Mahesh Shetty, a Naveen Jindal School of Management 1999 alumnus of the Executive MBA program, has been named a 2019 Minority Business Leaders Award honoree.
The Dallas Business Journal presents the awards annually to business leaders of diverse ethnic backgrounds who have a record of excellence in the workplace and in advocacy for others in their communities. The awards will be presented February 12 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Dallas.
Shetty is president and chief financial officer of SG Blocks Inc., which designs innovative container-based structures. Founded in 2007, the company uses code-engineered cargo shipping containers to construct and provide safe, strong and green structures.
Shetty also serves on the board of directors of the company and led the company’s initial public offering in June 2017. He also serves on the board of EZlytix LLC, a private, cloud-based business-intelligence software company.
“My career has been a blend of the things I enjoy, real estate, technology and manufacturing,” said Shetty, who is a certified public accountant, certified IT professional and chartered global management accountant. “In my role at SG Blocks, I am able to combine all of those things.”
He is proud of the fact that the company is diverse and sees that as a strength. “That will continue to grow as we grow,” he said, “and we are working to add more women and minorities at the board level.”
Shetty, who has served on JSOM’s executive education advisory council and the graduate accounting advisory board, describes the growth and changes at JSOM since his time as a student there as incredible. “One reason I chose the school was because the professors were all so approachable,” he said. “I had a finance background, but not so much in things like marketing and organizational behavior. I needed to re-program my brain, and attending UT Dallas helped me develop a wider network and gain a broader perspective.”
“Mahesh has been an involved alum,” said Dr. Diane McNulty, JSOM’s associate dean for external affairs and corporate development. “He was active in the campus ‘Realize the Vision’ campaign to raise $200 million. And at the Jindal School, I know, if we need assistance with the EMBA program, we can count on him.”
Shetty’s contributions to the Dallas-Fort Worth community have extended beyond the business community. He served as treasurer and chairman of the finance committee on the board of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). He is a past chairman of the US India Chamber of Commerce DFW and currently serves on the executive board. In addition, he serves on the board of the Dallas chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI).
“Mahesh is deeply involved in the Dallas business community. But he uses his talents to help Dallas community groups and he has been a mentor for other startup companies,” said Neel Gonuguntla, a member of the advisory board of JSOM’s Center for Global Business; vice chair, Erik Jonsson School of Engineering Executive Council at UT Dallas; and president of the US India Chamber of Commerce DFW. “He has left an indelible mark on our community, and he is very deserving of the Minority Business Leader Award.”
The University of Texas at Dallas will be well represented at the Minority Business Leaders Awards presentation. Also among this year’s honorees are Ana Rodriguez, former director of development and alumni relations at JSOM, and currently director of the Latino Leadership Initiative at SMU Cox School of Business; and Dr. Alicia Makaye, who received her PhD in public affairs from at UT Dallas, and is co-founder of GXA Network Solutions.
