Meet the 2015-2016 class of Fritzky Leadership Fellows

Each year, second-year MBA students are paired with first-year MBAs to provide peer coaching, leadership advice, and more. Get to know this year’s class of Fellows by reading their bios below. Learn more about the Leadership Fellows Program here.

Aakanksha Veenapani

Born and raised in India, then Mauritius and Singapore, Aakanksha earned a dual undergraduate degree in Economics and English from Whitman College. After college, she spent four years in the technology industry in Seattle followed by a yearlong stint as a management consultant in the global development sector in Mumbai, India. At Foster, Aakanksha is the VP of International Affairs, VP of Consulting Society and Women in Business (WiB) clubs, a Global Innovation Fellow with the START program, and an active member of Net Impact. This past summer she interned at Deloitte Consulting where she worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions service line. Aakanksha is looking forward to serving as a Leadership Fellow and helping the incoming class transition into life at Foster. Outside of school, she can usually be found hiking, trying out new restaurants, or dancing.

Anika Gupta

Anika was born in London and spent most of her life in different cities across the USA and in Mumbai, India. She worked in Strategic Marketing Communications for over 6 years, leading international teams at global agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather and Lowe and Partners Worldwide. This past summer, Anika interned at TripIt, Concur and spent her time working on travel experiences – basically living her dream! An unapologetic extrovert, she looks forward to meeting the incoming class, and helping them make the most of their personal Foster experience. Anika is a trained dancer, loves to explore and will go to surprising lengths for great food!

Audrey Soroka

Originally from Washington, Audrey graduated with honors from Claremont McKenna College. After graduation, Audrey returned home to work on Senator Patty Murray’s 2010 re-election campaign. Shortly after the campaign ended, Audrey bought a one-way ticket to Washington, D.C. in the hopes of working on the Hill. She landed a job working for a Congressman and then moved on to working at the Department of State at the Middle East Partnership Initiative. Audrey is excited to be back on the west coast and will be interning on the Skype team at Microsoft this summer.

Colin Johnston

Before returning to school to earn an MBA, Colin worked at Harborview Medical Center, managing research projects in the intensive care units. Professionally, he is passionate about the health care sector and plans on working in health care consulting after he graduates. Colin grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, but has lived in Seattle ever since moving here for his undergraduate degree (he is a double-dawg). Colin is grateful for all the help and mentoring he has received while at Foster, and is excited for this opportunity to pass it on to other students.

David Meers

David grew up in the Northeast, where he received his undergraduate degree from Boston College in business economics and history. Prior to moving to Seattle to join Foster, David worked for toy and game manufacturer Hasbro, Inc. in Providence, Rhode Island for five years. David joined the Leadership Fellows program after finding the guidance that he received from his first year leadership fellow invaluable. He is excited to meet the incoming class and to help them get the most from their first year, while also developing his own leadership skills. In his other roles at Foster, David is President of the Operations Club and a board member for C4C and JBS. In his free time David enjoys sailing, camping, running and playing music with friends.

Emily Palmer

Emily hails from Chicago where she spent seven years as an entrepreneur in the arts. She received her BA in 2007 from Oberlin College in Comparative Religion. At Foster, Emily is Chapter Leader of the Net Impact Club, Auction Representative for Challenge for Charity, Student Academic Advisor, Board Fellow for City Fruit, and an active member of Women in Business. She spent her summer internship at Talking Rain Beverage Company, working on the marketing team for the national Sparkling ICE Tea brand. Emily is thrilled to be a Leadership Fellow, and is excited to get to know the first years, bond with the Fellows cohort, and continuing to grow as an authentic and effective leader.

James Truitt

A native Seattleite, James grew up a few miles northeast of Paccar Hall. Prior to Foster, he worked in Washington, DC as an environmental consultant before returning to Seattle to join a local waste management company. James graduated from Whitman College with a BA in English. At Foster, he is concentrating on finance and marketing, with the goal of joining a mission-driven technology company after graduation. Over the summer, James interned with IBM in a solution sales role. Outside of school, James likes to stay in motion with a passion for cross fit, soccer, tennis, hiking, large dinner parties, and music. He is excited and honored to be a leadership fellow, and looks forward to growing as a leader, giving back to the Foster community, and learning as much as possible from his peers.

Joe Dennis

Raised in Danville, California, Joe Dennis graduated West Point in 2009 and then spent 5 years as an Army Officer before coming to Foster. At Foster, Joe is the president of the Foster Veterans Association, an active member of the Outdoor Sports Industry Club, and a Board Fellow for the Mountaineers. This summer, Joe completed his internship at Nike where he worked in supply chain management and he plans to continue to pursue a career in operations or supply chain management after graduation. Joe is excited and honored to be a Fritzky Leadership Fellow and is looking forward to giving back to the community by being a positive resource for the incoming class.

Junny Kim

Junny graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S. in Psychology and worked as the Clinic Coordinator at a private mental healthcare clinic prior to joining Foster. She will going to Nordstrom for her MBA internship as a corporate strategy intern with the Nordstrom.com team. Junny serves on the MBAA Executive Council, is co-president of Challenge for Charity, and serves on other club boards. Junny is excited and honored to be a Fritzky Leadership Fellow. She is looking forward to giving back to the Foster community, further developing her own leadership skills, and getting to know students from the incoming class.

Keane Sweet

Originally from Spokane, WA, Keane has a background in sales, marketing, and project management. Most recently, he led a global business services initiative to set up a new shared service center in Ireland. He has worked for small and large organizations, spanning industries such as construction, energy and water management, as well as various independent ventures such as real estate and visa consulting. Already fluent in Spanish, Keane is also a Jackson School of International Studies Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellow, which will enable him to learn Portuguese. He pursued the Fritzky Fellowship to give back to the Foster community and challenge himself to further develop leadership skills. Keane is pursuing an MBA focused on business development and sales. In his free time, Keane enjoys traveling, soccer and outdoor activities.

Kyle Huber

Kyle Huber is a second-year MBA student at the Foster School of Business with a focus on Consulting and Global Strategy. Along with the Leadership Fellows program, Kyle is also the MBAA VP of Resources and President of the Foster MBA Huddle. Kyle earned his undergraduate degree at Indiana University in German and Economics. Prior to starting Foster, he worked for five years at a supply chain risk management software company, ISN, in both Dallas, TX and London, UK. As a Fritzky Leadership Fellow, Kyle is looking forward to supporting and engaging with first-year students as they forge their way through the MBA experience. Outside of work and academics, Kyle spends his time cooking, playing music, gardening, and maintaining bicycles.

Shridhar Chitlange

Born and raised in Mumbai, Shridhar earned a degree in Chartered Accountancy from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He has a background in Finance, Project Management and Entrepreneurship. He started his professional career as an Intern at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he continued for over five years and gained valuable insights from working with clients across fourteen different industries. Back in Mumbai, he also ran a small nursery and farm business, which was his foray into managing a business of his own. At Foster, Shridhar is a Global Business Association board member, serves as a Teaching Assistant for Accounting and is honored to be a Leadership Fellow. As a Fritzky Fellow, he hopes to provide advice to the incoming class on transitioning into student life and navigating the MBA experience on academic, professional and personal levels. At the same time, he hopes to grow his own leadership skills.

Travis Vaughn

Travis was born and raised in Montana, but fled the Wild West lifestyle to study business in Southern California at Point Loma Nazarene University. He worked for five years in microfinance in both the United States and abroad. Most recently, he spent two years in the Dominican Republic launching an education focused microfinance organization. At Foster he is the current president of the real estate club, a winner of The West Coast Venture Capital Investment Competition and is currently a senior associate for the Alliance of Angels. Travis spent his summer during business school working as a management consultant with Accenture. He is honored to be a Fritzky Fellow and excited to develop his leadership skills and build meaningful relationships and intentional conversations to enrich the Foster community. During his free time, Travis loves spending his days with his wife and son in the outdoors climbing, surfing and skiing.

Uttara Sahaym

Uttara is focusing on Finance and Entrepreneurship in her MBA at Foster. Prior to coming to Foster for her MBA, Uttara worked as a research and clinical faculty at Washington State University where she has done innovative research on clean energy materials, taught classes and mentored students. She also has two patents pending related to her breakthrough research for increasing the charge capacity and life of Lithium-ion batteries. She is also currently involved in commercializing a clean technology that is being developed in Chemical Engineering at UW. This summer Uttara will be working at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) in Eastern Washington doing financial analysis and modeling for Research and Development. Outside of work, Uttara enjoys fusion cooking, singing and spending quality time with her twin boys. Uttara is passionate about mentoring and leadership and is excited and honored to be selected as Fritzky Leadership Fellow for 2015-2016. She is looking forward to helping the class of 2017 transition to MBA life while also further developing her own leadership skills.