Shubhi Gupta

University of California, Davis, Graduate School of Management

“Optimistic problem solver, collaborative leader, driven to create products that genuinely help people.”

Hometown: Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India

Fun fact about yourself: My version of recharging is simple: long walks and great podcasts. I listened to 300+ episodes last year, and they became a steady source of perspective, ideas, and calm.

Undergraduate School and Degree: University of Delhi – Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, India

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? InMobi as a Product Manager, before that Adobe as Software Development Engineer

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? Rocket, Detroit

Where will you be working after graduation? Still exploring! I’m looking for a role where I can build, scale, and solve meaningful problems through product and strategy

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

Vice President, Women in Leadership & Allies (WiLA): 2025 – current. Scaled the club from 0 to 100+ members while mentoring four directors across marketing and operations. Spearheaded key initiatives including a mentorship program, leadership panel, and speaker series to advance women’s leadership on campus.

Director of Alumni Relations, Associated Students of Management (ASM): 2025 – current. Represented the Graduate School of Management at alumni board meetings, serving as the student voice to strengthen alumni engagement and secure support for the student community.

Graduate Teaching Assistant: Fall 2024 – current. Supporting instruction across Consumer Behavior, Technology Competition & Strategy, and Calculus for Data-Driven Applications.

Tech Innovation Challenge Case Competition Finalist: Fall 2024. Competition hosted by Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University. Developed enGenius, an AI-powered healthcare platform integrating EHR, wearables, and social determinants of health to deliver personalized care for Medicaid and Medicare populations.

Full-Time MBA Merit Scholar: 2024 – 2026. Awarded a $40,000 merit scholarship in recognition of exceptional academic performance and professional experience.

Most recently, I was selected as one of two students to receive the Stephen G. and Shelley A. Newberry Distinguished Fellowship for Leadership Award, which is the Graduate School of Management’s most prestigious privately funded honor. The award is given to MBA candidates whose leadership, both prior to and throughout the program, signals strong potential to drive impact beyond graduation.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? When I took on the Vice President role for what was then a dormant student club, I saw an opportunity to build something truly meaningful. I helped revive and reimagine it into Women in Leadership & Allies (WiLA), intentionally rebranding it to be inclusive of not just women, but the allies who actively support women’s growth, leadership, and advancement. What I am most proud of is that we did not stop at a name change. We listened to what students needed and responded with substance: launching a peer mentorship program connecting first-years with second-years, organizing resume workshops during the high-pressure recruiting season, and building a speaker series that brought alumni and professionals into the room to make career paths feel real and accessible. I even leveraged my alumni relations role to bring a GSM alum back as a speaker, which made those conversations even more personal and relevant.

Watching the club grow from inactivity to 100+ members and seeing it culminate in a large-scale Women’s Day celebration featuring an #IAmRemarkable workshop (a Google backed initiative for confidence- building) has been the most rewarding part of my MBA journey. For me, this is not just an extracurricular achievement. It reflects the kind of leader I aspire to be: someone who does not simply inherit organizations, but transforms them into spaces that are more inclusive, purposeful, and genuinely impactful.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? The professional achievement I am most proud of is leading a patented innovation at Adobe that shipped at global scale. I initiated the project, built the team around it, and drove it from a raw idea to a finished product. I brought together the right people, bridged the gap between AI research and product reality, and led the development of a deblurring motion in videos feature, which was showcased at Adobe MAX Sneaks where it ranked among the top ten most liked innovations at the conference. What I am especially proud of is the cross-functional nature of the work where I framed the problem, contributed to building the solution, and shaped how it was positioned and communicated to the world. The feature earned a patent, reached roughly 200-million users globally, and attracted coverage in TechCrunch. More than the recognition, what stays with me is knowing I was the one who saw the opportunity, assembled the team, saw it through, and delivered technology that will continue to make a difference at scale for years to come.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose UC Davis GSM because of something that is hard to find and easy to underestimate: a genuinely collaborative community, a deep ecosystem for sustainability and innovation, and strong practical outcomes. Culture mattered to me. I wanted a program where classmates support each other, share resources, and push one another to lead and GSM delivered exactly that kind of environment from day one. What sealed it was UC Davis’s broader strength in clean energy, climate, and food and agriculture. As someone motivated by both strategy and execution, I wanted business school to feel connected to real problems, not just case studies. GSM sits inside an ecosystem where those connections happen naturally, and that made the “impact” path feel tangible rather than aspirational. What brings that to life are the industry immersions, hands-on experiences that take students directly into sectors like technology, finance, food and agriculture, healthcare, and sustainability, offering real exposure to industry leaders, companies, and career pathways that go far beyond the classroom. Combined with a tight-knit alumni network, accessible career support, and proximity to the Bay Area, UC Davis was simply the right fit aligned with how I learn best, what I want to build, and the kind of leader I am working to become.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite MBA professor has been Professor Rachel Chen in Operations and what set her apart was how seamlessly she combined rigor with real-world relevance. She never let operations stay theoretical. She pushed us to think in systems, quantify trade-offs, and make decisions under uncertainty, which is exactly what operational leaders face every day.

The experience that captured her approach best was a group project where we had to observe a local operation in person, identify key operational issues, define quantifiable performance measures, and recommend improvements while anticipating real implementation constraints. In the process, we moved from frameworks to execution in a way that felt far closer to actual business work than a typical case study.

What made her class even more meaningful was how directly it translated to my internship at Rocket, where I was tasked with identifying bottlenecks in existing processes and solving for them. Her frameworks did not stay in the classroom: they showed up in the work. Beyond the coursework, I have also had the chance to connect with her one-on-one to discuss research topics and emerging questions in the field. Her intellectual curiosity is infectious and getting to know her as a researcher and mentor, not just an instructor, has been a privilege and a big reason she stands out as my favorite professor at GSM.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? My favorite MBA course has been Negotiation because it directly developed the skillset I need to become a future business leader: building alignment across stakeholders, advocating for users, and driving decisions when priorities conflict. This class wasn’t theoretical; it was intensely practical and behavioral.

Each week, we were assigned roles, given a case, and had to negotiate in real time, then debrief outcomes and strategies as a class. The repeated simulations across different formats (bilateral vs. multi-party, single vs. multi-issue) helped me learn how to prepare, read the room, and adapt my approach under pressure. Just as importantly, it trained the “how” of negotiation, how to manage emotions, when to speak, what to say with precision, and when a pause is the most strategic move. Over the term, the course pushed me to reflect on my own strengths and blind spots through planning documents and post-analysis, which made the learning feel real. I left not just a better negotiator, but a more self-aware and intentional communicator, which I believe is one of the most transferable skills business school can give you.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? My favorite MBA tradition at UC Davis GSM has been the Diwali celebration and what makes it special is how the school transforms it into a true community event, not just a cultural moment for Indian students. The night is full of details that feel personal and joyful: henna, traditional activities, incredible Indian food, and a dance floor that stays alive well into the night. The dance performances moved me most where classmates from completely different backgrounds jumped on stage and celebrated alongside us, making the night feel far more meaningful than I expected. Honestly, I have never celebrated Diwali with as much zeal and happiness as I have here at GSM, not even back in India where I grew up with the festival and that says everything about this community. It reflects what I love most about GSM: a school that does not just acknowledge diversity, but actively celebrates it, making people feel genuinely seen, welcomed, and proud of where they come from.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? Looking back, the one thing I would do differently is start saying “yes” earlier especially to conversations and opportunities that felt slightly outside my comfort zone. In the beginning, I was so focused on doing everything “right” (classes, recruiting, adjusting to a new environment) that I sometimes held back unnecessarily. However, I later realized the most valuable parts of an MBA often come from unscheduled moments like spontaneous coffee chats, taking on leadership before you feel fully ready, or joining a project simply because you’re curious. The MBA has been where I grew from being shy to more confident and expressive. If I could do it again, I would lean into that growth sooner to build deeper relationships faster and make even fuller use of the UC Davis GSM community.

What business leader do you admire most? The business leader I admire most is Mira Murati because her career demonstrates what it looks like to lead at the intersection of innovation, strategy, and high-stakes business decisions. What sets her apart is not just her technical depth, but her ability to translate complex technology into real products, build and scale world-class teams, and navigate the kind of organizational pressure that breaks most leaders.

Stepping in as interim CEO during one of the most scrutinized leadership transitions in recent business history, she held the company together with composure and credibility, earning the trust of both her team and the board when it mattered most. What inspires me as a woman who aspires to lead a disruptive startup is what she represents: someone who built influence through execution and strategic clarity in a space where women remain deeply underrepresented. At the same time, she had the conviction to back herself by founding Thinking Machines Lab with significant investor confidence behind her. She is not just a role model for women in leadership. She is a blueprint for the kind of business leader I am working to become commercially sharp, strategically bold, and unafraid to lead when it matters most.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? It has been fascinating to be in business school as the AI wave accelerated. At GSM, professors have integrated AI in a very practical way where many encouraged us to use it in coursework and projects. They have often asked us to explain how we used it, which pushed me to be intentional instead of passive. At the same time, the curriculum itself has evolved: new courses and modules, such as AI in Marketing and Agentic AI, have emerged. Even traditional classes now weave AI into assignments and discussions. Through that exposure, I learned both the value and the limits of AI. It’s powerful for brainstorming, editing, structuring thoughts, synthesizing research, and even early-stage ideation. However, it can become harmful when it replaces original thinking, overuse is usually obvious, and it can flatten voice, reduce nuance, or create false confidence. My biggest insight is that AI works best as a ‘co-pilot’: it accelerates iteration, but the responsibility for judgment, context, and credibility still sits entirely with the student.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? The MBA classmate I admire most is Disha Gupta. What I respect most about her is the way she shows up for people, consistently and especially when things get hard. In high-pressure moments, she is the person who stays calm and reliable and yet she is also bold: direct, fearless in voicing her perspective, and willing to advocate for the team even when it is uncomfortable. Business school creates plenty of situations where it is easier to stay quiet or sidestep conflict, and Disha does the opposite. She speaks up when it matters, keeps the group anchored to the goal, and does the unglamorous work that turns plans into real outcomes. Working alongside her has reminded me that leadership is not always loud or visible. Sometimes it looks like quiet discipline, steady courage, and an unwavering commitment to raising the standard for everyone around you. Disha embodies all of that, and I am a better leader for having had her as both a classmate and a partner in building something meaningful.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

Build and lead a disruptive startup as CEO. I want to take everything I’ve learned across product, strategy, and technology and channel it into building a company that solves a real problem at scale where innovation is not just “cool,” but truly useful and responsibly built. Long-term, I want to be the kind of leader who can translate cutting-edge ideas into products that improve lives, create jobs, and reshape an industry.

Create a scalable mentorship platform for women and allies. Business school showed me how powerful mentorship can be and how often it’s missing when people need it most. I want to expand what I started through WiLA into something bigger than campus: a community that connects emerging leaders with mentors, sponsorship, and opportunities, so more women can access the guidance and support that accelerates careers.

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

“My name is Rachel (Rong) Chen and I am a professor at the Graduate School of Management at University of California at Davis. It is my pleasure to nominate Shubhi Gupta for recognition as a Poets&Quants Best & Brightest MBA. She represents not only one of the most accomplished students in our program today, but also one of the most promising future leaders at the intersection of AI, product innovation, and operational strategy.

Academically, Shubhi combines intellectual rigor with applied ambition. She has earned a 3.91 GPA in the UC Davis MBA program while serving as a Teaching Assistant for several courses. She achieved the highest marks in my Operations core course, reflecting a disciplined, systems-oriented approach to problem- solving. Her foundation extends beyond the classroom. Building on earlier research into behavioral systems and technology addiction, she has authored five international publications, demonstrating unusual depth for an MBA candidate. She approaches management not only as an executor, but as a thinker committed to evidence, experimentation, and long-term value creation.

Professionally, her trajectory shows accelerating scope and impact. At Rocket Companies, during the Rocket-Redfin integration, she stepped into a high-stakes operational environment and brought structure to complexity. She audited over 100 Workday integrations, created 30+ user stories, supported a 10-engineer team amid doubled integration demands, and identified systemic issues responsible for nearly half of major cases. Her work improved resolution speed and earned her a “Rockstar” rating, awarded to approximately 4-5% of employees company-wide. More importantly, it revealed her instinct for diagnosing system-level inefficiencies, an essential skill for future enterprise leaders.

At InMobi, she moved from operational excellence to revenue-driving product leadership. Leading a 16-member cross-functional team, she advanced AI-driven marketplace innovations, including predictive floor pricing and inventory optimization, delivering a 3% margin increase and millions in incremental revenue. She demonstrated the rare ability to translate technical modeling decisions into commercial impact. Her work on roadmap prioritization and bid-shading strategy further showcased her capacity to balance engineering realities with market dynamics. These are not isolated wins; they are early indicators of someone prepared to lead AI-enabled platforms at scale.

Beyond corporate settings, her leadership is community-centered and institution-building. As Vice President of Women in Leadership & Allies (WiLA), she grew the organization from zero to more than 100 members within three months, establishing initiatives that strengthened mentorship, visibility, and belonging. As Director of Alumni Relations, she built over 150 alumni connections and enhanced the feedback loop between students and alumni, improving long-term community engagement.

What distinguishes Shubhi Gupta is not simply performance across domains, but directional momentum. She is building a career defined by systems thinking, AI fluency, product innovation, and enterprise-scale execution. Her path suggests a future leader with both analytical depth and human-centered leadership.

For these reasons, I offer my strongest endorsement of Shubhi Gupta for the Poets&Quants Best & Brightest MBA distinction. She is poised not only to succeed in her next role, but to shape the future of AI-driven product leadership in the years ahead.”

Professor Rachel Chen
UC Davis Graduate School of Management

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