Why do I coach?

Mentorship and teaching are core to my family history: My grandfather was the first in his family to go to college and became a Chemistry Professor, my mother runs a tutoring academy, and my father is an Accounting Professor. They instilled in me a core belief that while an individual's hard work and aptitude ultimately drive their outcomes, a well-timed, knowledgeable coach can be the unlock to setting an individual up for their desired path. I firmly believe in the value of the saved time that comes from a coach "guiding" you towards the right work to do. There's no silver bullet for getting consulting offers, and I know that. However, my north star is carefully listening to and observing my mentees, identifying the (sometimes subtle) behaviors and tendencies that act as blocks in their performance, and come up with a systematic, replicable, and efficient process so you see progress each and every "rep" you go through. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than the "aha" moment, when you see that the dots have connected, and your mentee has learnt a skill that previous seemed out of reach

Work Experience

Director of Finance

JCPenney

August 2023 - Present

Member of the Finance Leadership Team (FLT) of direct reports to the CFO; Collectively, we drive the financial agenda of JCPenney Lead the multi-year efficiency program across the enterprise, driving a program that generates and realizes ~$100M in savings per year Develop and execute operating rhythms (e.g. Long-Range Planning, Annual Operating Plan, Monthly Business Reporting) for the Finance function and serve as a liaison with key partner functions (Customer/Marketing, Merchandising, Store Operations, Strategy/Transformation, and HR) Develop executive updates and materials for quarterly board meetings with ownership (Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management) Execute special projects on priority items on behalf of the CEO/CFO; Examples include Development of Company Real Estate/Footprint Strategy, Development of Compensation Metrics

Project Leader

Boston Consulting Group

2022 - 2023

Promoted in earliest window to Project Leader (Engagement Manager) level. Projects led include: IT integration design and roadmap creation of parent company and multiple acquirees in the consumer goods space Operating model definition for integration in the consumer goods space Created and led a design thinking workshop for a city government, leveraging key BCG experts Data Governance strategy for a F500 CPG company

Consultant

Boston Consulting Group

2020 - 2021

Re-joined BCG after being financially sponsored for a two-year MBA; Projects include: Post Merger Integration: Integration Management Office in the convenience store space. Part of IMO that coordinated and oversaw integration of 20+ functions (e.g. Finance, HR, IT) across companies Organizational Design for Merchandising function of a Convenience Store Chain

Corporate Strategy

Kimberly-Clark

May 2020 - October 2020

Contract Work between graduating from my MBA and rejoining BCG in November 2020 (Start Date delayed at BCG due to COVID) Corporate Strategy: 5-year Enterprise Strategic Planning (cross-region and cross-sector strategy development)

Product Marketing Manager MBA Intern

Meta (Facebook)

May 2019 - August 2019

PMM on the Partnerships- Feed Ads and Media Monetization Team Received full-time offer of employment

Karthik was also given offers to work at

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  WAYFAIR

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  Intel

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  The Hershey Company

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  Boeing

Education

The Wharton School (UPenn)

Master of Business Administration - MBA, Marketing and Operations Management, Strategic Management- Palmer Scholar (Top 5% of class), Marketing, Operations Management, Strategy

2018 - 2020

Academic: Palmer Scholar (Top 5% of MBA class); Teaching/Mentoring Activities: Consulting Club Co-President of Member Education; MBA Mentor, Organizational Behavior (with Professor Adam Grant); Teaching Assistant, Operations Strategy; William P. Lauder Leadership Fellow; Peer Career Mentorship Award (Sole Recipient) for class of 2020

McCombs School of Business (UT Austin)

Masters in Professional Accounting, Accounting, Bachelors in Business Administration, Bachelors in Plan II Honors, Accounting, Business, Liberal Arts

2009 - 2014

Coaching: President of Management Consulting Association, the premier consulting prep organization at UT, responsible for 80+% of MBB offers at UT every year Teaching: Teaching Assistant for MPA Managerial Accounting, Undergraduate Logic and Scientific Reasoning Course

Karthik was also personally admitted to

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  Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern)

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  University of Southern California

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  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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  New York University

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  Texas A&M University - College Station

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  University of Texas at Austin