The B School Recommendation Summary

1.

How long and in what capacity have you known the applicant? 150 Characters.Since 2013, I have been the In-charge of the Artificial lift team at IOGPT and he has reported directly to me for the past 2.5 years.2. Describe the applicant's potential for becoming a responsible and successful manager. 2000 Characters.

Prashant has the potential for becoming a successful manager. At ONGC he has constantly displayed signs of leadership and team skills that make him an efficient manager. Because of his dependable and result oriented nature, he has become an indispensable member of an Artificial Lift team at IOGPT. Prashant acts as an in-house consultant to ONGC for several high stakes projects - ranging from enhancement of the Oil and Gas production to development of new fields too. His performance in successfully delivering challenging projects along with excellent management of various audits and training has earned him A+ grading at ONGC for the past 2 years consecutively.

I vividly recall an incident when he rescued one of the crucial projects of Ahmedabad Asset ONGC from violating the schedule of the MoU between the Asset and IOGPT in 2014 .The data acquisition could not be done officially despite several efforts due to severe workload and operational challenges in the Asset. Since few weeks were left for its timely completion, Prashant took the initiative to leverage the network of people he had in the various assets to get minimal data and successfully completed the project as per the schedule. This resulted in even bigger consultancy projects in the next annual work program of 2015.Another trait which makes Prashant stand out is his hardworking nature and his ability to handle pressure situations with a great poise.

He was a part of the organizing committee for the TAC , a high profile annual meeting for finalizing the annual work programme at IOGPT. There was change in the venue of the meeting at the last hour. The entire management of logistics and resources in a timely manner was a daunting task to handle. He rose to the challenge and efficiently managed a team of over 30 people including local vendors and staff and got the job done. The TAC meeting went successfully and he was appreciated by the Head IOGPT.3.

What are the applicant's major strengths? 2000 Characters.Prashant has an inherent leadership potential .He handles pressure situations with a great poise .I have seen him deliver several impromptu project presentations to the top management of the various assets of ONGC .

In one of the projects an interim presentation of the project was to be given on a short notice at one of the onshore assets of ONGC. The project had over 300 wells and needed elaborate compilation of facts figures and analysis with a very short span of time. He managed to infer the essence of the comprehensive analysis and recently presented it to the management in one of the assets .The project came up to the expectation of the asset and he was appreciated for successfully dealing with this complex project in such relatively short period of time .

His ability to take risks and innovate has drawn my attention several times . He has improvised on a non-conventional form of artificial Lift called Pig lift which had operational problem and was not successful in the industry. He built the new designs to overcome the shortcomings and make it economically feasible. The same was presented to the IOGPT management with a aim to build a prototype with the help of local vendors and subsequent arrangement of funding for the same . The challenges involves convincing the management of the a suitable Oil field to allocate a well and then fabricate and install it to ensure that the well should not be negatively affected.

The management has appreciated his effort and is reviewing the proposal for further necessary action .He has also successfully been a part of a team of trainers for imparting Artificial Lift training to the various field executives and was awarded ONGC merit award for excellent contribution and initiatives for imparting artificial lift training to field personnel in 2014.Moreover, he has excellent analytical skills and can quickly make useful inferences from huge amount of data. In one of the projects he has developed a prediction method for finding failure in Rod pumped wells. The method has been a success and was presented at IORS 2015 conference in Mumbai.

4. What are the applicant's most noticeable areas for improvement or growth? 2000 Characters.When Prashant joined ONGC, he had a bachelors degree in Mechanical engineering and not much exposure to the Oil and Gas Industry. Moreover he was directly posted in top notch R ; D center along with several petroleum engineers , who had a relatively stronger background of the Oil and Gas industry .

I have seen him evolve and learn the ropes on the job. He has a kind of zeal and dedication which is not so common and has made him one of the most sought after professionals at IOGPT .He is a quick learner and absorbed the advanced simulations and concepts pretty fast . Now as a Oil and Gas professional he deals with high value field projects independently and is an integral part of the team of trainer at IOGPT .Moreover he was new to the commercial aspect of the Oil and gas industry and had to learn the art of making contracts where no lapses can be afforded .He has learnt the meticulous procedure for tendering apart from the ERP system at ONGC and has successfully managed many high value tenders .

5. Please use the space below to elaborate on the applicant's qualifications? 2000 Characters.A Mechanical Engineering graduate from BITS, Pilani,University . Prashant was ranked 2nd in a batch of 117 students of 2007-2011 batch of Be (Hons) Mechanical and scored a CGPA of 9.68 on 10 as per the records .

He is a quick learner and wants to explore new and challenging areas at work . He is a artificial lift consultant and always tries to innovate and explore new ideas. Recently He presented a novel method to detect and prevent tubing failure in rod pumped wells in IORS 2015 conference.I am greatly impressed by his entrepreneurial skills. He along with a team of artificial lift engineers also ventured in building a prototype of Beam gas compressor and has been successful in bringing down the cost by fabricating it with in-house design modification The prototype is in advanced stage of testing and would shortly be installed in one of the wells in ONGC. This project if successful could be a new technology for saving low pressure associated gas produced in various oil wells.

The projects envisages to generate huge sum of revenues if successfully implemented across ONGC.I have seen him learn the basics of audits after he joined IOGPT. He cleared the internal auditor certification for ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 and has successfully carried out several internal audits at various departments. He is also Deputy Technical Manager for the Artificial lift lab and handles all NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) compliance audits and activities .

He has been involved in various equipment up-gradation activities .Moreover, he has great skills in managing events and has been an integral member of several organizing committees for various meetings and event at IOGPT . In conclusion, I am greatly impressed by his personality and I strongly feel that he has the right credentials and qualifications to become a successful manager and leader.6. For each attribute listed in the chart below, please select the ranking that best describes how this applicant compares with others you have known during your professional career.

Indicate the reference group with whom you are comparing this candidate (e.g., other MBA candidates, other students, other employees) 2000 Characters.When compared to other officers whom I have worked with in my 33 years of career, I find Prashant to be an exceptionally skilled and competent man who has an unprecedented zeal to take up any challenge he is posed with . I remember him as an innovative individual .who has ventured into many challenging projects and has been successful in even setting higher standards .

He has worked on improvised pig lift , Beam gas compressor and presented a novel method for detecting failures in rod pumped wells in IORS 2015 conference.These innovations may take time in getting implemented but promise huge savings for ONGC . Prashant has consistently proved himself to be an excellent team player and has contributed at every step to help the team achieve its best. A live example for this is the way he has adapted himself to a very experienced team of Artificial lift trainers and immensely contributed in overcoming several challenges posed by soaring expectations of the management at various oil and gas fields of ONGC His enthusiasm rubs on to his colleagues and I have seen some tremendous results from every team that Prashant has been a part of.He has the correct blend of people’s skills. He has dealt with several vendors in negotiating the tender terms and has successfully executed the revamp of the Artificial Lift lab facilities.

Apart from his technical expertise, He has been instrumental in floating as well as managing several high value tenders for IOGPT. He is the deputy Technical Manager for Artificial Lift Lab and has played an integral role in getting NABL accreditation for the labI feel that by pursing an MBA from UNC, Prashant will not just build on his existing leadership skills but will also develop a global perspective and business acumen which will take him on the road to success. I wish him all the best in his future.