Leadership Team 2020

UCONN Graduate Consulting – 2020 Leadership Team

Utkarsh Gupta

President

Utkarsh’s experience in the industry ranges from being a President at a  Cooperative Society in India to being a Business Analyst in Mu Sigma, to being a CEO of food-tech startup in Muscat, Oman. As he now gets back to B-school with a business analytics concentration, he aims  to complement his technical knowledge with managerial know-how. Throughout his career, he has taken up leadership roles and delivered outstanding results. He brings home a diverse experience in corporate strategy, brand communication, business development, campaign management . Leveraging his strong affinity towards data-driven marketing, strategic alliances,  partnership and people management, he is currently heading the graduate consulting club at UConn, School of Business.

In his term as the president of UGC, he envisions to make UGC the top student-run club at the School of Business. He is passionate about driving  innovation within the projects we deliver, adding value to our solutions and strategically creating  extraordinary benefits to the clients both in short and long term.

Orisa Herbert

President ( Stamford)

Orisa is pursuing a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance at the University of Connecticut. Orisa has over eight years of experience in the Corporate Event Industry. Before enrolling at UCONN, she worked as a Conference Planner/Project Manager for Gartner Executive Programs in North America and Latin America for two years and has developed superb project management and problem-solving skills. Orisa has worked with global teams in regions such as EMEA and APAC, which has allowed her to expand her network globally.

As the president of the UGC in 2020, she will work to make an impact on the community and build a strong student network among the master’s programs at UCONN.

Alok Bhatt

Vice President , Client Development

As an operations and supply chain manager with expertise in leading process optimisation initiatives., Alok now takes on the role of the Vice President at UGC where he will help with client  development and management. He has under his belt, accomplishments in leading projects involving multiple stakeholders through budgeting, negotiations, timeline planning and execution.

Alok has a vast experience in leading cross-functional teams in excess of 1000 members  across multiple departments while also handling multiple large scale projects simultaneously. He is currently pursuing his MBA with a concentration in Business Analytics for a stronger foundation in leadership and data-driven decision making. 

Manasa Nalla

Vice President , Client Development

Manasa is an ambitious business enthusiast with a passion in the field of Engineering. She has a master’s degree in electrical engineering from University of New Haven & holds an ‘Engineer in Training’ license in the State of Connecticut.

She currently works as Global Technical Services Manager in Duracell where she oversees Duracell’s Professional battery portfolio from technical perspective. Her expertise lies in developing customer relationships in support of business development using internal technical capabilities. Manasa also co-executed & communicated a go-to-market device & battery strategy to expand the brand value of the company. Her experience gave her a unique understanding how to Communicate technological developments, consumer sentiment and competitor analysis to executives for future product development and market opportunities. In addition to her critical thinking skills, she is well versed in Product development and Process improvement where she has improved operations efficiency, throughput.

To compliment her technical skills with business acumen, she is currently enrolled in Part time MBA program at University of Connecticut. With a good understanding of the consumer, professional goods industry and her client management skills, she strives to lead the UGC into achieving its mission.

 

Smridhi Mangla

Vice President , Client and Business Development (Stamford)

Smridhi is a Graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Business Analytics & Project Management. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Smridhi has three years of experience as an SAP ABAP and UI5 consultant in the Enterprise Resource Planning bundle. Inquisitive and focused, she sees every challenge as an opportunity to grow. Transparency tops her list of values, and she proactively contributes to a culture of respect and inclusion. She assumes everyone’s best intentions, welcomes a healthy debate, and embraces differing opinions. Smridhi has acquired excellent collaborative skills being a Single Point of Contact, and she excels at managing her responsibilities.

As VP of Client and Business Development, she will ensure that our resources help organisations move forward with their business strategies.

 

Vishwa Prasad

Vice President, Strategy & Operations

Vishwa Prasad has worked in production management and process  space for over 5 years. His experience in software development,  e-content analysis, e-editing and automation throw light on his work across domains.

He co-founded an NGO in Bangalore to raise awareness among students on environmental conservation and conducted planting drives. He is interested in Public Policy, Governance and Conservation. Currently, he is a master’s student in UCONN School of Business. He is enrolled in BAPM program and expected to graduate in Dec 2020.

Dennis Higley
Vice President , Finance

Dennis Higley is a native of South Windsor, Connecticut. He is a Performance-driven, versatile leader with over 16 years of quality assurance, maintenance administration, and staff supervision. His leadership experience has the ability to motivate personnel and enhance the overall efficiency, performance, and compliance with standard procedures and regulations. Dennis has a proven track record of exceptional service and support directly focused on achieving goals and objectives safely, accurately, and on-time.

Most recently Dennis has received a bachelor’s degree, with honors, in Business Administration from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Currently, he is pursuing a Master of Business Administration at the University of Connecticut’s School of Business. During his residency at UConn Dennis has taken on the roles as VP of Finance and SAS Communications Project Lead for the UConn Graduate Consulting (UGC) Group.


Anusha Karunkaran

Vice President , Talent Management

Anusha is a  full time MSBAPM student with a strong  foundation in the Healthcare Consulting Industry. She  holds a double master’s degree in Software Engineering. An intuitive professional by nature with a sharp business acumen and calibre to lead projects within triple constraints of time, scope and budget.

As Vice President of Talent Management she will ensure that consulting projects are effectively crewed with students of high level expertise who play a vital role in helping organisations forge ahead with their business strategies.

Sai Keerthi Ramaraju

Vice President , Marketing

Keerthi is a professional BA grad candidate with 3+ years of experience in technology consulting at Deloitte .  Through her client facing roles across industries, she has a concrete understanding of user expectations, stakeholder collaboration and the tools and techniques to deliver data-driven marketing recommendations.

She is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Business Analytics while also working at the department of Operations and Information Management, UConn School of Business, as a Web Development Specialist where she helps drive their digital marketing strategy – optimising the website for conversion . Keerthi aims to enhance the visibility of the club, attracting more clients and in-house consulting capabilities. Having worked in agile consulting environments, versatility is her forte – quick to adapt to situations and people , with an ability to handle crises . She comes with a positive spirit , a desire to help create ideas by collaboration and the drive to make a long-lasting impact at the UConn Graduate Consulting Club.

Raghu Nandhan Rajendran

Vice President , Talent Management

Raghu Nandhan is currently pursuing MS in Business Analytics and Project Management (MSBAPM) at University of Connecticut. Much of his work experience is in Banking and Financial Services domain in Information Technology industry where he had the opportunity to work with clients like Standard Chartered Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and American Express in a variety of roles like business analyst, team lead, software developer and software tester. He is a data enthusiast and his passion towards data made him take up the MSBAPM course. Upon completing the master’s program, Raghu plans to work in data analytics field where he can make an impact by helping organisations make decisions that are more scientific and operate more effectively. As vice president of talent management for UGC, he will be recruiting, retaining, and producing talented members for UGC and will also be getting involved in all the client projects and keep track of their progress.   

Shashank Hulke

Vice President , Talent Management(Stamford)

Shashank is pursuing Master of Science in Business Analytics and Project Management at the University of Connecticut, Stamford. Before enrolling at UConn in Fall 2019, Shashank has worked for three years in Information Technology Industry. His last position was at Dell as an Analyst where he was a techno-functional consultant. He represented Dell as client-facing professional and acted as a bridge between the clients and in-house development team at Dell. He is proficient in data analysis, project management and consulting. As a vice-president of talent management at UGC, he will apply his management skills and technical acumen to form teams which leads projects to success, thus enhancing relations with current clients and improving the brand value of UConn Graduate Consulting.

 

Achyuth Sankineni

Vice President , Client Engagement

Achyuth is a focused & motivated data analytics & strategy professional with 5 years of work experience and a problem solver at heart. He worked with an analytics consulting firm for a B2B client before joining a B2C product-based online short term credit lender in the Marketing & Customer management teams. Over the last 5 years, he gained a good understanding of analytical techniques and developed the skill of formulating, structuring and breaking down analytical problems while improving his business perspective.
Currently, he is pursuing his M.S. in Business Analytics and project management at UConn to further strengthen his skills and is keen to use his business and analytics acumen to solve real-world problems soon after the completion of his course.

Ashi Tapadia

Vice President , Client Engagement (Stamford)

Ashi is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Business Analytics and Project Management from School of Business at the University of Connecticut at Stamford Campus. She is a computer science graduate from India. Coming from a small city of India, her wish to explore the world made her land in the United States. Having worked in different organizations taking up various leadership roles made the team and organization reach new heights and enhanced her managerial and soft skills. Taking up Client Management at  UGC has a huge motivation behind it because after interning in different companies of different domains gave her a broader spectrum of the scope of different fields. She loves to talk a lot, so she can chat over any topic ranging from the universe, moon to rubber ducks.