Jatin Kapur

Arizona State University, W. P. Carey School of Business

“Results oriented, perpetual learner, resourceful, and a loving husband (as described by my wife).”

Hometown: New Delhi, India

Fun fact about yourself: I am a fan of heavy metal and during my undergraduate studies, I grew my hair very long (longer than most of the girls in my class). While working in the lab once, my professor grabbed my hair and tied a wire around so that my hair don’t fall on my face.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Manipal Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? I worked with Bharat Electronics Limited as Technical Project Manager in the production operations of the Military Communications strategic business unit, where I managed the QA of advanced electronic products and sub-assemblies for the defense forces.

Where did you intern during the summer of 2020? Enterprise Technology Alliance, San Marcos, CA as a Strategy Associate where I designed a business plan to increase company revenues by 10x.

Where will you be working after graduation? Undecided

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

Leadership:

1. I am a member of the Food Supply Chain Coalition, which is a tri-university effort (Arizona State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Knoxville- Tennessee) along with Feeding America, Google, and other industry leaders designed to alleviate problems of demand and supply in the farm to food bank supply chain. I am working on several projects, with local food banks in AZ as well cheese producers and food banks in Wisconsin, including capacity analysis, network mapping, and developing an e-commerce platform. I have also volunteered at three food banks.
2. President of the Business Information Management and Analytics Association at W. P. Carey.
3. Teaching Assistant for Statistics for Business
4. Full-Time MBA Student Ambassador

Honors

1. ASU Innovation Full-Time MBA Scholarship
2. Sarsam Family Scholarship

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Business is truly personal at W. P. Carey. I am most proud of when I was able to contribute to the net investor culture by helping my peers prepare for the Managerial Accounting exam late in the spring semester. The classes had just shifted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and everyone was adjusting. The course concepts were quite difficult to grasp in such a short time. With the help of a friend, I was able to organize a practice session before the final exam. Almost half of the class attended the session while many watched the recording. Many appreciated me after the exam. I felt very happy to be able to help my friends.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? During an NPI project with a customer that was building ships for the Indian Coast Guard, a piece of equipment supplied by my company did not perform as expected. The customer raised a liability of $6 million against the company and the issue severely affected the operations of the Coast Guard. We did not have prior experience with this type of issue and the problem’s scale was challenging – 20 ships spread across the Indian coastline. I constructed a DOE and collected and analyzed technical data across varying conditions to trace the root cause and resolve the issue for the customer.

Why did you choose this business school? ASU is consistently ranked as one of the top schools for innovation and research in the US. The depth and breadth of the research at ASU and the flexibility of the MBA curriculum was the deciding factor for me because I knew that I would be exposed to the best research in the field no matter what courses I take. The executive mentor program at W. P. Carey helps you connect with C suite executives and is great to develop and understand leadership. This was also a big draw for me.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? That is a tough one. I have liked all my teachers at ASU. If I had to pick one, Professor Reynold Byers would be the best for me. He engaged the class very well, kept everyone on their toes, and made courses like Applied Statistics for Business and Project Management fun. Through his real-world examples, we could see how the concepts taught in class played out in real life. The difficulty level of the exams and assignments was also a notch above the rest.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? My favorite MBA event was the MBA Holiday Party that takes place towards the end of the Fall Semester. It is an event attended by the whole MBA class (1^st and 2^nd years), faculty and the Program Ops team. It showed me how tight knit and lively is the community here and values having fun on the journey just as much.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I would have taken on more consulting projects. The school provides plenty of opportunities to working on live projects with external organizations (for profit and non-profit). I think it is a great way to get your resume noticed and is great for networking. I think it also builds confidence to take on work with a lot of ambiguity.

What is the biggest myth about your school? I think the biggest myth about my school is that it is a supply chain school only. While supply chain courses are the most popular, I observed that almost half of the class concentrated in other areas and courses in entrepreneurship, consulting and marketing are just as popular. This was true for on campus recruiting as well.

What surprised you the most about business school? I was surprised to find out the many different perspectives of my peers. Our class is small with 71 full time MBA students, but it is diverse. Each of the five members in my core MBA team during the first year has a different nationality. I was amazed to find that each of us had a different way of looking at the same problem. I realized that this is one of the best learning experiences you can have during MBA and I sought to work with as many different people as possible during the MBA.

What is one thing you did during the application process that gave you an edge at the school you chose?  I think the thing that provided me an edge is that I was able to show my interest in the school by reaching out to people at the school and meeting the admissions team. I was not afraid to ask questions and I was able to incorporate my research on things valued by the school into my essays and interviews.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I admire my classmate Sanhita Rath. She and I have often teamed up and worked against each other as well. She is organized, empathetic and fun to work with but I admire her because she challenges me to think critically and is not afraid to defend her arguments.

How disruptive was it to shift to an online or hybrid environment after COVID hit? ASU did an excellent job of transferring learning to the new online environment. The school even helped students with internet and laptops. The speed with which the faculty and students adapted is laudable. The most disruptive thing for me was lack of physical interaction. I like being in the classroom and the MBA classroom at W. P. Carey is very lively. It was difficult not being able to meet my friends.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? I think it is my younger brother, Rohit Kapur. He was the first one in the family to pursue a master’s degree. He showed me the importance of investing in education and that it is possible to follow your dream career. He encouraged me and thoroughly helped me during the application phase.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? I am grateful for all ASU and W P. Carey have done for me in realizing my goals. It is my goal to give back to the school and the university and be a net investor all my life. I want to use my career, knowledge, and skills to do good in the society help as many people as possible.

What made Jatin such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2021?

“In navigating shifts in the learning environment, the market, and the world in spring 2020, Jatin leaned into his natural capabilities and pushed himself to be a stronger professional in uncertain times. In the summer of 2020, Jatin shared his subject matter expertise as he led fellow classmates, W. P. Carey undergraduate students, and students from two other universities across two separate projects. In addition to managing those projects, Jatin remained focused on his own personal development, committing to building his interview skillset and working with a classmate to read the entire CSCMP glossary to prepare for the next steps in his career. With all of this work, Jatin serves as the president of Business Information Management & Analytics Association and never hesitates to help his classmates with their academics or professional development. Upon his graduation in May, Jatin will continue to carry forward the W. P. Carey Net Investor culture and his contributions to his class as well as the classes to come.”

Laura Kalb
Assistant Director, Career Management and Employer Engagement
W. P. Carey School of Business

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