Anjana Dalal, MBA ’99, is a self-employed business strategy and operations consultant based in Chicago, IL. She talks with us about how her time at McCombs prepared her for a career in management consulting and about her leadership with our McCombs Alumni Chicago Chapter.

Please talk about your experience as a student here at McCombs.

It was the McCombs Entrepreneurship program which originally attracted me to The University of Texas. Arriving in scorching and humid Austin in August 1997 as one of the youngest members of the Class of 1999 (before the business school became known as McCombs), after a three-year work stint back home in Germany, I was ready to jump in with both feet to learn how to become my own boss. While I ended up taking a couple entrepreneurship classes, I ultimately completed concentrations in Marketing and Operations Management. Britt Freund’s unfailing ability to make a dry operations topic fun by applying interesting analogies and anecdotes bring back fond memories. Another favorite professor was Gautam Ahuja who taught a fascinating class on Management and Business Strategy. To complement all the brain fuel offered by McCombs, VERY frequent Trudy’s margarita and taco runs with friends were also part of my McCombs core curriculum.

Please provide a brief summary of your career path since graduating.

After business school I relocated to Chicago to work for Accenture (back then Andersen Consulting). I found the variety of work and clients, coupled with some interesting travel, exhilarating. Moving on to a boutique Chicago consulting firm, I stayed in management consulting for almost six years. In mid-2005 I switched to ORBITZ.com, at that time a proud Chicago e-commerce company, which is now owned by Expedia Inc. Initially supporting ORBITZ.com, I then moved to the corporate level of the owner company after it was acquired by Blackstone Private Equity. In 2011, I was recruited by Chicago-based commercial insurer CNA Financial where, over 4 ½ years, I helped rebuild the internal consulting practice. In 2015, GROUPON, another e-commerce marketplace out of Chicago, came calling. During my 2-year tenure I held leadership positions within Groupon’s global travel services business unit, its North America Local Deals business and the Global Operations division. The scope was vast, and the pace was fast – and I loved every minute of it. That said, in 2017 I decided to exit corporate America and do my own consulting while enjoying life with my family. Since then, I have worked with a variety of clients, both in the private and government sectors.

What are you most proud about so far in your career?

In late 2001 for about six months, I had the opportunity to help develop a management trainee program to prepare graduates from four top universities across South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia for internship roles at STANDARD BANK, one of the largest financial services providers on the African continent. The fast-track MBA style program taught the basics of business analysis and problem solving to assist these students with addressing the business challenges of their banking projects and was geared towards elevating underprivileged, smart and hard-working students. The program I helped build resulted in matching some 800 students total over four years with banking industry internships, with 95+% being recruited into full-time positions afterwards.

More recently, in 2019, on behalf of the City of Chicago’s Mayor’s Office, I led the successful recruiting of the new Commissioner of Public Health and the Commission of Transportation. The process was fascinating, and I got to talk to outstanding candidates in Chicago and across the country. In the summer of 2020, I again assisted the Mayor’s Office to make City Hall more accessible to Chicago residents during the COVID pandemic. I led the planning, development and execution of a ‘mobile services’ initiative to bring essential city services from 8 city agencies to 21 disadvantaged Chicago neighborhoods, serving ~730 residents on the west and south sides.

Has your career played out the way you expected?

Yes and no. Following a B.A. in Telecommunications and while studying for a M.A. in International Politics, I had set my heart on becoming a journalist and worked at NPR, CNN International and German Television. With my M.A. in hand, out of left field I landed in commercial insurance which was not part of the plan; however, I underwrote Film & Entertainment as well as Fine Arts insurance which was rather exotic and intriguing. This initial exposure to the business world ignited my desire to pursue an MBA degree. Coming out of McCombs I got my dream job in management consulting and officially began my career as problem solver. I realized that most problems could be addressed, or at least improved upon, by breaking the challenge(s) into more manageable pieces, applying some structure to frame things out, doing some good old-fashioned research and collaborating with others to find workable solutions. This skill set, acquired at McCombs and refined as a management consultant, has proved to be transferable to all my future roles, regardless of industry. I also uncovered the power of networking in that all my subsequent jobs materialized by having worked with or known someone during a prior period. Looking back at my career so far, I would not have expected every twist and turn from the onset but am grateful for every opportunity presented to me.

How have you stayed involved with the school as an alumnus and what are your goals in relation to McCombs?

In addition to having attended several ’99 class reunions, I took over as McCombs Chicago Alumni Chapter president in December 2020. Leading the chapter with three other Chicago-based McCombs alumni, we are developing a mix of 2021 programming focused on networking, educational and social events among our local alumni as well as with local chapters of other top US business schools. My goals for the Chicago alumni chapter are to continue to increase membership engagement, offer additional networking opportunities to our members and to increase awareness of UT and the McCombs program in the Chicago area.

Any other community involvement, hobbies or tidbits you’d like to share?

As a member of Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo Women’s Board, I support the zoo’s annual fundraising events to help ensure that the zoo continues to offer free access to all visitors, only one of 10 US zoos to do so. This specific board greatly resonates with me because of the zoo’s mission to ‘connect people with nature’ and to provide an equal opportunity of enjoyment to all.

I also am a member of the Program Committee of the ILLINOIS Green Alliance. This organization is committed to, among other things, offering educational programs to our members and others interested in fighting climate change in Illinois.

Most importantly though, I love cooking & entertaining, playing tennis and spending time with my 12-year-old daughter and my husband. I also play mom to our small menagerie of pets including two guinea pigs and a rescue Aussie Shepherd / American Blue Heeler mix – and recently got promoted to Senior Vice Dog Walker in my household.