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Issue: #3 March 2008
Greetings!

Response to the first two newsletters, sent in November and January has been incredible. Almost 40% of recipients  of each newsletter have clicked on a story; this is far above industry averages.  If you wish to participate in creating future issues, please email me with the subject line "Writing for newsletter" at [email protected].  (Don't simply reply to this email) and tell me a bit about your writing and graphics experience.

Also note that every IIT Alumnus mentioned in this newsletter has a LinkedIn profile. Create your profile today if you don't have one, and then apply to join the LinkedIn Group for IIT Alumni. We already have 3,013 members and 661 applicants waiting; our volunteers review profiles before accepting, sp please be patient.
 
FINDING ALUMNI GROUPS
  New Feature on website

There are large number of social online groups today catering to IIT Alumni in different parts of the world and in different areas of work/interests. Have you ever wondered what are the various "active" IIT Alumni groups in your area? Will you want to network with fellow IIT alumni who have similar interests and hobbies? 

Pan IIT brings you the answer - a searchable list of more than 500 IIT groups, across Yahoo, Orkut, Google. MSN, etc., with additional information such as description, number of members in each group and activity levels. Click here to  take a look, and apply to join a few groups.

This function was designed and implemented by the hard-working volunteer marketing team at pan-IIT USA: Ashu Garg, Tarun Jain, Deepak Goel and others. Two vendors assisted in gathering/filtering the data and in implement the online app for display.

ANU ACHARYA LEVERAGES NETWORKING
Anuradha Acharya Interviewed by Shweta Khare

A 1995 Physics graduate of IIT Kharagpur, Anuradha Acharya is the co-founder and  CEO of Ocimum Biosolutions, a life sciences R&D enabling company. The company was founded eight years ago and today has over 2,000 customers worldwide under three business units: BioIT, BioMolecules and BioResearch.  Prior Ocimum  Ms.Acharya worked for a startup in the telecommunications space, Mantiss Information and a consulting firm, SEI Information where she helped create a social networking site for entrepreneurs. Her current company as been named to the Deloitte list of Fastest Growing companies in Asia, three years in a row.

 How have tools like Linked-In helped you?

 It has been very helpful both for coordinating and keeping in touch with people that I already know and those whom  I would want to know. These tools allow you to search for right people within an organization and also find out who can help you reach them.

 
Can networking help professionals who are not entrepreneurs?

Any professional can gain from being exposed to a large network. It allows better access into opportunities; being able to connect with the right people allows them to scout for opportunities, talk to peers in different companies to learn and become part of other circles.

 What other tips on professional networking you can share with fellow alumni?

 -         Find time to network.. its about who you know, not always about what you know.

-         Don't network with just anyone. Find relevant contacts that you can develop over the years..

-         Work on your existing contacts, since every relationship that counts, especially the oldest ones.


IIT CREDIT CARD
Credit Card for IIT Apply now

Bank of America offers a special credit with the IIT Alumni logo for US residents and citizens. There's no annual fee and a portion of your purchases flows to the Alumni Association at no additional cost to you.
Click here to apply.
Alumni and non-alumni alike can apply and be approved. If you run a company, you might consider getting these cards for all your key employees who travel.
DILIP VENKATACHARI, PRESIDENT PAN-IIT USA
Dilip Venkatachari Madras Alum coordinates U.S. Effort

In the last issue we profiled Chennai-based B  Santhanam who is chairing the next conference. Today let's meet the ever smiling Dilip Venkatachari, who serves as President of Pan IIT USA, Inc. and also on the Pan-IIT Global Board.

Dilip manages Google's mobile advertising and monetization. Dilip joined Google from eBay/PayPal, where he was Vice President of Payment Services and Business Operations, responsible for PayPal's payments infrastructure, relationships with financial institutions, risk and fraud management, and compliance.

Previously, Dilip was the President & Co-founder of CashEdge, a provider of online payments solutions for financial institutions; and has held a variety of executive roles in technology companies such as Commerce Soft, Aspect Communications and Tandem Computers. Prior to that, Dilip has worked in management consulting, with McKinsey & Co and in investment banking, with Goldman Sachs.

Dilip earned an M.B.A. with distinction from the Harvard Business School, an M.S.E.E. from Rice University, and a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.
Do visit  the news section of iit.org for a few interesting tidbits. See you in a few weeks in this space.
 
Sincerely,
 
Gunjan

Gunjan Bagla
VP Worldwide Electronic Services, Pan IIT
Author "Doing Business in 21st Century India"