IMPRINTS SIMSR Alumni Newsletter August 2016 Edition

Convocation Ceremony The convocation ceremony of MMS (2013-15 Batch),

MCA (2012-15 Batch) and MFM, MHRDM, MIM,

MMM (2012-15 Batch) programmes was held on 1st

July, 2016. Our Alumni and their parents were

warmly welcomed by the institute for the ceremony.

It was a great privilege to have our Alumnus Mr.

Ashutosh Khanna of MMS Batch 1986-88, Senior

Client Partner, Korn/Ferry International as the guest

of honour for this ceremony.

Alma Matters

Alma Matters, the official re-union of ex-

ALCOMmers was held on 30th July, 2016. As

accolades, suggestions and constructive feed-

back poured-in during the meet, the ex-

ALCOMmers reminisced their good old days,

and responded with willingness to help in more

meaningful alumni engagement in future. It was

an event where old relationships were revived

and new ones were formed. Read more here

Team Alcom Speaks The Alumni Committee is happy to present Imprints - August edition. With new

beginnings, Team ALCOM is glad to introduce our new strength of

ALCOMmers! In this edition, we are happy to present an exclusive interview

with our Alumnus - Mr. Ashutosh Khanna. We have always taken privilege in

sharing the accomplishments of our esteemed Alumni. Our team thrives on

strengthening the bond that you share with your Alma Mater and shall constantly

endeavour to do so. 15th August is a proudly patriotic day of celebrations! We

wish you a very Happy Independence Day!

Alcom Calendar

Anveshan

22nd August 2016

Informal mentoring

session for the first year

students at SIMSR by

Alumni of 2016

Inauguration of Mmm, Mfm, Mhrdm & Mim Batch 2016-19 SIMSR welcomed the MFM,

MHRDM, MIM, MMM Batch

2016-19 at the inaugural function

he ld on 9 th Ju ly, 2016.

Mr. Sundeep Sikka, Executive

Director & CEO of Reliance Capital Asset Management and Mr. Niraj

Baveja, Senior Manager at Accenture were the Guests of Honour. Read more here

Read more here

INTERVIEW WITH MR. Ashutosh Khanna

Senior Client Partner at Korn/Ferry International & SIMSR Alum of Batch 1986-88

Mr. Ashutosh Khanna serves as Senior Client Partner at Korn/Ferry International and specializes in the

Consumer Industry. He led the search that led to the selection of Mr. Rahul Johri, the CEO of BCCI. Mr.

Khanna carries with him deep insights about multiple businesses and is a sought-after speaker at various HR

forums for his views on the future of various industries. He also serves as an Independent Director on the Board

of Balaji Telefilms.

Q: How does it feel coming back to SIMSR? Tell us about some of your

memories at SIMSR.

A: I am quite excited, full of anticipation about how things have changed,

looking forward to see it all and wondering why I did not make this trip earlier.

There are some real great memories. We were a fantastic group of people and

lot of us are still in touch! A lot of those friendships have endured! It’s fantastic

to reach out for help to each other and it doesn’t always mean professional help.

Some of the friendships you form when you are a student are the ones

that actually last long and those friendships are very pure. There is no

commercial benefit in any of them. I really cherish some of those friendships.

Q: What do you consider are the key takeaways from the two years you

spent with SIMSR?

A: The biggest one was that learning wasn’t always in the classroom. It was in the projects that profes-

sors set out for us and in some form, it was the practical training you got doing those projects. It was huge! Hon-

ing your sales development skills in itself was terrific! Going back and submitting those reports and the joy when

the company actually implemented some of them. I remember Nestle implementing Cerelac in sachets because

of a report one did. It was fantastic and very gratifying at that stage.

Q: What do you think has remained the same about you throughout the years? What do you think has

changed?

A: Wow! Well, I have put on about 7 kilos, that’s changed! I have lost my hair, that’s changed! (Laughs). But I

think what hasn’t changed is probably the ability to not take oneself too seriously! You can just laugh at

yourself because all of us do make mistakes and will continue to make mistakes! So you can’t take them so

seriously. I still like to learn a lot. You never know where the learning comes from. So if you can manage to keep

your sense of observation keen, you would be okay on that!

Q: With today’s dynamic environment and advancement, what according to you are the challenges that

organizations face to build professional talent that builds up leadership?

A: Organizations need to realize that the war for talent is now over and talent has won! I think most CEOs have

a challenge of defining a vision, staying true to it and selling that vision internally. If you can do that, it should

be okay. It seems to be pretty simple when you look at it but really tough when you want to implement that. I

think organizations that have done that have probably succeeded much better than organizations that have fum-

bled at it. I am not debating strategy. Strategy is great, but you know, more or less every organization will get

8/10 on strategy. Chances are very slim that you will get your strategy all wrong. What you may get wrong

9/10 times is the implementation of the strategy and that is what escapes. Strategy indicates what the

organization is going to do but then they don’t do it that well. The celebration goes on getting the strategy right

but the willingness to implement that strategy doesn’t go that well.

Q: What is your advice to our prospering Alumni?

A: Just enjoy the journey! Don’t worry about the destination.

Introducing Junior Alcommers

We are glad to introduce our new team of ALCOMmers! They are eager to contribute well towards achieving our

mission & strengthening the SIMSR Alumni Relations Team.

Aditya Sankhe

(PGDM Financial Services)

Vatsala Rajvanshi

(PGDM Core)

Apurv Anand Tekriwal

(PGDM Retail Management)

Aswin Suresh

(PGDM Financial Services)

)

Soft spoken

Happy

Optimistic

Analytical

Adaptive

Creative

Compassionate

Conscientious

Inquisitive

Patient

Adaptable

Inquisitive

Ethical

Decisive

Versatile

Optimistic

Fierce

Driven

Assertive

Boisterous

Candid

Dynamic

Persistent

Incorruptible

Optimistic

Car fanatic

Chocoholic

Compassionate

Animal lover

Bibliophile

Affable

Responsible

Team spirited

Ambitious

Confident

Passionate

Inquisitive

Sociable

Optimistic

Optimistic

Confident

Cheerful

Team Player

Sincere

Patient

Amiable

Melodious

Foodie

Aditya Sankhe

PGDM Financial Services

Sreya Mukherjee

PGDM Core

Rohan Shetty

PGDM Core

Gayatri Kulkarni

PGDM Retail Management

Vatsala Rajvanshi

PGDM Core

Apurv Anand Tekriwal

PGDM Retail Management

Binaisha D’souza

PGDM International Business

Yashashree Kulkarni

PGDM Core

Aswin Suresh

PGDM Financial Services

Arvind Rungta

PGDM Financial Services

Tulika Singh

PGDM Core

Ajin Sidharthan

PGDM Core

Akshay Aurora

PGDM Financial Services Manashvi Mistry

PGDM International Business

Surabhi Singh

PGDM Core Suryani Sinha Ray

PGDM Core

Connect With Us

Write to Us/Contact Us

alcom.simsr@somaiya.edu

022-6728 3120/3185

Job Opportunities

The Alumni Committee has created a SIMSR Jobs Google Group which serves as a platform for Alumni to

share lateral job opportunities with each other directly. To share a job opportunity at your organisation

write to us at simsrjobs@googlegroups.com

Alumni Achievements

Mr. Pranav Bhruguwar, SIMSR Alum of batch

1996-98 is the founder of a startup ‘ShopR360’.

ShopR360 was selected among top 5 retail

startups of 2016 at the recently concluded first

ever Startup awards ReTechCon2016. The

event was organised by RAI (Retailers Associa-

tion of India) in association with NASSCOM

10000 Startups.

Book Launch

SI M SR c e l e b r a t e d the

book launch of our Alum Mr.

Ambi Parameswaran. The

book ‘Nawabs Nudes Noodles:

India Through 30 Years of

Advertising’, captures the imag-

ination of the reader and takes

them on a fascinating journey

through anecdotes and analysis.

Mr. Parameswaran pursued his

Ph.D. in Marketing Manage-

ment and consumer behaviour from SIMSR. Present-

ly, he is the founder at Brand-building.com. Mr.

Parameswaran was the Executive Director and CEO

of FCB Ulka.

Read more here

Top Recruiting Companies

(in July)

Total No of recruiting

companies

Total No of

vacancies

S&P Global, HSBC, ICICI Bank 14 15

Team Imprints Alumni Relations Office

Ankita Rajadhyaksha

(Chief Editor )

Vidhya Sharma

(Head - Alumni Relations, SVV)

Priyanka Mirajkar and Parul Pathak

(Designers and Content Managers )

Dr. Rupali Gadkari

(Chairperson, Alumni Relations, SIMSR)

Abhijit Varma, Akshay Kamath, Tanvi Vassa,

Amogh Deshpande (Contributors)

Arvind Pandi Dorai

(Manager, Alumni Relations, SIMSR)

Vikram Gupte

(Convener, Alumni Committee)

Shriya Pawar

(Officer, Alumni Relations, SIMSR)