IIMA Endowment Fund names alumna Sucheta Mahapatra as CEO to expand alumni engagement, strengthen philanthropic partnerships, and mobilise long-term resources for strategic priorities.
A strategic leadership appointment
The IIMA Endowment Fund has appointed Sucheta Mahapatra (PGP 2006) as its Chief Executive Officer, signaling a renewed push to scale philanthropic impact and deepen alumni ties. Mahapatra brings more than two decades of experience across strategy, operations, and technology-led business leadership. Her mandate includes building sustained philanthropic partnerships, strengthening alumni engagement, and amplifying the Fund’s role in supporting IIM Ahmedabad’s priorities in education, research, innovation, and institution-building.
A proven track record in growth and operations
Mahapatra’s career spans leadership roles at Bain & Company, Bharti Airtel, WeWork India, and Branch International, where she most recently served as Managing Director – India. She helped scale operations, led growth strategies, and built teams across diverse market contexts. Her combination of strategic consulting experience and hands-on operational leadership also equips her to professional fundraising operations and implement scalable engagement models for a global alumni base.
An alumna with deep institutional ties
As an IIMA alumna and gold medallist in engineering, Mahapatra understands the institution’s culture and long-term ambitions. She also received the IIMA Young Alumni Achiever Award and earned recognition as SKOCH Fintech Woman Leader of the Year for contributions to India’s fintech ecosystem. Those credentials also position her to connect authentically with donors, institutional stakeholders, and alumni across generations and geographies.
Priorities: alumni engagement and long-term giving
Mahapatra will focus on building a stronger culture of giving among alumni by designing compelling engagement pathways and transparent impact frameworks. The Fund aims to move beyond episodic philanthropy toward pooled, long-term commitments that support endowed chairs, scholarships, research centres, and infrastructure. Her role will involve crafting narratives that tie donor contributions to measurable institutional outcomes and convincing high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and corporate partners to commit multi-year resources.
Strengthening governance and institutional alignment
The Fund will benefit from Mahapatra’s experience in governance and strategic execution. She will work with the Fund’s board and IIMA leadership to align endowment priorities with the Institute’s strategic plan. This alignment includes identifying funding needs that advance management education, policy research, and public leadership while ensuring rigorous stewardship, transparent reporting, and measurable impact – factors that institutional and philanthropic partners increasingly demand.
Mobilising partnerships across sectors
Mahapatra plans to expand the Fund’s reach by forging strategic partnerships with corporates, foundations, alumni chapters, and international donors. She will explore collaborative models – such as challenge grants, matched funding, and programmatic partnerships – that leverage institutional strengths to attract co-investment. Such approaches can amplify the Fund’s resources while creating shared ownership of outcomes across stakeholders.
Building capacity for digital fundraising and analytics
Given her background scaling technology-enabled businesses, Mahapatra will likely prioritise modernising fundraising infrastructure. This could include digital platforms for donor engagement, data-driven prospecting, and analytics to track impact and donor lifecycle metrics. Upgrading systems will help the Fund personalise outreach, streamline giving processes, and demonstrate outcomes with clarity – critical steps for institutionalising recurring philanthropy.
Supporting student scholarships and research
One immediate area where increased endowment can have outsized impact is student support. Mahapatra’s leadership can expand scholarship pools to ensure diverse access to IIMA’s programmes, reducing financial barriers for talented candidates. Additional endowment can fund faculty chairs and research grants that strengthen IIMA’s academic output and policy influence, thereby enhancing the Institute’s global standing.
Championing innovation and institution-building
The IIMA Endowment Fund under Mahapatra will also support long-term institution-building initiatives, including incubators, industry-academia collaboration, and centres focused on public leadership and policy. By targeting funding to strategic vectors, the Fund can also help IIMA respond to emerging global challenges and nurture leaders equipped to translate management research into societal impact.
A moment to deepen culture of giving
Mahapatra assumes leadership at a time when many Indian institutions seek sustainable funding models to match global peers. Building a robust endowment requires persistent cultivation of trust, clear impact reporting, and a sense of shared mission among alumni. Her appointment also signals the Fund’s intent to professionalise its approach and to engage alumni as partners in the Institute’s long-term journey.
Looking ahead
With Sucheta Mahapatra at the helm, the IIMA Endowment Fund aims to accelerate its fundraising ambitions and deliver demonstrable value to the Institute. If she successfully combines strategic fundraising with operational rigour and alumni empathy, the Fund can mobilise the kinds of multi-year resources that underpin global academic leadership. For IIMA, expanded endowment support can also translate into stronger scholarship programs, enhanced research capacity, and sustained institutional innovation.
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