Consultants, Coaches & the Experts Network
We have an experienced group of consultants, coaches and practicing professionals as part of our Experts Network. We not only handhold you throughout the entire admissions process, but also are passionate about helping align your talents and passion with your professional goals. We firmly believe that a successful consultant/coach is one who has not only been successful gaining admission to top-tier schools, but also one who has had an accomplished career post B-school. No matter what your career choice, we have someone who has been in your shoes and can help you eloquently articulate your unique story to the admissions committee, navigate recruiting season and beyond...
J.R. Smeaton
General Management & International Careers
J.R. is an international executive with 13+ years of management, operations & supply chain leadership in Asia. He is currently GM, Asia Operations and Global Supply Chain at Interline Brands, a leading U.S. distributor and marketer of broad-line MRO products with 2013 revenues of over $1.6B. He has a proven track record in bridging multinational strategies with Asian culture and operations and has successfully executed numerous turnkey solutions in manufacturing, supply chain & strategic sourcing. J.R. is recognized for building integrated multi-cultural teams with a passion for open communication, inclusion, and respect. He started his career at GE Healthcare's highly selective Technical Sales Leadership rotational program and later worked in Sales and GM roles at Innovex, an electronics manufacturer with operations in Thailand. J.R. holds an MBA from the Booth School of Business and received a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University.
Rashmi Seshadri
Marketing, Entrepreneurship
Rashmi is the Founder and CEO of Ingeneam. She started counseling prospective MBAs in 2007 and has been an admissions consultant and career coach full-time since 2009. Rashmi is passionate about helping her clients take control of their careers and enjoys getting to know them and unearthing what makes them unique. Previously, Rashmi was in Corporate Marketing for Sears, a Fortune-50 retailer. Prior to Business school, Rashmi held consulting and technical roles at Accenture Technology Solutions and Caterpillar. Rashmi holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and received a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Bangalore University. Rashmi and family split time between Bangalore and Chicago.
Mansoor Panawala
Management Consulting, Private Equity, High-Tech
Mansoor is currently with Google where he is responsible for creating strategic plans and driving operational efficiencies for the Local Services and Government sales team. Prior to Google, Mansoor had a wide array of experiences, having spent almost 6 years with McKinsey both pre and post Business school, developing strategy for Motorola, providing PE advisory services in the middle-east and managing Finance for the IT function at Aon, a leading global provider of risk management, insurance and human resources solutions. Mansoor holds an MBA from Harvard and received a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Northwestern University. Mansoor lives with his wife and daughter in the Chicago area.
Ramesh Rajagopalan
Investment Management
Ramesh is a Director at the wealth management division of the Rothschild Group. He focuses on the research & identification of attractive investment opportunities in the global equities space. He subscribes to a value investment philosophy and takes a long term view while allocating capital. Prior to Rothschild, Ramesh spent 6 years at Fidelity Investments focusing on Emerging Markets and was one of the top money makers. Ramesh holds an MBA from the Booth School of Business. As a student at Booth, he led the efforts in organizing trips to visit Warren Buffett in Omaha and was a portfolio manager of the student managed investment fund. Ramesh is happy to share his learnings on investing and a career in investment management with any budding value investor. Ramesh is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and currently lives with his family in London.
Jagannath Bobji
Investment Banking, Finance
Jagan is a finance leader with 15+ years of global experience in P&L management, Financial Planning & Analysis, M&A and business restructuring. He currently serves as a VP and Head of Finance for the U.S region at ACCO Brands, one of the world's largest suppliers of branded office products, with revenues of nearly $1.8 Billion. Previously he led the Corporate Development and the Financial Planning & Analysis functions for the company. Prior to ACCO, Jagan was a Vice President of Investment Banking at Bank of America serving clients in the Industrial space. Earlier in his career, Jagan had stints in the Finance vertical at United Airlines and as a consultant at KPMG in the Middle East. Jagan holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and received a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from NIT, Trichy. Jagan and his family make their home in the Chicago area.
Khurram Tahir
Management Consulting, High-Tech & Entrepreneurship
Khurram is currently the MD at Wabash Advisors, a boutique advising high-tech startups in the areas of sales and business development. Previously, Khurram was a Director of Strategy & Business Development at Cisco. Earlier in his career, Khurram was with Motorola’s Mobility Business, initially developing strategy at HQ and later in China driving in-market strategy development and execution. Khurram started his career as an analyst at McKinsey and is a graduate of Wabash College. Khurram has actively recruited at the top business schools in the US.
Natarajan Alagappan
Marketing & Sales Consultant, Head of India Ops
Nattu brings a diverse set of skills to Ingeneam. Currently Nattu is an entrepreneur in the e-commerce space, a part-time business coach for tech start ups focusing on Marketing and Sales development and is thoroughly passionate about building leadership talent in India.
Nattu started his career in fabric exports to Europe and Asia, setup a corrugated packaging unit, sold cardio vascular stents, and led the testing practice for a large software firm. He then spent several years in e-commerce while working for Tesco. Nattu did his undergrad from IIT Madras and received a PGDM at IIM Calcutta. While away from work, Nattu spends a lot of time planning to hit the golf course and a little less actually hitting a golf ball.
Cheenu Seshadri
Advisor & Career Coach
Cheenu is an accomplished operations and strategy executive with deep management experience driving sustained revenue and market share gains as well as top-quartile profitability in large corporations and start-ups including distressed / turnaround situations.
Currently, Cheenu is a partner in a pure-play TMT strategy consulting firm. Previously Cheenu was the COO at MTS-India responsible for the P&L during which time the team delivered year-over-year doubling of revenues and dramatic improvements in EBITDA. Earlier in his tenure at MTS, Cheenu was the Chief Strategy Officer architecting and driving implementation of the widely acclaimed data-centric voice-enabled strategy. Previous to MTS, Cheenu spent several years creating and driving strategies as a consultant at Bain and on the corporate side at Motorola. Cheenu holds an MBA with Honors from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Cheenu and family make their home in Chicago.
Shri Iyengar
Advisor
Shri is an accomplished operational and financial executive with over 25 years experience driving growth and profitability for established companies and venture-backed start-ups. Most recently, Shri spent 7 years with Botanical Labs, America’s leader in Liquid Supplements initially as the CFO and later on as COO responsible for Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Finance, Human Resources, Quality & IT. In December 2012, Shri oversaw the sale of Botanical Laboratories to Nature’s Way Brands and stayed on through early 2014 to drive the integration of the businesses.
Prior to his tenure in the Nutrition space, Shri was with Insitu, a leader in the design, development, production and operation of high-performance, cost-effective unmanned aircraft systems. At Insitu, Shri was the corporate officer responsible for Finance, Board Relations, Supply Chain, & IT and led the company through a rapid growth phase from $2M to $70M and towards eventual acquisition. Early in his career, Shri spent 15+ years at Corning in various Finance and Business leadership roles. Shri holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He and his wife live in the Greater Seattle area.