IITK Alumni Association (IITKAA) Background
I have been involved with the IITKAA for several years in UK and USA. I co-founded the UK chapter in 1999. I was actively engaged with the IITKAA US West Coast Chapter between 2001 and 2006 and had the privilege of serving as the vice president (2002-2003) and president (2004-2005) of the chapter. During this time, I also worked with the Pan-IIT organization as a member of the branding Team for IIT50 and co-led the IITK showcase at IIT50 alumni convention in Santa Clara in 2003. Since 2006, I have been involved with the IITKAA Boston chapter.
Plan for 2010-2012 –
I am currently working with IITK Golden Jubilee Alumni Convention US team (Washington, D.C. and Santa Clara, CA) as a co-chair of the sponsorship team and hope to continue to contribute for the causes of IITK Alumni and IITK.
If elected, as a member of the Board of the IITKAA, I plan to focus on
- Programs and activities to improve alumni engagement. As a member representing regions outside India, my special focus would be to create a support mechanism for local chapters in North America, Europe and Australia. I would also encourage and support the use of new communication, collaboration and social media technologies (like Facebook, Linked-in or Twitter) to promote better engagement in the on-line world.
- Enhancing communication amongst alumni and establishing a forum for younger alumni and current students to connect with and learn from the experienced alumni. We need to have engaged online communities of alumni and strong local chapters for this to happen.
- Programs to foster collaboration between the industry and IIT (through its alumni) and create & sustain an innovation ecosystem. IITK Vision 2020 Team has done excellent work in this area and I would work with Vision 2020 Team and other member of the BOD to support the vision 2020 agenda (http://www.iitk.ac.in/drpg/iitkvision2020.htm)
- Programs to enhance the IIT brand in the local communities. I will work with local chapters to support local programs which enhance the IIT brand in the communities we live in.
I would like to collaborate with you - the alumni, other members of the BOD and IITK to make it happen. Please feel free to reach out to me at ajayb@iitkalumni.org
Professional Background
I have been involved with the software services industry for the last 25 years and have worked with Indian IT majors such as Tata Unisys (now TCS), HCL and MindTree. For the last 9 years, I have been closely involved with the software product engineering (also known as offshore product development – OPD) segment in the US and currently work for MindTree as General manager, sales/business development for the Software Product Engineering Business in the North East USA.
I am also the Co-Chair of the Software and Services Special Interest Group of TiE Boston. In my leisure time, I like to catch up on books, Indian music and movies (bollywood).
My detailed professional profile is available on Linked-in at http://www.linkedin.com/in/realajaybharadwaj and you can follow me on twitter @ajaybharadwaj.