NEW DELHI: In a first for an Indian, the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) has named its School of Management after noted Industrialist and Parliamentarian, Mr. Naveen Jindal.
The honour is in recognition of Mr. Jindal’s exceptional distinction in the fields of entrepreneurship and public service, unqualified reputation for honesty, personal integrity and high standards of personal and professional character.
The recognition will also lead to the establishment of the Naveen Jindal Institute for Indo-American Business Studies.
Mr. Naveen Jindal earned his MBA from UT Dallas in 1992. He was the UT Dallas Student Government President and got the Student Leader of the year award while studying at the university.
“It’s very important to build institutions of higher learning. I am honoured that UTD decided to name the School of Management after me,” said Mr. Jindal. “My vision and desire is that the Naveen Jindal School of Management becomes the school of choice for some of the brightest and best individuals who will truly lead us into the next generation, leaders who will truly embrace the global vision and balance the needs of the people with the environment in an ethical and sustainable manner.”
The Naveen Jindal School of Management will offer full-time, part-time and executive MBA programmes apart from enhancing faculty research productivity.
Mr. Jindal is the Chairman and Managing Director of Jindal Steel and Power Limited and credits his experiences as the UT Dallas Student Government President with kindling his later interest in government service in India.
In keeping with his father, Mr. O. P. Jindal’s mission to establish global institutions in India that are comparable to the best in the world, Mr. Naveen Jindal has also started a number of philanthropic educational initiatives under the aegis of Jindal Education. The foremost among Jindal Education’s initiatives is the O.P. Jindal Global University, a non-profit global University established by the Haryana Private Universities (Second Amendment) Act, 2009 at Sonipat, Haryana. The University has three schools, the Jindal Global Law School (JGLS), the Jindal Global Business School (JGBS) and the Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA).
UT Dallas School of Management has earlier signed an MoU with the Jindal Global Business School (JGBS) opening doors for cooperative efforts between the two institutions. The partnership provides the framework for the two schools to develop collaborative initiatives on faculty and student exchange programs, teaching and research projects, conferences, publications and continuing education programs.
Naveen Jindal – Philanthropist Leader Shows the Way
In the almost two decades since Mr. Naveen Jindal earned his MBA from UT Dallas in 1992, he has become a leading industrialist, ascendant statesman, and the driving force for higher education in India.
Mr. Naveen Jindal was named a UT Dallas Distinguished Alumnus last year and was the UT Dallas Student Government President and got the Student Leader of the year award while studying at the university.
Mr. Jindal’s business career has roots in the O.P. Jindal Group, the multibillion-dollar family conglomerate his father built from steel-pipe trading ventures in the 1950s. The youngest of O.P.’s four sons, Naveen serves as Chairman and Managing Director of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), a steel manufacturer that has diversified into cement production, mining, oil and gas, and power generation. Mr. Jindal is credited with changing JSPL from a moderately performing company to a vigorous achiever. Named to the Forbes Asia list of Fab 50 Companies in 2009 and 2010, JSPL was also rated the No. 2 value creator in the world, based on total shareholder return, in 2010 Boston Consulting Group rankings.
A national record holder in India for skeet shooting and an adept polo player, Mr. Jindal was described in a 2009 Forbes Asia profile as “more interested in sports than in the family trade” as a youth. But at UT Dallas, he found another passion, politics. He served first as Student Government vice president, then president, at the same time earning the Student Leader of the Year Award.
Inspired by frequent and proud displays of the U.S. flag on campus, Mr. Jindal later successfully challenged India’s Flag Code, which allowed the banner to be put on view only on special occasions. The decade long court battle birthed his parliamentary career. Like his father before him, Mr. Jindal won a seat in the Lok Sabha, Parliament’s lower house.
He serves his home district of Kurukshetra. Now in his second five-year term, he champions health and educational facilities for his district. He also backs a clean environment, a hunger-free society, an end to corruption, population stabilization, women’s empowerment and sports of all kinds.
