By Chaitra Somasundar, Staff Writer
Mohit Mehta is a T-Bird working as the Director of the Research division at Dinan & Co. He completed his undergraduate degree in Economics from W.P. Carey School of Business in 2004. While at ASU, he cultivated an interest in international business due to his coursework, interactions with professors, projects and honors thesis. Upon graduation, he was hired at Dinan & Co, a Phoenix based investment bank and he opened their first overseas office in New Delhi. His work experience further drove him to take up the evening MBA program at Thunderbird.
I had the opportunity to meet him at the ‘Alumni Meet and Greet’ session held during the Foundations 2015 program. The event was the first networking opportunity for many incoming students and most of us felt overwhelmed. Interacting with him helped us feel at ease and we easily got acquainted with ‘Thunderbird Mystique’ as we listened to his experiences at Thunderbird.
Mohit Mehta (photo courtesy of Mohit Mehta)
Das Tor asked his advice to incoming students on leveraging the resources available at Thunderbird. Mohit said that he had limited interaction with the CMC because he was an evening student with a full-time job. He accelerated his career growth by taking up classes that included client facing projects. One class that stood out for him was the Corporate Partners, a class still taught by Professor Gibbons where they worked with a State Retirement System that has over $7B in assets under management. During his time at Thunderbird, he attended multiple conferences that allowed for one-on-one opportunities with professionals. “I gained some valuable relationships during these conferences that I still maintain”, he said. Mohit took part in a consulting trek to Chicago to understand how the industry works. “These treks are a great way to meet alumni and other professionals who will typically make themselves available to you”, he said. Mohit was a part of multiple clubs on campus (including Net Impact) and utilized the opportunities these clubs provided.
Being a part of W.P. Carey and Thunderbird, Mohit knows about the strengths of both these schools. Students can utilize much of it due to the recent merger with ASU. W.P. Carey’s sheer size allows for a career management center that brings in many employers. He thinks that this is a decided resource advantage that hopefully Thunderbird will be able to utilize. Apart from the obvious global experience that T-Bird educators provide, he believes the immersive experiences offered at Thunderbird during his time were exemplary and could be a benefit to W.P. Carey. “The various industry specific treks, the TEM labs, Summerims and Winterims allowed students to gain an experience that no classroom experience can ever provide”, he stated.
T-birds’ love for travel, global cultures and cuisines is well known. When asked about his most memorable experience at Thunderbird, he spoke about the 4S Winterim to Seoul, Shanghai, Ho Chi Min, and Singapore. This great group of students were led by the indomitable Professors Mary Teagarden and Andreas Schotter. The opportunity to see four different countries, cultures and work environments truly allowed them to apply their coursework in the real-world. “The alumni in all four countries were very gracious with their time – and the professors put together an amazing portfolio of company visits and cultural experiences. Where else but at Thunderbird can you visit Samsung on one day and stand at the DMZ looking directly at a North Korean soldier the next day!”, he exclaimed.
His humility in knowing more about the incoming students and willingness to help is what most people hope to imbibe.