GIM's Grand Alumni Meet 2015 Attracts A Large Alumni Pool And Founding Faculty To Campus
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This year was all the more special, as the list of special invitees included founding faculty at GIM, who had graciously agreed to attend this year's event.
- (1888PressRelease) September 15, 2015 - The annual alumni meet at Goa Institute of Management's (GIM) campus is always a special day as it attracts alumni in large numbers, from all corners of the world, to come together to interact with student, staff and faculty and look back at their foundation years in management education with nostalgia.
In its early years, GIM operated only from its Ribandar campus - a colonial style grand campus. It was befitting that day's proceedings started, in the early morning, with the alumni participating in a 'walk down the memory lane', which included a tour of the Ribandar campus. This brought back a gush of memories, as seen reflected in their wide smiles. They were then brought to the new Sanquelim campus, where they had a series of interactive session with the students. The students were divided on the basis of their choice of specialization, and the alumni who were doing really well in that field guided them as to how they should move ahead with their interests.
Mr. Sanjay Netravalkar, President, GIM Alumni Association, welcomed the alumni and the founding faculty, and expressed his gratitude towards everybody who had come down for the event. The work gone behind organising the meet was reflected in the camaraderie and feeling of togetherness that was felt among all. GIM Alumni Association summarized the alumni related initiatives. He informed everyone of the opening of a separate bank account in the name of GIMAA and communicated that the alumni association corpus, presently with the GIM main account will be transferred in the Alumni association bank account. With constant new initiatives and activities, Mr. Netravalkar has been an instrumental force in building a strong alumni network at GIM.
What followed was a grand series of events that started at 2:30 p.m. with the Padma Shri Father Romuald D'Souza, Founder and Director of GIM, lighting the lamp and addressing a vast gathering of over 400 attendees. Father D'Souza's address was met by a thunderous round of applause which continued when Director, Prof. Ajit Parulekar, came up on the stage to deliver his address. He shared his vision as to how he plans to take the institute to new heights and how the alumni could be a part of this plan. This was followed by an honouring of the founding team of GIM: Father D'Souza, Prof. Uday Damodaran, Prof. Suma Damodaran, Prof. V.Gopal, Prof. Ranjini Swamy, Prof. C.M. Ramesh, Mr. Steve Fernandes and Mrs. Nayana Talaulikar. The founding faculty shared their own experiences as to how GIM evolved over the past couple of decades, with Prof. Gopal saying, "People who struggle together, stick together."
At 4:00 p.m. the Alumni conclave began with Prof. A.G. Balasubramanian announcing the topic: "Light in the Gloom." The speakers at the conclave were GIM alumni:
1. Mr. Mrunmoy Das-Batch 1996. Mr. Das is currently the President of Das Capital Investment and Banking Ltd. He reflected on his time during and before GIM. He narrated his story of how he came from Orissa with poor communication skills and rich hopes, and attributed his success to being able to connect to people and learning from them. He also talked about the challenges he faced as he walked through his career and how those challenges helped make him the man he is today.
2. Mr. Murali Sathyanarayana- Batch 1998. Mr. Sathyanarayana presently works as Global Alliance Director, Atos. He stressed the importance for everyone to re-skill themselves every now and then, in order to achieve their dreams and not settle for anything less. He left with a message for the students to value the investment of parents and the teachings of the professors.
3. Mr. Ketan Hajarnavis-Batch 1999. Mr. Hajarnavis works as Director & Business Head of ThoughtWorks, India (Executive Consultant). He talked about his school days, how he had to change many schools because of the kind of job his father had, and gradually moved on to talk about his college days. He said that the 2 years at GIM were really special for him as he got to learn a lot and that helped him mould his career in the right way.
The conclave speakers also talked about why a focus on a specialization in the field of MBA was the need of the day and how recruiters, nowadays, have a different approach while hiring individuals. After the conclave, the speakers were felicitated and a vote of thanks was delivered. All of this was followed by a cultural evening where students showcased their talents, leaving the alumni amazed and in great spirits. The evening ended with the alumni connecting amongst themselves during dinner.
Goa Institute of Management
Ribandar, Goa 403006
0832-2490300
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