Frankel Testimonials

About Me

Since high school I have had a keen interest in mathematics and science. To pursue my passion for number crunching, I enrolled in the bachelor's of engineering program, which helped to build on my imaginative problem solving skills. Thereafter I joined Indian Petrochemicals Limited, India (acquired by Reliance Petroleum), as executive engineer in charge of plant operations. This provided me with invaluable experience in leading a team of 10 people. The job involved assessing critical on-site plant problems and allocating the resources required to solve them. My responsibilities in a continuous process plant as engineer-in-charge required work on rotating shifts and making quick decisions under considerable pressure to prevent a costly plant shutdown.

After two years of hands-on operational experience, I felt the need for cross-functional and strategic experience. Based on my request to management, I was transferred to the project management and contracts division. Here my work involved planning, budgetary cost estimation, and execution of in-house plant expansion projects, which required high levels of interaction with the marketing, finance, and purchasing departments.

With more than four years of practical work experience behind me, I decided to pursue the MBA in finance from Syracuse University and was awarded the Lloyd Swanson Scholarship. My experience in capital budgeting of projects and my deep affinity for mathematics was the prime-motivator in my choosing the MBA concentration in finance.

During the second year of my MBA program, I took courses in trading markets, investments, and business valuation, which helped to fuel my interest in the field of portfolio analysis. An investment class project on operating a portfolio required weekly benchmarking of the portfolio's performance with indexes like the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones. Analyzing the portfolio's performance based on different measures helped to give me actual insight into the problems in portfolio asset allocation and selection. I was also involved in providing business consulting to DEALTEK Ltd., to increase sales of its site relocation software (DEALS) using guerilla marketing techniques and to also build a financial valuation model for private placement of its equity. This consulting project was awarded the “Top MBA Project, 2003” by the Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises.

I greatly enjoyed my academic experience in the School of Management at Syracuse University and also have become an ardent fan of the Orangemen basketball team.

Reflections on the Frankel Program Experience

The Stuart Frankel & Company NYSE Scholar Program provided an excellent opportunity to directly interact with Wall Street alumni to gain insight into various real-world investment and trading strategies.

The program is very intense and well coordinated. Meetings with alumni in institutional investment companies like Goldman Sachs and GM Investments were interspersed with meetings with Stuart Frankel & Company floor brokers at the NYSE. Thus the program not only presented different investment perspectives but also helped us understand the close interaction between the trading and institutional asset management sides of investments. I have a deep interest in the field of investment management, and this program closely matched my interests.

The most striking part of the entire program was the constant personal interaction with Mr. Frankel and his advice on the basic tenets needed to succeed in today's business world. The dinner at River Café was a refreshing experience and offered breathtaking views of the skyline of downtown Manhattan.

The program has added great value to my greater understanding of investment management. The program could be even more beneficial if a mock trading simulation is enacted by dividing Frankel Scholars into groups representing each of the players of the trading floor, and then they're helped to actually execute a trade under guidance of a floor broker.

Future Frankel Scholars should be prepared to enjoy a high-octane and refreshing financial world experience.