Frequently Asked Questions

To provide an opportunity for CEG alumni and students to connect with, network and get benefit by interacting in live sessions with CEG C-level and other senior level alumni globally.

It will be a 1 hour live on-line session with a CEG C-level alumni moderated by an CEG alum.

It is started by me (as a CEG alumni in my capacity as an individual) to fulfill the desires and need for such C-level connect for CEG students and CEG alumni. It is not on behalf of anyone at this time. However, I have already received interest from several groups of CEGians as well as registered alumni organizations to make it as part of their program offerings. I believe that registered alumni organizations should organize these programs, institutionalize it to ensure continuity & make it perpetual. Ownership by an individual or group of individuals may not be ideal.
I would like to continue to be part of such initiatives for a while, as an advisor, to ensure the original purpose and mission of this initiative is preserved. Further discussions will be required with the interested parties to come up with a good forward plan and determine who will own and run this program etc.

I am doing this as I have interest and experience in putting together such programs in my corporate, entrepreneurial and social service work. I would like to do my part to give back to my alma-matter (and all its stakeholders) that made me what I am today. I hope to get satisfaction that I could add value to CEGians.

NO. Personally, I do not think it is ethical, moral or correct to commercialize such voluntary initiatives. However, when others (groups of individuals or alumni associations) own the program in the future, I would express my strong dissent if they choose to commercialize, however, I will not be able to stop that.

No. It is NOT a new idea.
Our parent Alumni Association of CEG (AACEG) has been conducting endowment lectures (endowments created by alumni) for a very long time. The patronage of such lectures is a concern, as students seem not interested in the topics that are presented or unable to connect with the presenters. Additionally, the need for physical presence and the timing of such programs also cause impediments.
Our CEG Alum Association of NA (CEGAANA) organizes guest lectures for the benefit of CEGians in US. While I have not attended any such programs (due to my travel schedules), I hear that those lectures are good. However, they are limited to North America CEGians only and that leaves people in the rest of the world out of the loop. CEGANNA conducts “Ask A CEGian” program to benefit CEG students as well as “Spotlight” program. While these programs are conducted to benefit students and alumni, they are not the same in the mission and purpose of the CEG C-level connect program. I believe all the CEGANNA programs are recorded and available in youtube.
There are special WhatsApp groups of CEGians (those with common interest such as finance, career development, jobs, entrepreneurship, innovation, investment, mentoring) who conduct such networking sessions that is of focused on the mission of the group and the interest of their members. While these are good programs, they too lack the reach to all CEGians (and in particular, the CEG students)

Our CEG students conduct the Kurukshetra festival (which are exceptionally well organized and very high quality) and organize guest lectures. Not all these guests are CEG alumni. These programs are only for students with no alumni participation. In addition, the students do not have the reach to global CEG alumni either.
Thus, despite all great activities that happen in silos, there is no program that meets the needs of ALL CEGians (students in particular), that is global networking and connect purposes. Hence the need for this initiative

No. CEG has not authorized nor approved anything. I am not sure, who in CEG or AU, would be the official person to approach. I had worked with most of the recent Deans of CEG and VC’s of Anna Univ. They are very happy that someone is doing such programs. They are also not sure who has to authorize or approve such programs conducted by alumni in his/her personal capacity. Usage of the brand name CEG is debatable. However, in the absence of clear-cut guidelines, we see a wide variety of people and groups using CEG name and brand and hence this issue is not only about this initiative. I hope someone (not sure who that someone is), provides clarity and guidelines on use of CEG name and brand.

Good questions. Right now, this initiative is only for CEGians. Many students and alumni from these other constituent colleges of AU have asked the same questions. They are very interested in participating in this initiative. My personal opinion is that we should at least make it available for the four constituent colleges of AU. The purpose of this program applies to all students and alumni. In addition, with the joint group, we will have access to more C-Level people to approach and provide value to more students and alumni. There are many mixed opinions of this issue and discussion in some forums. Until there is some consensus, we will keep it for CEGians only for now.
In the meantime, I think the alumni associations of these other institutions should coordinate this initiative for their students and alumni

Extremely good questions. I wish I know the answer to them. I reside in both US and India for periods of time in any given year, travel a lot between the two locations. I have a place to stay in both US and India, have mobile numbers in both countries with WhatsApp. My two daughters are in US and my better half is in India. All of them love where they are and do not really want to change their location. All four of us talk to and text each other several times a day. I do some part-time management consulting work and have clients in both US and India and thus I have very small amount of income from both countries. I am an active angel investor, invest, and mentor startups in both countries. I hold a small amount of passive investments in both countries. From an immigration standpoint, I have the luxury to stay and live, work, study, run business, invest, hold real estate and do social work in both US and India. I have a vehicle and driver’s license, bank accounts, other Government issued identification documents in both countries. I pay taxes in US and India (both based on Global Income!! seriously??)) Every year. Of course, I have tons of friends and relatives in both geography.
I hope this is a sufficiently confusing answer to a simple question. For the past few years, I am spending more than 75% of my time doing pro-bono social work with a bunch of NGOs in both US and India. If you want to know more about that social work, please feel free to reach me. It is very satisfying and humbling experience.

Retirement is a state of mind. I believe I have not “retired” and do not know when and how “retirement” will happen. I travel a lot between US and India; I end up doing things that I consider normal time in the country where I am, which invariably is an odd time in the other country. I do not have a fixed “work” schedule. In addition, I am not “working” full time, either. I do sleep, hang out, work out and do all the good stuff. With the Covid pandemic, the hang out part is in suspension now for past 18 months. I like to read and with the involvement in angel investing, entrepreneurship and management consulting, I do get lot of free, paid and syndicated magazines and articles, complimentary invitations to conferences (mostly the on-line kind nowadays) that I share with the groups, as appropriate.