DNS ROLE MODELS 2009-10

DNS ROLE MODELS inspire others to excel.  Listing is based on the responses received from the readers of DeNobili.edu.in. This year's edition contains names of successful Nobilians from various fields including science, business, technology, arm forces, medicine and IT.

Anjan Mukherjee (Snr Cambridge 1966): Anjan graduated in Electrical Engineering from BIT, Sindri (1973). He joined Hindustan Steel Works Construction Ltd at Bokaro Steel City. Then he worked with a number of other organisations like Fertilizer Corporation of India at Trombay (1975), Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation at Haldia (1978), Life Insurance Corporation of India. He rose through the ranks to become an Executive Director of LIC, India, in which post he retired (Nov 2008).

At present, Anjan holds the posts of: (i) Director in Garden Silk Mills (ii) Chairman of Building Advisory Committee of SEBI (iii) Chairman of Standing Committee of RBI Toward MIC Related Procurements (iv) Governing Council Member of Indian Building Congress. He is also on the Board of Directors of ICICI Venture Fund.

Late Shyama Nanda Roy (Snr Cambridge 1969): Shyama started his career in Tisco in 1973 as RDM and footballer. Moved to BCCL (1981) as System Officer. Joined Nelco as Senior System Consultant (1986). Then moved as Manager Systems in Clarion Advertising Ltd (1988). He joined Duncan Industries Ltd, as Sr Manger IT (1990). In 1995, he moved to Exide Industries Ltd as General Manager IT. While working here, he continued his studies for his PGDM from University of Indianapolis, USA. This he completed after joining Infar India Ltd as CIO (1998). He joined Phillips Carbon Black Limited in RPG Group as CIO (in 2000). In 2003, he left PCBL to start his own IT Company, TechSAS Consultants. On May 8, 2004, he breathed his last. He died at an early age of 52. He always wanted to be remembered as ‘A Dreamer, Visualiser, Planner and Goal-getter'.

Late Dr Subhashish (Ashy) Gupta (ICSE 1980): After studying at various institutions in India, Ashy joined the PhD program at the University of Pennsylvania and completed his PhD in Operations Research & Information Systems. He was a Senior Systems Expert at American Express in Detroit before moving to South Caroline, where he passed away in tragic circumstances. Though his life was a mere 44 years, Ashy accomplished wonderful things in life of which his skills as a guitarist and his warmth, honesty and friendship were legendary. He played the guitar along with fellow classmates like Naveen Roberts and Gurprit Singh Sodhi at the Annual Talent Contest in De Nobili School for several years running. His son is also a very accomplished musician at a young age of seven years.

Dr Vishwajit Nimgaonkar (1973 ISC): After MBBS at CMC Vellore, Vishwajit won a Rhodes scholarship to do his PhD at Oxford.  Thereafter he has dedicated his professional career to finding a cure for schizophrenia, first attached to a London research hospital, then at the University of Pittsburgh.  He is a leading researcher and physician in the field, with collaborators in India, Egypt, Korea, and Israel.  Vishwajit switched from pharmacological research to genetic a few years ago.  Very active in the community helping at soup kitchens, leading the charge for universal health coverage, and very active in the Rhodes Scholar awareness and selection program.

Abhijit Nimgaonkar (1975 ISC): After completing his schooling from DNS, Abhijit joined BITS, Pilani for his engineering. At BITS, he got 6 consecutive 10 CGPAs, something no one else had achieved.  After doing his E&E Engineering from BITS, Abhijit worked with Tata Burroughs for five years (the younger generation of today may not be aware of Tata Burroughs, but in the 1980s, "TBL" was one of the most prestigious companies to work for, and also the initiator along with TCS of the Indian IT consulting business abroad).

In 1987, he joined ZS Associates, a small USA based consulting firm founded by two professors from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business. In a span of ten years after joining ZS, Abhijit was elected to be a Partner. Along the way he did an MBA from Kellogg. ZS is now a top-25 management consulting firm, retaining its focus over the years on Sales and Marketing effectiveness issues, and analytics to solve the issues. Abhijit participated in the growth of ZS from 20 people when he joined in 1987 to 1000+ now.  He has spent time in Chicago, Paris, Princeton, Pune over that time growing or launching offices and new practices for ZS. The India presence of ZS (including an upcoming office in Gurgaon) involves associates doing the same high-value work as associates in other offices, vs. back office operations.

Vinod Jain (1975 ISC): After passing out of De Nobili, Vinod joined IIT Kharagpur initially in Aeronautical Engineering and then shifted to Agriculture Engineering. He got a campus offer from Eicher Tractors where he worked for five years. Vinod quit corporate sector in 1986 to joined PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action), a NGO promoted by two persons quite erudite. He started off as an individual freelance development consultant in 1999 and did a number of projects with other development agencies, mostly on assessment and capacity building of NGOs and some World Bank assisted projects. In 2003-04, he formed Trust Consulting, a development consultancy firm that provided support to other agencies. In 2005-06, Vinod became managing trustee of another agency ‘Trust Microfin Network'.

Dr Bobby John (ISC 1989): Bobby is the President of Global Health Advocates, a global non-profit organisation that has been established to advocate for and catalyze the emergence of a social movement against AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases of poverty. He was trained as a physician with the Indian Armed Forces Medical College. He opted out of his Army commission and joined a small village hospital near Pune in Maharashtra State in western India. Bobby worked for five years in the village as a combination surgeon and obstetrician. During these years, he was exposed to the hard realities of poverty, ill health, and the disasters of AIDS and TB.

Subsequently, Bobby set up and headed World Vision India's countrywide AIDS program. In 2002, he joined the Swiss-based Massive Effort Campaign as its Southeast Asia director, and subsequently became its president. He works closely with the numerous national governments and non-governmental agencies in the region to establish, fund, and manage transparent, comprehensive, national health and education programs aimed at eradicating HIV AIDS, TB, and Malaria. Bobby serves as the high-burden country advocacy advisor for the Gates ACTION grant managed by RESULTS.

Indra Singhal (ISC 1972): Indra has 25 years experience in the technology industry and more recently BioTech. He is a Principal at Invinox, Inc. After passing from De Nobili School, he studied from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Pennsylvania State University. He has been an active of De Nobili Online community.

Send your feedback to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The list has been compiled by Kunal Majumder, Honorary Editor of DeNobili.edu.in, has been published in the Annual Magazine of the school.