapter – Second prize; 1st Northeast Supply Chain Online Competition organized by Institute of Supply Management Greater Boston Inc. – First prize). These competitions have helped me in not only competing with students from different universities but to further develop my ability to think out of the box!