The number of Engler COB grads, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, who have gone on to do great things comprises a very long list. From Marketing to Economics, Management to Computer Information Systems, and everything in between, our grads are the best advertising we could ever have.
And Anupam “AJ” Johri, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Management Director at Morgan Stanley in Dallas, is one such example. AJ graduated with his WT MBA in 1993, and went to work for Dean Witter Reynolds in Amarillo. That company was ultimately acquired by Morgan Stanley, and he found himself moving to the Big D. Today, his success finds him one of the top-ranked wealth managers in Texas, according to Barron’s, with $2 billion under his guidance.
He recalled growing up in an upper-middle class class family in India. “When I was growing up in the early 80s, if you were a good student–and I was a good student–the two paths were you either became a doctor or you became an engineer. I could not stand the sight of blood, so the doctor thing was out for me. The default was engineering.”
His interests, though, were in Economics and Finance, and he enjoyed reading books in these fields. To please his parents, though, he took the entrance exam for Indian Institutes of Technology, where he was one of only 360 admitted. “I qualified and studied chemical engineering there,” he said. “But my heart was not in it. I felt like I needed to complete what I started. I was always thinking about marketing, finance, and things of that nature, though.”
A couple of years later in 1991 he decided to go against the grain anyway. “I decided I was going to do an MBA, which was unorthodox,” he admitted. His family and friends questioned him, but his mind was made up. A friend told him about WT. He applied, was accepted, and also awarded a Graduate Assistant position in the CIS Department.
His arrival in Canyon resulted in culture shock. Whereas he came from New Delhi, a bustling city of 12 million then, Canyon had only about 12,000 residents. He wondered where all of the people were, but with his new home having only 0.1% of his hometown’s population, it was easy for him to have questions.
And then there was the issue of food. AJ, who is Hindi, does not eat beef. At McDonald’s in India, a cheeseburger was everything you would find here, minus the meat. He laughingly recalled ordering one across the street from campus, only to sink his teeth into a burger as we know it. He queried a worker, who replaced his sandwich to his preference, both of them a little more knowledgeable about cultural and religious differences.
While in the MBA program, he focused on Marketing and Finance, but it was the overall vibe of the program that has been a lasting memory. “The one thing I liked is the intimacy. You’ve got small classes. You can approach the professors and have a conversation with them. You can know your classmates,” he stated.
He also found solace in the International Students Office, where he and other students, often feeling homesick, could hang out. The coziness of that office made a lasting impression, making him feel at home even though he was 10,000 miles away.
A rarity by today’s standards, AJ has had one job, even if the name on the sign has changed several times. He attributes his success to hard work, being willing to come early and leave late to work his way to the top level in his office. “The work ethic has to be strong. His prescription for success? “You’ve got to have passion for it, the work ethic has to be strong, and it has to be consistent.”
That is a plan that has worked well for this WT graduate. Being the one to turn off the lights each night at his office is not just his M.O. but also a metaphor.
AJ recently appeared on an episode of BuffSpeak, the official podcast of the College of Business. That episode can be found here.