Featured Galante Fellow: Renuka Kannan
Renuka Kannan is a fifth-year student at Northeastern University graduating in May 2022 with a BS in Industrial Engineering and an MS in Engineering Management.
While on campus, she has participated in various activities to contribute to the Northeastern community. To support the department, she has worked as an industrial engineering tutor, a course assistant for Professor Jaeger-Helton, and an MEIE career peer. In these roles, Kannan has enjoyed mentoring and sharing knowledge with numerous students. She was also involved in research and participated in Dr. Maass’ Operations Research & Social Justice Lab where she worked on a project that modeled effective network disruptions for human trafficking. Additionally, she is an active member in Phi Sigma Rho, a sorority for women in engineering & engineering technologies where she served as VP of communications alongside spearheading Diversity & Inclusion initiatives.
Through speaking with other peers, Kannan heard many positive stories about the Galante program and how the program has benefited them. She reached out to Professor Dehghani about getting involved. Joining the program has helped her meet many like-minded peers, enabling her to build a stronger network. The mentorship she has received from Galante peers has been incredibly helpful. Her favorite event as a member of the Galante program was the PwC Speed Networking event in 2020. This was her first Galante event, and with minimal experience with networking, she was initially nervous. However, it was very valuable as she met many professionals, and ended up doing her last co-op with PwC. She appreciates how much the many opportunities at Galante have benefitted her.
Apart from her involvement in Galante, Kannan has completed three successful co-ops. For her first co-op in 2019, she worked in business development as a proposal manager at Raytheon. Here, she managed 15 proposals and coordinated documentation and communication for government audits. Here she experienced significant growth as a person through her cross-functional work across many functional areas. Her second co-op was at Raytheon as an operations cell lead on the manufacturing floor. She managed a group of 30 operators and earned her Raytheon Six Sigma Certification during this experience. Her last co-op was at PwC where she worked as M&A Management Consulting co-op. She focused on data analytics and visualizations to support divestiture, integration, and transformation work. She plans on returning to PwC after graduation as a second-year M&A Associate. She sees endless opportunities to continue to grow as a leader and learner at PwC, and is very excited to have the opportunity to return full-time.
Outside of her career, she enjoys spinning at Turnstyle Back Bay, reading, and knitting. She loves tackling a new puzzle, be it the New York Times Crossword or a jigsaw puzzle. She has also been trying to get into photography and loves to take walks on the esplanade with her new camera.
As a Galante fellow, Kannan has contributed to the program as a leader by serving as the storyboard coordinator and the student advisory board coordinator. She also planned two events: a networking event with PwC and a guest speaker event focusing on career development. For incoming and prospective Galante fellows, she recommends taking advantage of every single opportunity and not being afraid to reach out to upperclassmen or professionals to network. She has learned the most from her peers and believes it is always so helpful to meet people who can share resources with you over the course of your career. In Kannan’s own words, “Seize every single opportunity you see and be sure to make the most of your time at Northeastern!”