Hardi Vajir

MIT, Sloan School of Management

“Product leader and builder creating technology that makes a difference beyond ideal conditions.”

Hometown: Sunnyvale, CA

Fun fact about yourself: I traveled to Boston for the first time to cheer on the Patriots in a victory parade. After Rob Gronkowski caught a pass from me, I joined my section’s flag football team at MIT Sloan to recreate the magic.

Undergraduate School and Degree: University of California at Santa Barbara, Bachelor of Arts in Economics & Accounting

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Product Manager at Capital One

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? MIT OpenCourseWare in Cambridge, MA

Where will you be working after graduation? Undecided

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

Community & Leadership Roles:

• Social & Ethical Responsibilities of Computing Scholar
• Faculty AI Research Assistant
• Director on Harvard-MIT COOP Board of Directors
• SVP of the Sloan Women in Management Club
• Communications Lab Teaching Assistant

Awards:

• MIT Sloan Impact Fellowship
• Social & Ethical Responsibilities of Computing Fellowship
• Global Opportunities Fellowship

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I’m most proud of building MIT OpenCourseWare‘s first offline learning platform, which unlocked access to education for millions of learners globally. The platform was specifically designed for learners in low-resourced regions with intermittent connectivity, so they can access course materials on mobile devices even without wifi. It’s one of the most impactful products I’ve built so far, and it’s only deepened my drive to build products that unlock access for billions of users.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I’m most proud of developing a new room reservation system for Capital One Cafes. I led the product from 0 to 1 as a new strategic initiative, navigating ambiguity and aligning stakeholders across the organization. Seeing it deployed nationally and used by millions of customers was incredibly rewarding, and it reinforced my passion for building products that operate at scale and shape everyday experiences.

Why did you choose this business school? When I first visited MIT Sloan, I sat in on a lecture by Professor Andrew Lo, who described how he was using innovative finance techniques in biotechnology to accelerate drug development for rare diseases. He showed me what it looks like to take deep expertise in one area and deploy it somewhere you personally care about. That one lecture was enough to convince me that MIT Sloan was a community of impactful builders who find their own intersections to innovate. And you feel it everywhere you look. Most of my peers are working on side projects, and the energy is palpable.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite instructor has been Shira Springer, a senior lecturer who taught Communication for Leaders during my core semester. Her class pushed me to find and own my voice as a communicator, which has been foundational for me as a leader. When I approached her with my interest in AI and education, she immediately offered to sponsor an independent research project for me. I ran with it, and that project opened the door to my research assistant position with the MIT Sloan Teaching & Learning department. Shira shows this level of care for each of her students and empowers us to pursue our goals with determination.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? My favorite course was Web Lab, an Independent Activities Period course in MIT’s Electrical Engineering Computer Science (EECS) department. It’s a month-long computer science course taught by MIT undergrads where you learn to build and deploy a web app to production in teams. I was paired with another MIT Sloan MBA and an MIT freshman, and together we built a movie recommendation system from scratch. The undergraduate instructors brought incredible energy and were genuinely supportive teachers. I walked out of that class feeling like a real builder, and it pushed me to keep taking CS courses in later semesters. As a product leader, being able to build alongside engineers has always been important to me, and Web Lab gave me the hands-on foundation to do that with real credibility.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? My favorite MBA tradition is the Rolling Sloans concert, performed each semester by our classmates in the band. It’s one of the last events of the semester, and the energy in the room when you’re cheering on your section mates is unlike anything else. My section had two musicians in the band, and we always went all out for them. One of my best memories from Sloan is my section dancing in a circle with our arms around each other for the final song last semester. It was a simple moment, but it’s one I’ll carry with me long after graduation.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I wish I had started working on my startup idea even earlier. The idea uses computer vision to make physical spaces more accessible, and I didn’t start incubating it until the end of my first year. Starting earlier would have given me more runway to tap into MIT’s deep network of resources, mentors, and builders who are genuinely invested in helping ideas come to life. I was able to secure seed funding from MIT Sandbox in my second year, and I’m still actively building it as a side project. The lesson I’m taking with me is that when you have an idea, start now.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? The most impactful case I studied was “Oberoi Hotels: Train Whistle in the Tiger Reserve” in Management of Services with Professor of the Practice Zeynep Ton. Growing up, my parents owned motels, so this case felt particularly personal. The case taught me tactically how to build an operating system that empowers employees to create customer value in service operations, but the deeper lesson was about business ethics, specifically how to do right by your customers even when it’s costly. That ethos is something my parents embodied throughout my childhood, and seeing it validated in a case study struck a chord with me. It also shaped how I want to lead teams going forward, by building environments where people feel empowered to make the right call for the customer, even when it’s hard.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? I love living by the Charles River. I’ve made so many memories along it, from picnicking on the Esplanade in the summer, to moonlight sailing adventures, to biking with my fiancé. The Charles is particularly beautiful during fall foliage season and I feel incredibly lucky having experienced a New England fall in full.

What business leader do you admire most? Dharmesh Shah, co-founder of HubSpot and fellow MIT alum, is a huge inspiration for me. What I admire most is that he’s a builder first-and-foremost, and even as a successful founder, he never stopped tinkering. That mentality resonates deeply with me because I believe the best leaders in tech are the ones who stay close to the frontier, who understand what’s being built and can help shape where it goes. This past summer, I actually used one of his newest products, Agent.ai, to build a prototype for a personalized learning agent at MIT OpenCourseWare. The fact that I’m building with his tools makes the admiration feel a lot more real.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? MIT Sloan offers a variety of AI related courses, but the most influential for me was Hands-On Deep Learning with Professor of the Practice Rama Ramakrishnan. The course was an approachable way to learn the fundamentals of deep learning and actually build models ourselves. MIT Sloan recognizes that today’s business leaders need to understand more than just the basics of AI. Most of us won’t be building deep learning models in our full-time jobs, but gaining that hands-on foundation gave me the confidence to build and evaluate AI products in a way I couldn’t before. That shift has been invaluable, especially as AI becomes central to every product decision.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? One of my MBA classmates I admire most is Shreya Singhal, one of my core teammates. Shreya has a quiet strength and an incredible drive that I know will take her far. She created a new action learning trek called the Product Management Trek to New York City, pitched it to get school credit approved, and made it happen for her fellow students. This is the perfect example of her creativity and dedication to the Sloan community. She is also one of the wisest people I know, and someone I would count on my personal board of directors.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? My top two professional goals are to build a product that impacts a billion users, and to build a product that expands access to economic opportunity. Ideally, they’re the same product.

What made Hardi such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026?

“Hardi Vajir brings passion and deep empathy to her work and leadership roles. She played a role in making MIT OpenCourseWare—a web based publication of virtually all MIT course content—accessible to those without Wi-Fi, which will help people in underserved areas access free educational content. Further, Hardi developed AI tools for personalized learning, and won a 2025 hackathon. As a leader of the Sloan Women in Management, she inspires MBAs to pursue their dreams.  Always honing her technical expertise, she is now working with MIT Sloan’s Teaching and Learning Technology department to create a drag/drop AI tool for faculty to transform cases into interactive role-playing simulations. Hardi has been a true asset to the MIT Sloan community.”

Maura Herson
Assistant Dean of the MBA Program
MIT Sloan School of Management

Dylan Girard
Senior Associate Director, Teaching Services
MIT Sloan School of Management

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