Recommendations

“Kautilya is an exceptionally sharp and creative individual. His work experience, recent MBA studies and perceptive nature combine to make him a great strategic asset. We are excited to have him as part of the team at DNC Consulting and look forward to his continued efforts to drive client success.”

– Donald Chapman (President & Managing Director, DNC Consulting, USA)

“I worked with Kautilya in a Consulting project aiming to help I Love Milkshakes to adapt the business after COVID-19. Fast learner, committed, flexible, and attentive to details he went through the ideas to its implementation within outstanding four weeks. His consultancy was supported by Innovation methodology, benchmarks, and ended up employing straight forward approach towards operation and digital strategy. It was an intense project and I would be glad to work with Kautilya again in the future.”

– Christiane Figueiredo Mendes (Marketing & Innovation Consultant, Boston Innovation Gateway, USA)

“I am happy to write this recommendation for Kautilya. I know Kautilya through both my career advising work and faculty role at Babson College. Kautilya was always a proactive student; coming in to discuss his career development starting very early on, planning a concrete strategy, and persistently working towards his goals. In the classroom he proved to do the same. Kautilya took my Thought Leadership in Technology course. Throughout the semester he contributed to interesting in-class discussion, asked our guest speakers brilliant and thoughtful questions and produced an excellent portfolio of articles which can be found on his LinkedIn publications. Kautilya is dedicated, smart, likable and a thinker. He would make an excellent addition to any company he lands with post-MBA. I highly recommend him.”

– Lily (Chryssis) Awad, Ed.D (Senior Associate Director, Graduate Center for Career Development at Babson College, USA)

“Kautilya was a student in my MBA-level International Macroeconomics course at Babson College during the spring 2020 semester. The course focused on the intersection between international macroeconomics and business strategy, highlighting the movements of and interrelations among major macroeconomic variables that affect the performance of nations, in general, and businesses, in particular. Kautilya is a bright and self-motivated student, who put wind in my sails during class and showed keen insights regarding international macroeconomic issues. During the summer of 2020, Kautilya’s knowledge of cryptocurrencies and macroeconomics were put to use when he read and provided useful feedback on “The Economics of Cryptocurrencies,” which is a chapter in the third edition of my book, entitled Demystifying Global Macroeconomics. As his professor, I have had the pleasure of witnessing Kautilya’s passion for learning new concepts and can endorse that he is smart, creative, and reliable.”

– John E. Marthinsen (Distinguished Chair in Swiss Economics and Professor of Economics and International Business at Babson College, USA)

“Kautilya served as a Board Member for Open Table, Inc. through the Babson Board Fellows program. I am very pleased with Kautilya’s dedication to contribute in all aspects of the board office functions and his willingness to utilize his versatile business skill-set to enhance our operations. Kautilya is an organized individual who always performed in a professional manner. He demonstrated a culture of service and managed his time perfectly between his studies and his responsibilities for the board. Being the youngest on the board, Kautilya brought a fresh perspective and entrepreneurial approach to solving complex legacy problems. He contributed to defining the decision-making processes, accountability and succession plans for existing and incoming board members as well as drafting the orientation process for identifying and cultivating future board members. Kautilya is a strategist and is often well prepared with ample research to support his recommendations. When it comes to sharing his ideas, Kautilya knows how to present and make sure it gets conveyed to the audience on all levels. One good example of his analysis and conceptualization was when Open Table was planning to introduce the Advisory Board. While Kautilya agreed on the initiative he recommended to delay the launch of the initiative for a couple of months. To support the recommendations, Kautilya did an in-depth research and convinced the board about the benefits of a delayed launch of the initiative. Kautilya inspired his peers and senior board members with creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Open Table applied the growth strategies which he devised and implemented. This meant thoroughly considering competitors, stakeholders and consumers in the organization’s value chain so that Open Table could capture the maximum value from opportunities and could cater to a larger community. As a mentor and the Board Chairman of OpenTable, I would like to recommend without any reservations Kautilya Nishant for any leadership position or assignment that requires a creative, open, responsible and entrepreneurial global executive.”

– Glenn T. Migliozzi, CFA (Board Chairman at Open Table, Inc., USA)

“Kautilya was a student in my entrepreneurship and opportunity MBA class that I taught at Babson college. He was a smart, hard working, and dedicated student who brought energy, creative thinking, and an excellent work ethic to the classroom. One instance that stands out in particular is his idea for the "rocket pitch" assignment - this is a challenge where the students are given 2 minutes to propose and pitch an innovative idea to solve a problem that they have identified. Kautilya's idea about a haptic device was chosen by his peers as one of the top 5 in the class, and his pitch was engaging and compelling. We have kept in touch after the course ended, and I continue to see how Kautilya continually leads with the Babson MBA student community. I highly recommend him and support him in his career pursuits.”

– Siddharth Vedula (Assistant Professor of Entrepeneurship at Babson College, USA)

“Kautilya was one of my summer intern at AirAsia who was attached with me for 8 weeks. I assigned 2 short projects to him, to assess his abilities, work attitude and understand how we can improve on these areas. The project assigned was on revenue management and on how to improve our website from an UI/UX stand point of which he had to present his findings. He did really well on both the projects and the management team was very happy with his work. His work on both the projects was shared all the way up to the President and CEO. Some of his strengths are ability to work and communicate with different teams to execute his work, analytical ability to understand and present data in a meaningful format, team player who got along very well with my team and others within the organisation, pleasant personality and ability to think strategically and provide recommendations which can be implemented in the business. In summary, we were very happy with his work, his abilities and believe that he will be a great addition to any organisation.”

– Subashini Silvadas (Group Head of Strategy at AirAsia Group, Malaysia)

“Kautilya brings in an insight that's different from the usual and is able to add value to the stakeholder engagement! He would be an asset!”

– Kesavan Sivanandam (Group Head of Global Airports & Ground Operations at AirAsia Group, Malaysia)

“I had the pleasure of working with Kautilya for one year on the Babson Graduate Net Impact Club leadership team. Kautilya brought an entrepreneurial attitude to the group, regularly encouraging us to experiment and test new ways to create value for our club members and connect them to social impact opportunities in the local area. In his capacity as the Vice President of Marketing, Kautilya brought fresh and creative ideas to our communications strategy and played a critical role in helping us to surpass our event attendance targets. Kautilya is a team player and a highly effective individual and I have no doubts that he will be a valuable asset to any team he is on!”

– Lindsay Sanders (Management Consultant at Rios Partners, USA)

“I managed Kautilya during his time as a graduate assistant on Babson's College Marketing team. During that time, he brought a problem solving mindset to any challenge I threw his way, from turning complicated data sets into easy to update and understand reports, to doing extensive competitive benchmarking and research to drive future content strategy. He is incredibly professional, consistent, and kind--sure to be a formidable contributor in any of his future roles.”

– Kait Lanthier (Director of Content Strategy at Babson College, USA)

“I worked with Kautilya in managing and executing the Marketing for Babson's largest student led event - the Babson Entrepreneurship Forum. Needless to say, Kautilya is an extremely dedicated individual. Silent and strong, we never worried when Kautilya was assigned a task because we knew he would accomplish it with flying colors. A great balance between analytical and creative prowess, he was able to give wide perspective to our team. On a personal level, he is definitely a character who upholds integrity and treats everyone around him with respect. He is a strong asset to any team, that I have no doubt. I am sure that he has many great things lined up for him in the near future. Kautilya is a force to be reckoned with - You can expect nothing short of excellence from him.”

– Jose Miguel Sandejas (MSL at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, USA)

“In my career of more than 40 years in Energy & Power Sector and in company leadership, I have rarely come across talents as promising, driven and visionary about their work as Mr. Nishant. Throughout my career I have guided and worked along with brightest leaders of the country and have duly noted Mr. Nishant’s tremendous potential both as a technologist and as a leader. I have directly supervised and worked in parallel with Mr. Nishant at Abhay GreenTech Solutions. My confidence in him rests not only on the remarkable work and leadership he provided to the company, but also on his display of knowledge, initiative, communication skills and maturity far beyond his years. It is his strong networking skills, a clear career vision, and his will to take calculated risks that he was the first candidate I had in mind for brainstorming and leading our startup, Abhay GreenTech Solutions. Mr. Nishant showed that he has the gift to turn goals into results. His drive towards working on a sustainable and cleaner environment and his ability to look at the problem holistically is impressive and he earns my highest recommendation.”

– Vishwaroop Lal (Director AGTS, Ex-CEO InterRAO India, Ex-CEO Essar Power, Ex-CEO at NTPC Limited (NSPCL), Ex-Regional ED at NTPC, India)

“I supervised Kautilya for around two years in the project named NeuroFocus for the client AC Nielsen at TATA Consultancy Services. The core development project involved extensive knowledge of programming concepts and hands-on experience with modern software tools. Kautilya excelled in every phase being consistently pleasant, and tackling all assignments with dedication and a smile. I believe his impressive resume is really self-explanatory, however what impressed me much was the way he managed his time between his work and extracurricular activities. Besides being a joy to work with, Kautilya is a take-charge person who is able to present creative ideas and communicate the benefits. He has always taken his role seriously and is passionate about his results. Beyond his passion on driving performance, Kautilya is a natural leader, and fights hard for his beliefs. He’s at his best in a group environment, and is consciously proactive at getting full involvement of all other team members to drive the best results possible. During his tenure, we saw an increase in productivity that was a direct result of the plans implemented by Kautilya. As a supervisor and a mentor I have the deepest personal and professional respect for Kautilya, and sincerely believe he will his unique energy, optimism, passion, and tireless creativity to any organisation.”

– Sourav Ghosh (Assistant Consultant at TATA Consultancy Services, India)

“Kautilya took guidance and supervision from me in the start of 2013 for 16 weeks, and completed with outstanding performance. This was a research internship course with rigorous research over the subject, analysis of written reports and coding of applications. Kautilya excelled in every one of them and his affability towards people is ideally suited to any appointment that deals with working with people. His analysis was very thorough and his bibliographical research regarding the topic, “Simulation of Atmospheric Scattering due to Aerosols using Remote Sensing”, was well-balanced and well-developed. Kautilya often provided unique insights into specific issues. Before I even had a chance to look at Kautilya’s highly impressive resume, I knew he must be a very good team player. His group presented an extensive case study largely due to his work. He knows how to spearhead and coordinate a group project successfully, and share the credits with his teammates. Equally impressive is Kautilya’s aspiration for greater challenge. Kautilya is a very disciplined individual who sets high standards and works diligently to achieve his goals. Although I do not know Kautilya very well outside the classroom or at a personal level, his experience and knowledge in many areas in addition to his technical expertise very pleasantly surprised me. Kautilya is one of the best students I’ve known in my teaching profession, and I am confident that he would excel in any capacity, welcoming it’s considerable challenges and interacting fully with the members of the organization. He is a remarkable scholar and I have no doubt in mind that he will be a great resource and a valuable asset to any organization.”

– Dr. Manu Mehta (Scientist SE at Indian Institute of Remote Sensing IIRS, Indian Space Research Organization ISRO, India)