One of the advantages of attending The University of Texas at Dallas’ Naveen Jindal School of Management is the multitude of opportunities students are afforded to build and expand their professional networks beyond the campus limits and into the greater community. One such opportunity was presented recently when the Indian Institute of Technology Alumni Association of North Texas (IITNT) held its LETSTalk Conference Nov. 19 at the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center.
JSOM Alumna Gives Back
“UT Dallas has got this amazing pipeline of IIT alumni,” said Debjani Biswas, who earned a master’s degree in Organizational Strategy and International Management from the Jindal School in 1993. “This conference is a confluence of the pipeline. Some of the attendees and speakers studied at UT Dallas, teach at UT Dallas and have family members who study or teach at UT Dallas. It’s a built-in network.”
Biswas, an internationally best-selling author who serves as a IITNT board member and was the conference’s master of ceremonies and is IITNT’s events chair, also earned a graduate certificate in Executive and Professional Coaching at the Jindal School. She said that connecting and networking can be awkward, especially for STEM students and professionals like alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology, many of whom live and work in North Texas.
“Conferences like this one are a safe space for us to do that and to learn from one another about leadership, entrepreneurship, technology and service,” said Biswas, who holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from IIT Madras. “Many of us who are in leadership roles have won the lottery of life and we have not even bought a ticket. What we want to do is give back to the community.”
The conference featured IIT alumnus Amarnath Thombre, CEO of Match Group Americas, who gave the keynote presentation, “The Match Group Journey — A Dallas Story.” A technology panel — “Information Technology” The Enabler of Modern Business” — featured Alpna J. Doshi, founder and CEO of Stralynn Consulting; Jacob Sims, EVP and CTO for Gainwell Technologies; and Sandeep Davé, chief digital and technology officer for CBRE. Dr. Ravi Prakash, professor of computer science in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at UT Dallas was moderator. The conference also featured an entrepreneurship panel.
JSOM MBA Student Plugs into Built-In Network
Akshat Bhandari, a full-time MBA-Business Analytics double degree student at the Jindal School, earned a bachelor’s of technology degree in pulp and paper engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He said he attended the conference because he believes that networking is not only about meeting people but also about learning from their experiences.
“A lot of the alums who attended the conference are making big waves here in Dallas-Fort Worth region and in Silicon Valley,” he said. “I just wanted to meet new people, understand their background and where they came from and how they look at things because everybody looks at things from a different lens. I wanted to try to understand how they look at the business problems that they face on a day-to-day basis.”
Another benefit to attending the conference for Bhandari was learning how others at the conference have dealt with challenges they have faced as international students as well as gleaning knowledge from people from various backgrounds.
“I talked with so many different people — in academia, business, engineering and even someone who pivoted to law,” he said. “For me it was a great experience overall.”
JSOM Faculty Member Encourages Students to Attend Conferences
Dr. Ramesh Subramoniam, a clinical associate professor of operations management at the Jindal School, attended the conference, not as an IIT alumnus, he said, but as a someone who constantly feels the need to keep up with changes in a world that is moving faster than ever. As a Jindal School faculty member, he tries to instill that sense of urgency in his students.
“Many times we’ve had to put the pressure on our students to get them to attend conferences and give them incentives to do so,” Subramoniam said. “That shouldn’t be. Doing it is so beneficial to their careers that it should attract itself.”
Three local mayors attended the IITNT conference — Richardson Mayor Paul Voelker, Allen Mayor Ken Fulk and Southlake Mayor John Huffman. All three issue proclamations recognizing the contributions that the members of IITNT make in their communities and encouraging citizens of their cities to connect with the organization. They also held a panel discussion — “A Path to Servant Leadership” — that was moderated by Dr. Raj Menon, a Collin College trustee.
Professor Sees ‘Win-Win’ in Conferences Like IITNT’s
Dr. Ron Bose, a professor of practice in the Information Systems Area and director of the Center for Information technology Management in the Jindal School, is a graduate of IIT Kanpur in Electrical Engineering, a member of the IITNT Board and its community relations chair. He said that conferences, especially ones like IITNT’s, are vital to the Jindal School because they allow a large group of highly successful professionals to see the university up close.
“Many conference attendees were not familiar with the Jindal School but could be future students in graduate and executive education programs,” he said. “It also allows current UTD students to network with top professionals, which is a great win-win for all.”
