2018 Best MBAs: Shahbaaz Mubeen Mamadapur, University of Rochester (Simon)

Shahbaaz Mubeen Mamadapur

Simon Business School, University of Rochester

Action-oriented, driven, and always on a learning curve.”

Age: 29

Hometown: Bijapur, India (A town in South India)

Fun fact about yourself: I was a skinny kid growing up. I added 20lbs of muscle in first 2 years of my undergrad and went on to win in two categories (best physique and power-lifting) in the Intercollegiate body building competitions.

Undergraduate School and Degree: NMAMIT, Visvesvaraya Technological University, India – Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Science)

Where did you work before enrolling in business school? Accenture – IT Consultant

Where did you intern during the summer of 2017? Amazon (Seattle, WA)

Where will you be working after graduation? Amazon (Seattle, WA) – Sr. Program Manager

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

Community Work:

  • Simon Career Advisor – Simon’s Career Management Center
  • Admissions Ambassador – Simon’s Admission Office
  • Diversity and Inclusion Ambassador
  • Graduate Teaching Assistant to Ron Carlson – B2B Pricing (Course taught by Senior Consultants/Partners from Simon-Kucher & Partners)
  • Graduate Teaching Assistant to Gerard Wedig – Economic Theory of Organizations
  • Tutor – Business Modeling
  • MBA Consultant – Vnomics Corp.

Leadership Roles:

  • VP Events – Simon Pricing Club
  • Consultant – International Immersion Trip to India (Ideated and consulted for Simon’s first ever International Immersion Trip to India to be launched in Dec ’18.)

Awards:

  • Recipient – Dean’s List (for outstanding academic achievement)
  • Recipient – Merit Scholarship

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am proud of two:

First would be my role as a Career Advisor. This role incorporates a huge responsibility as you help the students chart the course of their career. Throughout the year, I met with more than 150 MBA and MS students, reviewing resumes, developing value propositions, helping with job search strategy, and conducting mock interviews and workshops. This role was extremely rewarding and allowed me to give back and help students land their dream jobs, especially considering the current job market.

Second would be as the VP (Events) of Pricing Club. Pricing is a niche field and many students do not know about it coming to business school. To cope with that, I sought ways to strengthen the club and increase its presence. I organized a corporate trek to Boston in early Fall where we visited three companies, each with a different pricing practice. The trek gave students the opportunity to learn from the best minds in the field of pricing and connect the dots to their academic learning. In addition, I co-organized the first-ever Pricing Case Competition in Spring ’17 within just 3 weeks of taking charge as the new board. This set the stage for the second Pricing Case Competition in Spring ’18 which was co-sponsored by Volvo Trucks and was a much bigger event – both on scale and participation.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? It would have to be my summer internship at Amazon. I interned as a Sr. Program Manager in the North America (NA) – Outbound Transportation Team. I led a very interesting Upstream Containerization Project. As part of this project, we move the sortation of packages upstream to reduce touches, increase sortation capacity, and protect packages from pilferage.

During my 12 weeks, I addressed two components – firstly, I developed a Network Optimization Model to help build cost-effective containerization plans. Secondly, I conducted a pilot test to understand the technical and operational constraints to be addressed before a network-wide launch. I loved the fact that I not only got to work with large datasets to build a network-wide model, but I also got to implement the pilot project in a Fulfillment Center.

Through my pilot project, I not only proved the feasibility of containerization with multimillion dollar cost savings, but my work (model, process, and standard work procedures) became the foundation of a NA network-wide program managed by a dedicated team.

What was your favorite MBA Course? My favorite course was Process Improvement, where we learnt about measuring processes, designing experiments, studying interactions, and also learnt about Lean and Six-Sigma methodologies. The most interesting part of the course was designing and running a lean toy factory that delivers finished K’nex models. This advanced course in operations provided me the perfect tools to succeed in my internship.

Why did you choose this business school? The excellent faculty, the strong focus on analytics, the quant-heavy curriculum, and Simon’s expertise in pricing appealed to me the most. Additionally, Simon’s small class size was important to me as I wanted to be in a collaborative environment where I can make the most of my business school experience. Moreover, the Simon community was extremely helpful and approachable during the application process and also assisted me transition smoothly to business school. I felt I was already a part of the family even before I got here.

What is your best piece advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? It does not matter where you are in the application process, please make it a point to reach out either to the admissions team or current students. You can go beyond your application and essays by networking with the admissions team. More importantly, determine the fit. When I say fit, it goes both ways – how the school will help you and how you fit the school culture.

What is the biggest myth about your school? It would be judging Simon based on its rankings. Rankings don’t do justice to the quality of the program we have here. The professors are incredibly knowledgeable and resourceful. Being a small school, we get a lot of facetime and personal attention from the amazing faculty and the ever-supportive staff.

What was your biggest regret in business school? I wish I had taken more Finance courses than I did. Given Simon’s excellent faculty in Finance, I could have gained invaluable knowledge from some of the best minds.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I have two:

Raven Hudson – Raven is energetic, passionate, and confident. As an early leader, in spite of having relatively less experience, she faced challenges head-on and always looked for opportunities to improve herself. As the president of Simon Vision Consulting, Raven closely mentored early leaders and career switchers, helping them gain valuable industry experience and build a competitive advantage for their job search. She is truly an inspiration.

Chris DiGiacomandrea – Chris came from a non-profit background and was interested in consulting. While still on a steep learning curve himself during the first year, Chris proactively started group case workshops which immensely helped students looking for consulting jobs. Chris is a good friend with a strong bias for action and someone I can always bounce ideas off of.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? It was an Enterprise Architect from my client team at Accenture. I was the lead developer working on a critical Nordic project. I was specifically impressed by her clarity of thought, depth of knowledge, and how the recent MBA-grad spoke the language of both technology and business with such panache.

If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…working on my entrepreneurial venture that provides consulting services for start-ups and medium sized firms.”

If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the MBA experience? With almost a third of the class coming from tech backgrounds, and a strong analytics and quant-heavy curriculum, Simon is a competitive target school for Tech companies. In addition to the annual West Coast Trek, I would create an Exchange Program in partnership with a West Coast school to provide students the opportunity to spend a semester in the Silicon Valley and network with their target companies. This would also be beneficial to the partner school as they can leverage our expertise in Finance and proximity to New York.

What are the top two items on your bucket list? 

  • Coming from a family of lawyers, I have closely seen the Indian Judicial System and the hardships faced by the weaker sections of the society. I am working with my brother to establish a Legal Service Center that provides legal aid to these sections at zero or nominal cost.
  • Complete a full marathon – considering the number of pizzas I have had these last two years in business school, this seems much harder.

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? Focused, hardworking, and fun loving.

What would your theme song be? “The Measure of a Man” – Elton John

Favorite vacation spot: Wales, UK

Hobbies?

  • Working out – Body pump and spinning
  • Watching Hollywood classics
  • Cooking – Lamb Curry and Biryani are my specialties

What made Shahbaaz such an invaluable member of the Class of 2018?

“Shahbaaz is someone you will read about in the Wall Street Journal or The Economist in the future.

He is the exemplar for what it means to be a strong leader as well as an all-around good person. To put it plainly—Shahbaaz crushed his internship with Amazon. Due to non-disclosure Agreements, we can’t tell you exactly how much he saved the company, but we can tell you his analysis and recommendations resulted in the company reallocating four managers to a dedicated work team that rolled out a new product—before he even finished his summer internship!

Shahbaaz is a trusted advisor to his fellow classmates. He is one of our top Student Career Advisors, meeting with dozens of students each week, regardless of function or career interest. Students who meet with Shahbaaz experience his “tough love,” (e.g.: “here is what you need to do to position yourself for success in your internship or job search.”). He is passionate about helping students, and genuinely cares about their improvement.

For example – he took on one particularly challenging student, putting him on a ten-week “improvement plan.” He was tough, clear, specific, and held the student accountable. The student respected this approach, came in for weekly meetings, and moved from a “zero” on job search engagement to a “ten” – received an offer—within the ten-week timeframe. This is one example out of many where Shahbaaz’s involvement truly transformed the student’s job search capabilities and enhanced his possibilities for success.

Simon has a unique expertise in the area of Pricing. Our students learn content that is coveted by hiring organizations because although most companies need this knowledge set, few managers internally have the expertise needed. Shahbaaz is an elected officer in the student-run Pricing Club. In this capacity, he created the first annual Simon Pricing Case Competition which brought in the expertise of top company executives and gave the students valuable learning as well as the opportunity to engage with potential hirers.

In addition, Shahbaaz built bridges between Pricing and other clubs such as Marketing to offer integrated case competitions, corporate info sessions, webinars, corporate tours and internship panels. While it is not unusual for P&Q top nominees to have extensive club involvement, building bridges between organizations resulting in improved offerings for all is a hallmark of Shahbaaz’s leadership and an example of the impact he has had at Simon and will continue to have in his career.”

Other comments about Shahbaaz from administrators:

“Shahbaaz is extremely bright and humble.”

“An all-around good guy to be around.”

“Excellent rapport with his classmates.”

“Carries himself professionally.”

“The type of person you can put in front of clients without concern.”

“Always grateful; appreciates and acknowledges others.”

“Known informally as a Mentor to many students.”

“Active Simon community member and is close to many of his peers – First Year and Second Year MBAs alike.”

Karen Dowd

Assistant Dean, Career Management & Corporate Engagement

Simon Business

DON’T MISS: THE ENTIRE LIST OF THE BEST & BRIGHTEST: CLASS OF 2018

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