Priya Jayanthi 

NYU Stern Executive MBA Program

Location: DC

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: I look forward to change and feel accomplished when I learn something new.

Hometown: Jersey City, New Jersey

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am a professionally trained Indian Classical Dancer and Musician, and meditation teacher.

Undergraduate School and Major: National Institute of Technology, Trichy Computer Science and Engineering

Current Employer and Job Title: Credit Suisse, Assistant Vice President, Market Data Analytics

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: The space of data analytics is fast-paced and requires quick decision making and execution. My biggest accomplishment is that the value of the work I do adds to the business and the partnerships I’ve built in my relationships with stakeholders and my team to facilitate complex changes.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of the MBA programming that led you to choose this business school – and why was it so important to you? Being in the financial sector, I want to learn more and increase my network in this domain. NYU Stern’s reputation is among the top programs in the world. NYU’s location in the financial capital of the world attracts the best in this field and is an added advantage to my goals.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? Coming from a strong technical background, learning how to tie in technical goals with a global, economic, and business perspective started to become increasingly relevant in my day-to-day work.

What has been your biggest difficulty in incorporating MBA studies into your professional and personal responsibilities? There are several concepts that I have learned from a management perspective that I can take back to my work. However, there are a few new-age concepts that cannot be applied just yet because the industry has not yet evolved to a point where they can add real business value.  The challenge is in creating opportunities for change in a non-disruptive way.

At times, work can spill over into the study schedule, and having to re-prioritize and re-organize to effectively manage time is imperative.

What do you enjoy most about business school so far? The best part about my NYU Stern journey so far is engaging with the professors. My perspective is rapidly changing to include a wider set of factors that I was previously not exposed to. The learning curve is intense, and I enjoy the collaboration with my peers and professors on new topics.

What is the top item on your career bucket list? I would like to see how new-age technologies like machine and deep learning translate to real business value that impacts industry-wide standards for how things operate in the AI-driven world that is yet to come.