Meet the MBA Class of 2022: Vishaal Narkedamalli, Ivey Business School

Vishaal Narkedamalli

Ivey Business School at Western University

“Analytical, Business minded, Cooperative, Dedicated, Effective, Results-Oriented Team Player.”

Hometown: Toronto, Canada

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’ve lived in 7 countries across 3 continents.

Graduate School and Major: University of Cape Town, BSc Mechanical Engineering.
University of Toronto, MEng in Mechanical Engineering.

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Restaurant Brands International, Senior Manager Marketing

How has the case method enriched your learning? Cases are real issues at real companies that one could easily face in the real world. Cases have helped me become an active participant in class discussions where I have to answer questions as if I’m the decision maker. The best part of class conversations is listening to my classmates, which allows me to identify my blind spots in decision-making. Case method is a lot more engaging as it is a conversation with multiple people compared to reading a textbook or learning theory through a lecture. Case discussions stick in your mind, to the point where you start referencing concepts from random past cases in new discussions with your classmates.

Aside from classmates and cases, what part of the school’s MBA programming led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The Ivey Business School produced some of my previous colleagues who were incredibly smart, highly professional, great team players, and produced results. They spoke highly of their experience at Ivey and this gave me confidence in my decision.

What quality best describes your MBA classmates and why?
My classmates are incredibly collaborative and supportive. This is even more special considering that we are currently in a virtual learning environment. For example, if there is a specific concept that is difficult to understand in class, there is always an expert who is willing to step-up, organize a drop-in help session, and discuss these complicated concepts at length. Our class is constantly sharing helpful resources amongst each other to support our learning & development. We have a common approach to grow as a class.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: One of my goals working in a restaurant operations role was to improve process efficiency resulting in improved customer service and employee experience. I had designed a new sandwich station for our restaurants which took more than a year to test and implement. At the end of the project, I achieved an increase in speed by 16% allowing customers to be served earlier. Additionally, the new design reduced restaurant employee steps by 80% making their jobs easier.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far:
The Ivey team spent a week discussing environmental, social, and governance policies and how disruptions can play a role on the social impact of companies. My team participated and won the case competition by applying our learnings in multiple courses and presenting our ideas in a structured and clear way to the audience. My role as the President of the MBA Operations Club allowed me to bring a differentiated perspective to the case strengthening the feasibility of our recommendations.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I had sufficient experience in multiple business units where I knew that I could add my experience as contribution to class discussions. I wanted to gain more knowledge and insight into other industries and gain exposure to new functions such as accounting, finance and strategy.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? None, I knew what I was looking for and Ivey was the only school that met those requirements.

What did you do during the application process that enabled you to get accepted into Ivey? I found the application process for Ivey to be relatively simple with enough opportunity to present the best version of myself. I presented my career achievements through resumes and conversations. This initiated further conversations that gave me an opportunity to share my past, present and future aspirations.

DON’T MISS: MEET IVEY’S MBA CLASS OF 2022