Consulting Team
Our team reflects a wide array of industry, functional and cultural backgrounds. From investment banking to management consulting to engineering to entrepreneurship. You name it. All our consultants are alumni of top MBA programs themselves and understand the Indian context very well. In a nutshell, we have the depth and breadth to ensure a productive, personalized match for you.
Managing Director and Founding Principal
Deepak Punwani
INSEAD
Deepak is an MBA graduate of INSEAD (France and Singapore). Over the past decade and a half, he has helped numerous applicants gain offers of admission and substantial financial aid from the most competitive MBA programs in the US (M7) and Europe (INSEAD and LBS). He has also interviewed and assessed candidates on behalf of the admissions committee at INSEAD. He encourages applicants to discover their best selves and “punch above their weight” in the application process. His professional background includes sales management, corporate strategy and brand development in China, India and Singapore for consumer goods companies Colgate Palmolive and Goodyear. He also co-founded a renewable energy company operating in India and Sub-Saharan Africa; the company’s patented technology was voted among the “top 10 ideas to change the world” by CNBC Global. Earlier, he served as a management consultant for corporations across Asia Pacific and the Middle East, and gained entrepreneurial experience in Europe. In addition to his INSEAD MBA, he earned a business management degree from the University of Mumbai.
Principal Consultant
Jean-Philippe Odunlami
Harvard Business School
Jean-Philippe (JP) is an MBA graduate of the Harvard Business School. He has been active in education and career counselling for the past fifteen years, guiding individuals with highly varied backgrounds (including a significant number of Indian applicants) through successful MBA admission campaigns at top programs including HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia and MIT Sloan. His professional background spans the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Africa. Jean-Philippe has been a consultant and entrepreneur in investment management, cross-border acquisitions, venture capital and real estate development. He also worked in research and analyst roles at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs in New York City. A native of France, he has also lived in the U.S., Singapore and Japan for several years. Jean-Philippe earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in international business from Dillard University.
Principal Consultant
Talon Rindels
Kellogg School of Management
Talon Rindels is an MBA graduate of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where she served in leadership capacities including VP of the Marketing Club and President of the Triathlon Club. Following graduation, she interviewed and assessed candidates on behalf of the Kellogg admissions committee and served as a lead on-campus recruiter for General Mills and ConAgra. While working at General Mills, Talon spent extensive time in India, driving the launch of the company’s first-ever offshoring operation, based in Mumbai. Talon has successfully guided MBA applicants targeting top U.S. and European programs including Stanford, Harvard, Kellogg, Booth, Columbia, Ross, Fuqua, Darden, London Business School, INSEAD, IE Business School, HEC Paris and others, many of whom have received full or partial merit-based scholarships. Clients benefit from Talon’s 15 years of consumer/brand storytelling and her caring, empathetic nature while working through periods of self-doubt. Her professional experience spans CPG/Retail marketing, brand management, global M&A, sales, finance, ecommerce, and merchandising for iconic companies such as General Mills, ConAgra Brands, Mars, Inc. and Target. Passionate about inclusion, Talon serves as an ambassador of the Network of Executive Women. Talon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in finance and business management from the University of Wisconsin Madison
Principal Consultant
Priya Jain
INSEAD
An MBA graduate of INSEAD, Priya also undertook the exchange program with Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Chicago. She has 10+ years of experience across Singapore and India working in roles in financial markets sales and strategy with top global banks. Most recently, Priya has also been involved in developing a product strategy for a growth-stage FinTech start-up in India. In addition, she has led initiatives to coach young graduates for careers in banking. Earlier, she worked in the APAC office in supply chain function for a global Oil and Gas major. She has a minor degree in Communications alongside her Bachelor’s degree in Engineering as a Singapore Airlines scholar from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.
Principal Consultant
Stephanie Horn
Kellogg School of Management
Recognized by industry expert Poets&Quants as one of the “Top 10 MBA Admissions Consultants” for 2017, Stephanie is an MBA graduate with honors from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Stephanie has been helping candidates get into business school for over ten years, focusing on M7 schools including Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, and Chicago. She also has extensive experience with non-US schools like INSEAD and LBS. As a co-founder of the Consulting Career Academy, she has helped MBA students and graduates receive offers from the MBBs and other top-tier consulting companies. As a former McKinsey consultant, Stephanie has worked in executive positions for DaVita, a Fortune 500 healthcare company; Viking River Cruises, a global travel firm; and Safety Kleen, an industrial chemicals company. Stephanie earned a master’s degree in English and a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Bucknell University, where she received the Mellon Foundation Fellowship for English.
Senior Consultant
Anuja Mandore
London Business School
An MBA graduate from London Business School (LBS), Anuja has successfully guided numerous applicants on their applications to top schools in North America and Europe. She is an active alumna of LBS and works closely with the admissions committee for conducting interviews. She has an avid interest in entrepreneurship and is also an Expert in Residence for the London Business School Incubator. Her prior stints span start-ups and established MNCs across sectors as diverse as Fashion Retail, Hospitality, Media, E-commerce, Pharmaceuticals, Innovation Consulting, Mining and Manufacturing. Anuja has deep experience in consumer facing technology companies across the UK, the Bay area, India and Indonesia. She most recently worked with Amazon in London as part of their flagship Pathways Operations program. She is passionate about women representation in tech and serves as the Finance Director for UK Women in Ops program. Alongside an MBA from London Business School, Anuja holds a Master’s in Industrial & Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where she was also a Tauber Global Operations Leadership Fellow.
Senior Consultant
Anjali Takru
INSEAD
An MBA graduate from INSEAD, Anjali has also been an admissions interviewer for the school. Over the years she has helped numerous candidates gain admissions to top ranked global MBA programs. Following graduation, she joined management consulting firm McKinsey, guiding fellow professionals through their MBA admissions campaigns and coaching students through the McKinsey interview. As an Engagement Manager at McKinsey, she supported technology, media, telecommunications, retail, e-commerce and consumer packaged goods clients based in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East on strategy, operations and M&A. Prior to attending INSEAD, Ms. Takru held management roles at Barclays Bank. Complementing her MBA education, she holds masters and bachelors (with honors) degrees in economics and is fluent in English, Hindi, and conversant in German and Punjabi.
Senior Consultant – Masters and PhD
Gurmat Singh Brar
Oxford and Cambridge
Gurmat is currently a PhD candidate in History at the University of Cambridge. Before this, Gurmat attained his MPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford. He graduated the course having received the prestigious Felix Scholarship which covered full tuition and living expenses. He has previously worked in the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, where he was part of the ‘State Capacity Initiative’. He also developed one of India’s first open-access, scientifically collected political databases as an Associate for the Trivedi Centre for Political Data. Alongside his academic research, Gurmat has written columns for several prominent publications such as the Times of India, Scroll, etc. Earlier, Gurmat was on the Dean’s List during his undergraduate Political Science studies at Ashoka University, where he was also the Valedictorian of that department.
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