Since Soumya Nair (MGT '13) graduated with her Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Weatherhead School of Management, she has been in market research and insight roles with Kerry, a food and beverage company.
This year, Nair was honored with the Insight250 award presented by European Society for Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR)—which annually celebrates worldwide pioneers, leaders and innovators in market research, data-driven marketing and insights—for her work at Kerry.
As the global director for consumer research and initiatives, Nair manages a team of researchers from around the globe and helps to uncover high-impact business opportunities and actionable work streams across Kerry’s product and business portfolio. She also leads the Insight Center of Excellence with a goal to democratize research, elevate insights skills/acumen to provide economies of scale, and nurture the consumer-first muscle at Kerry.
“At the very root of the function is to demystify consumer truths, needs and drivers to unlock food, beverage and industry innovations,” Nair said. “There are days we spend time with consumers in their natural environment, seeing how they interact and cook plant-based meats, other days we are pouring over week-long diaries about changes in their eating behavior since the pandemic. In a B2B organization, it is fascinating to be leading a B2C research life.”
Get to know more about Nair and how her time at Weatherhead has greatly impacted her:
What made you decide to come to Weatherhead for your MBA?
Pursuing an MBA was not a result of a very long deliberation, but a natural progression of where I wanted my career and life-skills to lead. The variables that helped me whittle down the list of MBA programs to the one I wanted to pursue included the alumni network, university relationship with notable companies, and also importantly the quality of the coursework—specifically sustainability and design thinking that would compound my past experience in market research and consumer insights. I have been grateful for finding my career choice early on—in research and insights, and interestingly enough I use both sustainability and design thinking in my role at Kerry.
How was your experience at Weatherhead?
As a researcher, being curious is an important skill set. Organizations that have a curiosity mindset experience a five to 10% top-line growth. And being at Weatherhead, in an unfamiliar country, unfamiliar environment, really nourished my curiosity.
Weatherhead very skillfully brought a really diverse group of members to the 2011 cohort and with batch-mates that not only inspired, but also challenged each other, gave me the necessary building blocks to thrive. We had recent undergraduates, doctors, new mothers, finance professionals, advertisers, creatives, veterans, lawyers, that made for a really rich experience. And no experience is complete at Weatherhead without the rec center, The Jolly Scholar, and the laughs and debates inside the Peter B. Lewis Building walls. People who were just faces, have become dear friends and family.
What is your favorite lesson you learned in the MBA program?
It is quite hard to isolate a specific lesson that I loved, and quite unfair to pick one. But my top three lessons would be:
1. Negotiations 101: This is foundational to executive business skills for anyone seeking a career in management.
2. Design Thinking: Again skills that creative and non-creative professionals must internalize for strategic thinking and innovation.
3. Accounting: For not just teaching me principles to talk shop at work (budget negotiations, vendor management, the list is endless), but also giving me critical skills to apply some of the principles in everyday wealth management.
I will truly be remiss in not mentioning the incredible leadership course hours with ‘The Gorilla’ (the late Richard Osborne), who shaped our strategic thinking and pushed us toward creative problem solving. And pouring over case studies with Simon Peck and giving each of us in the course the medium and the confidence in debating and discussing with peers.
What advice would you give to anyone looking to apply for the MBA program at Weatherhead?
If you come with industry experience or are seeking to guide your next career move, whatever the reason for you to pursue an MBA program—vision board your goal (your one-month goal of building your professional persona, your one-year goal of what you want to achieve out of your MBA program, and your three-year goal of where do you want to be working/starting your own business). Your goals can and must evolve with you, but constantly be aware of them.
My second advice, but more important than most, is nurture your network. The people you meet (professors, peers, friends) are going to shape your world. Be respectful and be open to learning from them as well.
And my third piece of advice is to lean into the program. It will be hard, insomnia-inducing, challenging and you will not want it any other way! My advice is to lean into it and ask for support when you need it from your network. You will come out of it stronger than you can anticipate.