IITAGH / MITEF Joint Social Networking Event

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From left: (second from left) Dr. David Hansen (President MIT Enterprise Forum) with Witty Bindra (Past President IITAGH) and Sundy Srinivasan (Trustee IITAGH) and Aaggrim Sabharwal (Secretary IITAGH)

HOUSTON:Some of the best science and engineering minds came together in Houston on Thursday, March 19, at Damian’s Cucina Italiana for networking social event hosted by the IIT Alumni of Greater Houston (IITAGH), the MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) and the Houston Angel Network (HAN). Two separate banners from IITAGH and MITEF standing next to each other greeted the attendees.

The event was hosted by MITEF under the leadership of Dr. David Hansen (Chairman MITEF) and in coordination with Pratish Kanani (President IITAGH). This event saw a turnout of 130+ attendees with a blend of engineers, bankers, consultants, entrepreneurs and University students.

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Attendants’ from IITAGH, MITEF and Houston Angel Network

While the turnout was great; this was a first joint effort to provide a platform to MIT and IIT Alumni to get together and develop tangible connections. This event was the first step towards a budding relationship between IITAGH and MITEF. Witty Bindra (Past President IITAGH) had a long conversation with Dr. D. Hansen on how IITAGH and MITEF can work together in the near future and later shared anecdotes on how IIT Global Conference 2013 was made a success in Houston with the contribution of numerous hard working volunteers. They both agreed volunteers are central to success of any non-profit organization. Dr. D. Hansen was heard saying “I have heard so much about your successful conference in 2013 and it was a tremendous achievement by your team. IITAGH is much better organized than many Alumni organization out there” to Witty Bindra and Aaggrim Sabharwal (Secretary IITAGH). Going forward, both organizations plan to have another joint high-quality event this year in the space of education.

There were several IITAGH Core members who were MIT Alumni as well – Sundy Srinivisan and Sunil Pangarkar, both Trustees of IITAGH and also Alumni of MIT Sloan School of Management had a great time representing both elite Alumni organization. This event also turned out to be a great opportunity for student attendees from University of Houston to network with working professionals and learn about potential opportunities.

The event lasted for two and a half hours and the attendance grew every minute. In a nutshell, this event was a perfect illustration of the kind of quality event that two esteemed Alumni organization can bring jointly.