Khushboo KamnaniKhushboo Kamnani is currently a part of Google’s Corporate FP&A team in San Francisco, California. Prior to joining Google, Khushboo spent nearly six years at Shell and two years at Uber in various Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) roles. She was raised in Houston, Texas and had the opportunity to work in various cities across the US and UK. In her free time, Khushboo enjoys traveling, engaging in local philanthropic activities, and wine-tasting.
What did you study during your time at UT? What drew you to the Canfield BHP program?
As a student, Khushboo majored in finance with a minor in accounting. She was involved in CBHP as the Make-A-Mark Social Chair and as a member of the Honors Business Student Association. Additionally, she was a part of the Undergraduate Business Council, University Securities Investment team, Financial Analyst Program, and the Longhorn Run Committee. Khushboo cherished the small class size and the bespoke curriculum which provided her with transferable skills. More importantly, she fostered relationships with her classmates that eventually turned into her close friends.
What impactful moments led you to where you are in your career?
Khushboo started her career as part of a Finance Rotation Program at Shell in Houston, Texas. The program allowed her to try various accounting & FP&A roles which allowed her to figure out her interests. After completing her rotations, Khushboo chose to pursue a business-facing role at Shell’s downstream oil refinery in Martinez, California. She spent nearly two years working with the production engineers and business leads to manage the operating expense (Opex) portfolio for chemical usage and carbon emissions at the refinery. Khushboo really enjoyed the fast-paced environment, driving end-to-end forecasting and accounting for her business areas, and engaging in strategic conversations while pushing the business to rethink their Opex portfolio. Being in the Bay Area, Khushboo decided to make a move to the technology sector and joined the Corporate FP&A team at Uber. At Uber, Khushboo spearheaded the monthly forecasting and annual planning process across the entire company. The switch into the tech industry was a pivotal moment in Khushboo’s career as the exposure as the pace of work was significantly faster than that of the energy industry. She had to learn extremely quickly, deal with a constantly changing business landscape, and manage expectations of multiple stakeholders. Though the work was demanding, Khushboo learned several valuable lessons that she carried into her current role at Google. She hopes to progress down the FP&A path and is extremely thankful for the knowledge base that CBHP provided her.
How did Canfield BHP prepare you for this role?
The CBHP program created a very rigorous yet collaborative environment which pushed me to think strategically and produce creative solutions for real-world business problems. Every assignment was tailored to push us to draw on each others’ strengths while presenting our best work product to our customer, the professor. All of these moments culminated into an example bank that I could draw from while going through challenging situations in my corporate role. It’s also comforting to stay connected with other CBHP alumni and professors and share my experiences with them.
Do you have any advice for current Canfield BHP students?
Don’t let rejection stand in the way of your perseverance. If it weren’t for all those times I didn’t get the opportunities I wanted, I wouldn’t have tried harder for the future opportunities. All you can do is remain disciplined about your approach, and the right opportunity will present itself at the right time. I reached out to several of my CBHP classmates and professors when facing challenges in the corporate world. It was eye-opening to learn from their perspectives and it only pushed me to continue challenging myself.
Anything additional you’d like to add?
A huge thanks to Shelley, CBHP professors and staff, and the CBHP Alumni Advisory Board. I am extremely grateful to be a part of this foundation.