Internship Experiences

SABA members have had successful, and a wide variety of internships this summer. We are compiling this list so you know whom to talk to if you want to learn more about Marketing/ Finance/ Consulting et al. Read on to know more about all the cool things they did!

Gouri Shintri

Associate Brand Manager Intern, H.J Heinz

Gouri Shintri worked for Heinz as an Associate Brand Manager in the foodservice department on the flagship brand, table top ketchup. Her project was to redesign and update the packaging of the iconic 14 oz. glass bottle. Through her project, she had the opportunity to collaborate cross-functionally with packaging engineers, procurement specialists, creative agencies, market research analysts, and the finance department. Gouri’s previous experiences in consulting and her learnings from the core classes at Tepper, especially the marketing classes, came in handy when working on her project. She was also given plenty of opportunities to interact and network with managers, directors, vice presidents, presidents, and the CEOs of Heinz and Heinz North America. Overall, Gouri enjoyed her summer experience at Heinz and would recommend the company and the position to those who enjoy marketing combined with general management.

Deepthi Kapila

Product Manager Intern, Microsoft

Horsepower, Impact, and Perspective is how Deepthi would describe her internship at Microsoft. With 6+ projects in 12 weeks, she felt adequately challenged to make sure she was running on full horsepower throughout the journey. Her primary project was to come up with the technology integration strategy for a recent $1 billion acquisition made by Microsoft - Impact! She was able to leverage her IT consulting background and several concepts she learnt during her first year at Tepper, bringing in a unique perspective to the projects and adding value to the team and the company. To read in more detail about what she did over the summer and what concepts from the first year came in handy, click here and read the blog titled 'Now you know what I did this summer'.

Vishwa Kolla

Market Intelligence Intern (Internal Consulting), IBM

Vishwa interned at IBM in its Market Intelligence (MI) organization. The intern program which acts as a feeder into MI’s full time recruiting is one of the best in class. This year, 16 interns from 7 top MBA schools (including Tepper, Columbia, MIT & Tuck) worked on 5 projects in groups of 3-4. The 12-week program is highly structured with defined goals, deliverables and milestones. Interns got a chance to showcase their leadership, teamwork and prowess in critical thinking, analytical, realationship-building, communication, presentation & networking skills. With several executive lunch and learn sessions, learning-by-doing sessions, numerous happy hours and team-outings, the program provided a number of avenues for team-building and professional development. Vishwa provided thought, project and pitch leadership in developing actionable recommendations to help improve marketing and sales coverage of IBM’s General Business Large Enterprise accounts ($102B of opportunity, 4% AGR) in USA where it is not the incumbent IT vendor. Additionally, Vishwa directed and produced an award-winning video (among WW intern videos) involving 6 interns which outlined experiences at IBM.

Jaymin Patel

Summer Associate, Booz & Company

This summer Jaymin worked in the strategy group with the management consulting firm Booz & Company. He was based in Cleveland, Ohio but traveled for 3 different projects. His first project was to develop a 5 year strategic plan for a retail security and shrink management solutions company. He worked one on one with the SVP of a $300M tag business to break down the business parts, assess their position in the market place, and see where they had a right to play, and a right to win. During this process, the company decided to make an acquisition, and he helped perform due diligence on the acquisition target, which he later read about in the papers. His second project dealt with a private equity firm that was merging 3 kitchen and bath manufacturers and was looking at developing an operational footprint to optimize their production in North America. He helped perform SKU rationalization, and lay out transfer plans for plant closures, breaking down how much of each SKU needed to be built to inventory, when to transfer production, and estimating a start-up curve at the new facility without affecting the company’s ability to meet demand. His third project was to optimize trade promotion strategy for a home and office furniture manufacturer.

Anand Sagar Rao Vala

Market Intelligence Intern (Internal Consulting), IBM

Anand worked at IBM in their Market Intelligence division, which is an internal consulting division whose clients are the marketing and strategy teams within the various business units of IBM. His project involved researching 4 industries in Asian markets - India and Indonesia and finding new opportunities for IBM to sell its products and services. He was part of a team of 4 interns who focused on different countries in Asia and were assigned 2 advisors and a project sponsor executive. Taking part in case competitions at Tepper and understanding the consulting frameworks helped him while he collected data, interviewed clients, derived insights and made final recommendations. He was impressed by the amount of risk taking that IBM ventures into. Also the interns were exposed to multiple MBA managers and the work that they did - product management, marketing, finance, sales, etc. to get a better understanding of their responsibilities. He was able to offer a lot of guidance from his consulting experience prior to school. Anand was glad that he got to experience all the elements of a typical consulting experience.

Nikhil Ambale

Summer Associate - Mergers & Acquisitions, KeyBanc Capital Markets

This summer Nikhil headed to good old Cleveland, a long-lost sister of Pittsburgh, or so he likes to believe. He interned in the M&A group of KeyBanc Capital Markets, a middle-market investment bank with a sweet spot for $50-250M deals. The three months he spent there were very valuable in terms of the exposure he got to the team & senior bankers, live transactions and various dimensions of an Associate’s role in a bank. He initially worked on a pitch for the divestiture of a large auto parts maker, and performed market research on the auto and auto parts industry in Europe, China and North America. He then worked on a $250M minority stake sale of a minerals and natural resources client, during which he interacted with the top executives of the firm and was instrumental in preparing the valuation model and a detailed offering memorandum for the company. He also worked on the marketing of a $50M metals company and prepared the management presentation, managed the data room and assisted investors in their due diligence. Apart from these, he learnt about the day-to-day functions of a junior banker and had ample opportunities to network with bankers from other parts of the organization.