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Deepender Hooda, key member of Indian parliament, is IU Kelley School of Business' next Poling Chair

The Indian National Congress' party whip leads the main opposition party in Lok Sabha

• Nov. 9, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Deepender S. Hooda, a member of India’s parliament since 2005 and an alumnus of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, has been named a leader-in-residence at the school, its Poling Chair of Business and Government, for the upcoming academic year.

The Poling Chair was established in 1993 by the late Harold "Red" Poling, a Kelley School alumnus and Ford Motor Co. chairman and CEO from 1985 to 1994.

Recipients of the Poling Chair are given the charge to stimulate discussion in the areas of leadership, the critical interactions between private business and government in matters of public policy, enterprise competitiveness and economic growth.

He will make periodic trips to the Kelley School in Bloomington and Indianapolis, where he will interact with students and faculty, including an upcoming visit Nov. 12 to 18.

"I’m excited at the prospect of being back in Bloomington after a span of about 12 years," Hooda said. "I'm thankful to Indiana University and the Kelley School for providing me with this wonderful opportunity to give back, though in a relatively small measure, to the institution that added, and continues to add, great value to my life journey.

"I am looking forward to meeting with some of the faculty members that I had the privilege to learn from, and to interacting with the bright IU students," he added.

Kelley School Dean Idalene "Idie" Kesner said Hooda was her student while studying for his MBA, and she said he was very engaged in the Kelley experience. 

"He represents the leadership talent that Kelley produces," said Kesner, who also holds the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management. "He took the skills he learned here and made major contributions to his country, and we are very proud and excited that he has accepted this opportunity to share his unique international perspective with today’s Kelley students."

Hooda became the youngest member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament, when he made his political debut after completing his MBA at Kelley. Last year, he was re-elected for a third time -- and by a record margin -- at a time when his party, the Indian National Congress, faced strong anti-incumbency sentiments nationwide. He represents Rohtak, a city in the state of Haryana.

He serves as the Indian National Congress’ party whip, leading the main opposition party in Lok Sabha. He also leads his party’s national digital and social communications team and spearheaded the relaunch of its website and introduced the Indian National Congress on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

He is an elected board member of the Council of Indian Institutes of Technology, which manages nearly 20 public higher education institutions across India. He serves as a member of parliament’s Standing Committee on Energy and previously served on similar committees on finance, external affairs, agriculture and human resource development. He chairs the Indo-UK forum of parliamentarians.

In addition to earning an MBA at Kelley, Hooda is an engineering graduate from MDU, Rohtak (Birla Institute). In 2011, the World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader, a distinction he shares with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Larry Page.

In 2009, he received the Bharat Asmita Jana Pratinidhi Shreshta Award from the MIT School of Government in Pune, India. The award is given to the best young proponent of parliamentary practices from India each year.

Hooda twice has been elected vice chairman of the Indian Red Cross Society, a position he has held since 2008. He also has a special interest in promoting sports in his state and is vice president of the All India Tennis Association and president of the Haryana Wrestling Association.

Previous Poling Chairs have come from both the public and private sectors. They include Elizabeth Acton, retired chief financial officer of Comerica and a former vice president and treasurer of Ford Motor Co.; Bob Eckert, CEO of Mattel Inc.; Ronald Dollens, former president and CEO of Guidant Corp.; Samuel K. Skinner, former U.S. secretary of transportation and chief of staff to former President George H.W. Bush; former Sen. Evan Bayh, who taught before his election to the U.S. Senate; Randall L. Tobias, chairman emeritus of Eli Lilly and Co., former vice chairman of AT&T Corp. and chair of the IU Board of Trustees; Frank Popoff, former CEO and chairman of Dow Chemical Co.; Dale Pollak, chairman and founder of vAuto, Inc.; Gen. Peter Pace, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Cie Nicholson,  senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Softcard, a mobile wallet joint venture of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile that was acquired by Google.

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