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Umesh Kothari

Assistant Dean – GMBA, MGB, GCGM


Education

  • DOCTOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (DBA)
    SP Jain School of Global Management - October 2022
    Major: Marketing and Technology Thesis Topic – Digital Transformation in Retail Banking in UAE.
  • MASTER OF MANAGEMENT (MM)
    Willamette University, USA — December 1993
    Major: Marketing & Finance
  • MASTER OF COMMERCE (M.COM)
    Bombay University, India — May 1991
    Major: Banking, Finance & Economics
Areas of Expertise
  • Marketing & Strategy
  • Innovation, Decision-Making & Leadership
SUBJECTS TAUGHT / STUDENT PROJECT MENTOR
  • Research for Customer Insights
  • Blue Ocean Strategy
  • Research Methodology
  • Business Statistics
  • Marketing Management
  • Strategic Marketing
  • Strategic Brand Management
  • Digital Marketing and Analytics
  • Sales Management
EXPERIENCE

Academic experience

Assistant Dean, GMBA, MGB and GCGM, Assistant Professor (October 2024-Present) SP Jain School of Global Management
Lead the GMBA, MGB, and GCGM would be the leader of the GMBA and MGB programs to ensure high-quality student learning experiences and student outcomes.

Assistant Professor (2022-2024) SP Jain School of Global Management Adjunct Faculty (2006-2022) SP Jain School of Global Management

  • Value add to classroom learnings with relevant industry applications to BBA, GMBA, MGB and EMBA cohorts.
  • Mentor students in industry research projects for Executive and Full-time Master Program Students.
  • Subjects taught: Research Methodology, Marketing Management, Strategic Marketing, Strategic Brand Management, Sales Management, Digital Marketing & Analytics, Statistics, Big Data Analytics & Cloud Technology, and Blue Ocean Strategy. Faculty for Executive Education Program.

Adjunct Faculty (1998-2005) Various Management Institutes, Dubai
Taught management and marketing-related subjects at various American, and Swiss Colleges in Dubai.

India (June 1996- March 1998) - Taught Research Methodology and Marketing-related subjects at Management schools such as NMIMS, Sydenham, Chetna’s, MET, Rizvi, Somaiya, and Symbiosis.

Consulting Experience

BFSI Expert, RSB Insights and Analytics (March 2023 - October 2024)

  • Responsible for growing the BFSI vertical in the Middle East Africa, and Asia Region. Strategic customer analytics proposed for customer growth, lifetime value, customer churn, and acquisition strategy for a growing African Bank. Customer experience strategies proposed for leading Indian Banks.

General Manager, VP Consultancy Services, UAE (November 2019-October 2024)

  • Support organizations to achieve their strategic and digital transformation goals through development, implementation, and tracking. Perform quantitative and qualitative insights that aid in strategic achievement for clients in Automotive, Fashion and beauty, Financial Services, and Retail.
  • Coach/Mentor Senior Corporate Managers on Strategy, Customer Insights, and Business Analytics.

Corporate Experience

Senior Vice President, Head of Strategy Support, Union National Bank, UAE (October 2018 - October 2019)
Vice President, Strategy Support, Union National Bank, UAE (June 2014 - September 2018)

  • Facilitated the formulation, development, and effective implementation of UNB Group's Vision, Mission, Strategy, Digitalization transformation and Balanced Scorecard.
  • Developed periodic strategic-progress reporting comprehensive packs analyzing Group-level and individual Unit's performance against plans for CEO/Leadership Team's review.
  • Ran the Strategic Programs Office (SPO) to mandate and monitor the implementation of technology, digitalization projects, and related strategic initiatives across the Group. Conduct post implementation review of critical projects.
  • Managed business planning, capital expenditure and performance management for CEO/Senior Leadership’s review.
  • Managed customer experience and business research functions to provide recommendations to key business decisions and strategies by using customer, benchmarking, industry, economy, and market intelligence insights.

Vice President, Customer Feedback, Union National Bank, UAE (July 2007-May 2014)
Assistant Vice President, Research, Union National Bank, UAE (April 2005 – June 2007)

  • Conceptualized and executed research insights for the Bank covering Assets, Liabilities, Credit Cards, and Corporates.
  • Ensured strategic alignment of voice of customer initiatives to the Group’s objectives for quantitative and qualitative projects conducted – customer satisfaction, benchmarking survey, mystery shopping, customer loss analysis, business opportunities, product development, brand health survey.
  • Managed the customer complaints for all Business Units and Business Partner Units to ensure accurate recording and resolution of complaints. Introduced monthly dashboards for review of Unit Heads/Senior Management.
  • Nominated as Communication Ambassador ensuring effective communication of Bank-wide achievement within the Management Services Group comprising of 45 individuals.

RESEARCH MANAGER, Nielsen, UAE (January 2003 – March 2005) SENIOR RESEARCH EXECUTIVE, Nielsen, UAE (May 2000 – December 2002)

  • Accomplished team target of over US$1.5 million with a combination of new business and maintenance of strategic accounts. Recognized with an ART Award for achievements of business target of over US$ 550,000.
  • Managed quantitative projects in various industries such as FMCG, Services, Banking, and Durables. Key clients managed: Air Arabia, Etihad Airways, Gulf Air, HSBC, NCB, MasterFoods, Mashreq, EMAAR Properties, Nestle, J&J
  • Championed a proprietary product – Winning Brands (Equity Evaluation) for use by prospective clients.
  • Actively involved in mentoring and training research programs for key clients.

CONSULTANT, Pepsi Cola International, UAE (February 1998 – April 2000)

  • Coordinated and managed strategic research projects - continuous and ad hoc with 3 key research strategic partners.
  • Provided ongoing research support to various Unit Heads within Pepsi-Cola for the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan region, 18 countries. Revamped monthly insights reports to reduce timings by 2 days through automation.

SENIOR RESEARCH EXECUTIVE, Pathfinders {Mullen Lowe Group, IPG}, India
(February 1996 - January 1998)

    • Responsible for continuous advertising tracking research for Cadburys and Uni-Lever
    • Coordinated field & analysis for timely completion of P: SNAP’97 {Pathfinders Study of Nations Attitudes & Psychographics} conducted among 40,000 respondents across 38 centers in India in five modules -Male, Female, Youth, and Child & Baby. Made effective presentations to sell SNAP to prospective clients

INDUSTRY ANALYST, Frost & Sullivan {Management Consulting Co}, USA (January 1994 - January 1996)

      • Strategic and market analysis of hi-tech products in the industrial automation environment. Strategic analysis included industry forecasts, financial analysis, competitive analysis, market strategies, technology trends, and distribution channels.

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH SPECIALIST, Willamette University, USA (November 1993-June 1994)

    • Responsible for the collection, statistical analysis and presentation of institutional data to Senior Management. Increased faculty and student satisfaction by improving on-time delivery performance by 98% with stakeholders.

Research Interests

  • Patent Owner with German Patent Office on conducting effective research.
  • Marketing, Technology, Sustainability

Conference Presentations

  • Presented paper ‘Influence of Automation in Retail Banking in UAE’, International Conference on Electrical, Computer, Communications and Mechanics Engineering, 2022.
  • Presented paper ‘Influence of Digital Skills and Automation on Digitization in Retail Banking in UAE’ at Sustainable Business Management and Transformation: Challenges and Opportunities in Post Covid Era in June 2022.
  • Panel Member, Rethinking SME Lending in Digital World, Emirates Institute of Banking & Financial Studies, UAE, 2022.
  • Presented paper ‘Impact of Digital Transformation in Retail Banking Industry in the UAE’, IFIP WG 8.6 Global Conference, IIM Tiruchirappalli 2020.
  • Authored a paper titled “Human Life Cycle - Are the Curves Changing?” at the ESOMAR Conference on Youth Research.

Awards & Recognition

  • Team Leader and Jury Member for Business Excellence for Dubai Quality Awards.
  • Team Leader for Strategy and Customer Results criteria for Business Excellence Awards - SKEA, DQA and MRM.
  • Jury Panel Member at ESOMAR (International Research Association) Regional conference held in Dubai in 2016.
  • Institutionalized a customer experience award for Financial Service, recognized as best practice by Dubai Quality Group.
  • Authored articles in Communiqué (in-house UNB magazine), research papers in the Gulf Marketing Review magazine.
  • Received the ‘Best Employee of the Month award for 2 reports with monthly sales of over $50,000 each.