Biltmore Who's Who News and Events

Dr. Sriramasundararajan Rajagopalan

Biltmore Who’s Who Selects Dr. Sriramasundararajan Rajagopalan as this week’s Honored Member of the Executive and Professional Registry for 2009.

Sriramasundararajan Rajagopalan, Senior Program Manager for Physicians Interactive, has been selected as an Honored Member of the Biltmore Who’s Who Executive and Professional Registry. The selection recognizes Sriramasundararajan Rajagopalan’s commitment to excellence in information technology and project management.

Dr. Rajagopalan, who began his career in India in 1990, became certified in information technology as part of the course in biomedical engineering through the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and later became certified in computer engineering from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. 

Beginning his full-time career as a software engineer in General Electric Medical Systems in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dr. Rajagopalan moved to eFunds, Legg Mason, West Notification Group, and Physicians Interactive, holding various positions from Senior Programmer Analyst, Business Analyst, Project Manager, to Senior Program Manager.  Founded in 2005, he has also been running a sole proprietorship providing information technology and management consultancy through which he engaged in a contractual work for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois through CFS/Harbor Ventures.  Besides, Dr. Rajagopalan has focused substantial time researching about a management consultancy model around a leadership framework that he has been developing that evolved from his doctoral research.

As a senior program manager, Dr. Rajagopalan manages the project within cost, schedule, and scope, or what is called triple constraints, to deliver a quality product.  Managing both projects and the programs, he has worked in the financial services industry, such as delivering billing automation projects and financial reconciliation projects, infrastructure, professional services like developing websites and delivering outbound and inbound voice and email notification projects including the delivery of notifications in many languages.  Currently, he manages pharmaceutical marketing projects that involve messaging and communication, bringing pharmaceutical information to physicians and managing the recruitment efforts around the goals.  In addition, Dr. Rajagopalan has been teaching at the university level for the past ten years in information technology and management subjects.   

Attributing his entrepreneurial and leadership mindset, being proactive to drive value, and to connect with people as being a huge contribution to his success, Dr. Rajagopalan continues to seek knowledge through many different avenues.  “I believe that education is a journey, not a destination,” he said.  “I find that the more I learn the more I recognize how little I know.  As a result, I have always perspired to educate myself more by investing in scholar-practitioner oriented education.”  He added that by seeking current trends in the economy and technology, along with his own personal interests that evolve over experience and education, he has found that project and people skills are indispensable in bringing value to his role.  As a result, he has sought out to invest himself in observing management practices of key leaders in the organization and the industry, reads scholarly and practitioner literature, maximizes on-the-job training, opens himself up to feedback through self-initiated feedback loops, completes formal degree program and professional certifications, attends seminars, workshops, and professional conferences, promotes job rotation, and engages in teaching assignments so that he can share and acquire knowledge. 

Currently working on an interview based qualitative leadership study, Dr. Rajagopalan plans to explore this model more through research and establish a small business organization where he can engage in training, research, and management consultancy.  He also plans to invest time in furthering his project and program management skills and to contribute as a scholar practitioner in the fields of emotional intelligence, leadership, project management, and virtual teams. 

Dr. Rajagopalan holds a BE in Electronics and Communication from the University of Madras, an MS in Computer Engineering from Wayne State University, an MBA from Concordia University, and most recently a PhD in Organization Leadership from Capella University.  He is a certified SCRUM master, project management professional, and is also certified in IT Project+ and Sarbanes Oxley.  He’s a member of the Project Management Institute, and a life member of the Center of Creative Leadership.  He has presented two papers in the Symposium on Global Mindset and Development at the University of Riverside in 2009 and 2010, and has been invited to serve as the blind peer reviewer in scholarly journals.  He was named Faculty of the Quarter from the University of Phoenix in 2004.  He was also named Employee of the Month in October of 2008 and won the Triple Hats Off Award in 2009 from West Notifications Group.  He’s the recipient of a graduate research assistantship from Wayne State University for three semesters and the ODASSS scholarship from the Association of Commonwealth Universities.  In his free time, Sriramasundararajan enjoys playing the violin, theater acting, and traveling.

For more information, visit http://www17.brinkster.com/shreesundar.

© 2007, Biltmore Who's Who
www.biltmorewhoswhoblog.com

Dr. Sriramasundararajan Rajagopalan
Posted by Biltmore Who's Who on Friday, August 27, 2010

Vanessa L. Montri

Biltmore Who’s Who Selects Vanessa L. Montri as this week’s Honored Member of the Executive and Professional Registry for 2009.

Vanessa L. Montri, Director, Colorist, and Platform Artist of Montri Art Form, has been selected as an Honored Member of the Biltmore Who’s Who Executive and Professional Registry. The selection recognizes Vanessa L. Montri’s commitment to excellence in the field of beauty, wellness, and skincare.

Montri, a certified instructor and manager in the states of Michigan and Ohio, and licensed cosmetologist since 1990, has been working, traveling, and training people at hair shows all over the country for the past twenty years.

After taking up the art of cosmetology to earn extra money and put herself through college, Montri quickly discovered not only how much she enjoyed the field, but that she could really earn a good living with added education.  After attending a hair show in an effort to help out a national distributer, she became hooked and was excited to learn more about the industry.  “I could not believe all of the avenues the beauty industry had to offer,” she explained.  Since then, she’s been training staff in motivational skills, professionalism, technical haircutting, technical hair color, the latest trends and up-style techniques, upcoming collections and trends, how to care for and understand the needs of guests through a proper and thorough consultations, and traveling to other salons and shows providing other professionals with advanced training workshops.  She also travels to Miami, Florida twice a year and to Birmingham, Alabama, Dallas, Texas, and Toronto, Canada conducting stage work for audiences of 1,000 or more guests at a time.   

Montri has been trained by some of the finest colorists and designers in her industry from Miami, Florida all the way to Milano, Italy, and she’s attended some of the greatest styling classes, including those of Greg Hazelton, Vidal Sassoon, and Martin Parson.  She has been receiving ongoing education every year for the past twenty years. 

Hoping to continue showing and teaching how the beauty industry is changing and how beauty starts from within, Montri will continue to work hard at educating people on how to take care of their skin, body, hair, and their health.  “My prayer is that people can see how beautiful they really are without thinking they need to buy into what the world tells them,” she said. 

In addition to receiving an honorable mention from BehindTheChair.com, Montri was also a guest at a shoot with the actor/comedian Chris Rock and Kevin Kirk, and was also featured as a guest artist for a number of salons throughout the United States teaching techniques and motivational and professionals skills.  Vanessa is a member of Night Light and the Cosmetology Association, and enjoys being with her family, tennis, playing chess, and roller skating, during her free time.

For more information, visit http://montriartform.com.

© 2007, Biltmore Who's Who
www.biltmorewhoswhoblog.com

Vanessa L. Montri
Posted by Biltmore Who's Who on Friday, August 20, 2010