Meet Rochester Simon’s MBA Class Of 2020

Vibhor Mishra

University of Rochester, Simon Business School

“Believer of the philosophy – Success is not a destination, it’s a journey and you need to keep smiling.”

Hometown: Gwalior, India

Fun Fact About Yourself: Love traveling. Have traveled to 30 countries so far and want to take that list to a “100” by 2025.

Undergraduate School and Major: Rajiv Gandhi Technological University, Bhopal ; Engineering: Computer Science and Telecommunications

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: OpenText Corporation, IT Consultant.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Accomplishments, I believe, are the result of the process that you follow. There are much more important things that some wonderful people are doing around the world, which makes me think that there is still something significant that I need to achieve in life. The best process that I can remember was leading a service transition project of the largest telecom operator in Netherlands. I was a part of Onsite team that came to Europe in 2015 and spearheaded the knowledge transfer process for delivering the project in a 3-month timeline, working with a team of 50 people that didn’t speak the same language and taking responsibility for the business that was handled i-house for the past 15 years. It was one of the most challenging and learning phase of my 8 years-long IT consulting career.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? I have been a part of Simon community for around three months now, and the one thing that stands out is respect for each other. During the first month of orientation, I got an opportunity to know my classmates. I immediately observed the diverse backgrounds and cultures we came from, and the impact it had on the opinions we presented during the activities. At the same time, it was evident that everyone respected each opinion and was keen to learn more about each other. It has continued to be the case since then, and the mutual respect has only grown. That, as we proudly say, makes us #SimonStrong.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Sense of Belonging – As an international student, this was the most important factor that I looked for when I was finalizing my school. That is exactly how I felt, during my first conversation with Mr. Andrew Brayda, senior director of admissions at the Simon Business School, who was my mentor and guide throughout the admission and finalizing process. Coming back to school after eight years, I prioritized strong connection over everything. Feeling that you belong is most important in seeing value in whatever you do, and you do MBA only once in your life.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am most excited about Graduate Business Council and Simon Consulting Club. For the roles that I am trying to pursue in future, leadership and problem-solving skills are the most valuable assets that I need to develop, and I believe being involved in these clubs would provide me the best possible opportunity to do that.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? “Comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there”. I strongly believe in this saying and whenever I have felt like hitting my comfort zone, I have always taken measures to push myself. After working as an IT professional for eight years, I decided to do exactly that. For past three years, I worked in Netherlands and Germany, for OpenText, one of the largest IT companies in Canada, as a single point of contact for clients in EMEA region and provided subject matter expertise for their technology needs. Being in this position sparked my interests in business development and strategy consulting roles, and my aspirations of understanding it better. I have decided to come to Simon to pursue my MBA for this reason, as all these roles need highly analytical approach towards business forecasting, solving problems and delivering innovative solutions, and Simon’s unabashedly analytical approach towards curriculum highly aligns with my interests.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Throughout my professional career, I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the most qualified business leaders and one thing that they all had in common was a formal business education. When I was deciding to pursue my MBA, I sought advice from many business professionals, current students, friends and family, and all I received was a positive response and support for pursuing this journey. I am a highly introspective person, and I seek advice from within before doing anything, and after considering many factors about my personal and professional life, I was sure that MBA education will be a catalyst for my future career and will give me an opportunity to pursue some of the most challenging roles in business, in which I can make a difference.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? University of Notre Dame-Mendoza, Michigan State University-Broad and Georgetown University-McDonough.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? First and foremost is your research. Do it as much as you can and investigate every aspect of the business school that you want to attend. These include: alumni (their profiles, their previous and current industries and roles), hiring patterns, curriculum, specializations offered, student engagement activities, extracurriculars, culture, financial assistance and lifestyle affordability. All these and much more information is available on some amazing web resources such as Financial Times, Poets and Quants, GMAT.com, gmatclub.com etc.

Secondly, I read thoroughly about the school on their website, talked to current students to get their perspective, and had formal discussion with admissions team to get the sense of culture and people I will be working for next few years. For an International student, it’s even more important to take as many perspectives as possible before deciding about attending a B-school in another country. I also would like to mention that although rankings on various forums gives you a perception about current standing of any school, they were not the only factor that I considered when I was going through the process. Choosing a right school is far more introspective process than just believing in numbers. All my research and interactions seconded my decision of joining Simon Business School and I can happily say that I made the right choice.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? The decision to move away from my family to pursue my bachelor’s degree from city 400 miles away from my hometown. At 16, it was a hard decision to take as a person who had grown up in a conservative and protected environment, where I used to deal with strong opinions from my community. In retrospect, my undergraduate days were the best learning days of my life. I discovered my professional interests, personal goals, and passion for song writing. I also secured my first job in Fortune 500 company (among the 20 selected out of 450) and, most importantly, made some great friends for life.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? My short-term aspiration capacitated by Simon experience is to build up a profile as a strategy and business development professional, preferably in digital technology services. I want to build on my analytical and technical background through my MBA education to conceptualize and articulate growth strategies and contribute to real life complications and business problems in multinational organizations.

Where do you see yourself in five years? A family man, living in a multicultural city, who would like to be a head of a strategy leadership team of a multinational organization, working on global immersion projects, leading a team of cross-functional and diverse people, contributing to growth of the organization and most importantly, Making a difference.

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