Rendezvous 2006 : Impression of the Alumni Meet in USA

For most of us SPians that gathered to meet our fellow batchmates and other SPians at Rendezvous 2006 the process of getting together was great fun. With “No SPian left behind”, so many of us discovered “SPians” in our neighborhood. Suddenly, our worlds started to feel like a small village where everyone knew so many SPians they had never thought of before. Meeting each other and learning of the progress Rendezvous 2006 : Impression of the Alumni Meet in USA Eternal Roses: Rendezvous 2006 (Picture credit: Manish Nakhre, IM 2000 batch) made by others in their professional and personal lives made one feel we were climbing the echelons of the social and corporate world together. Out of the 47 very enthusiastic alumni, finally 35 SPians + spouses / kids (totaling over 50) eventually could make it, with no specific agenda but just to meet another SPian.

It was great to see so many alumni from across the US. That has also made us all ambitious and has had a galvanizing effect. A number of action items are being pursued, mainly:

The FIRST SUNDAY of every December has been declared as the day for the Annual Rendezvous 2- To form a "formal" organization for SPJIMR US Alumni. 3- Integrate all US alumni into one force at a high level. To have regional chapters for regional alumni activities that tie up back into the National US chapter

Deepa Soman

Deepa Soman has a bachelor's degree in Economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai (1985) and a postgraduat e degree in Business Management (Marketing) from SPJIMR (1987).

She joined Hindustan Lever Ltd. and spent six years working in the erstwhile Lipton India Ltd, holding positions as Area Sales Manager and as Marketing Research Manager.

She availed of a career break from HLL in 1993 and moved to Jamaica for three years, where she worked as Consultant with a marketing research firm, J. A. Young Research Ltd. At Jamaica she was also visiting faculty at the University of West Indies, Mona Campus, and taught a program in Marketing Research.

After her three-year stint in Jamaica, Deepa returned to India and set up Lumière Business Solutions, a boutique qualitative marketing research firm. Lumière has worked extensively with HLL, partnering in the co-creation and refinement of research methodologies ranging from idea evaluation through finished product.

Deepa is a managing committee member of the Market Research Society of India, an association of MR users and practitioners and is actively involved with various activities of the association .

Harpreet Puri

Harpreet Puri passed out of SPJIMR in 2001 and joined HCL from campus after specializing in Marketing & IT. He is presently working as Project Manager for HCL Technologies Ltd. and managing a large team of Consultants in Frankfurt for a SAP project in Deutsche Bank, Germany. Harpreet earlier worked as Senior Consultant and Transition Manager in a project with British Telecom in UK managing a team of 20 consultants in a global outsourcing engagement for BT. His key strength is a strong understanding of the IT applications outsourcing & offshoring model, having successfully managed two large customer engagements in UK & Germany. He has accumulated a strong global I.T. industry experience after his PGDM in various profiles with HCL Technologies & Global Telesystems Ltd (GE partner). During this time, he has been in IT Sales & Marketing, Transition Management and more recently in SAP Project Management. Harpreet has had a strong exposure of Automobile, Telecom, Banking & Government vertical both in India and Europe. He also has an extensive experience of dealing with international customers and working in global crossfunctional and multi-cultural environments. He is also certified by SAP Germany as a Business Warehouse 'Solution Consultant'.

Harpreet is a keen traveler and his work has taken him to over 15 countries, which has helped him understand various cultures better.