Vijaya Sunder M

Vijaya Sunder M is currently an Assistant Professor (Practice) and Experiential Learning Program (ELP) Chair at the Indian School of Business (ISB). Additionally, he is an affiliate faculty at the Max Institute of Healthcare Management and an advisory board member at the Center for Executive Education at ISB. Previously, he was Head of Business Process Excellence at the World Bank Group, USA, Assistant-Vice-President at Barclays, and Quality Leader at American Express and Citi.

He is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt from Indian Statistical Institute, PMP, ISO 9001 Quality Lead Auditor and Lean Facilitator, with over 18 years of industry experience across global corporate. Vijaya holds a Ph.D. in Operational Excellence from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, MBA (summa cum laude) from the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, and a gold medalist in Bachelor of Engineering from Anna University.

He actively teaches specialized management courses for MBA and Executive MBA, Ph.D. scholars, and business executives. His research and teaching interests include Operational Excellence, Project Management, Operations and Supply Chain Management, Sustainability, Digital Transformation in the manufacturing and service sectors (especially services).

Vijaya authored two books and 44 research papers in reputed peer-reviewed international journals, including the International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Technovation, International Journal of Production Research, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Journal of Business Research, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, Group & Organization Management, Production Planning & Control, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Journal of Cleaner Production, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, among many others.

His thought leadership articles have been published in national and international media, including Forbes, Fortune, The Business Times Singapore, Outlook India, Quint, ASQ’s Quality Progress, The New Indian Express, Express Healthcare, The Hindu, The Hindu Business Line, Business India, and The Future Factory. Teaching case studies authored by him have been published in Harvard Business Education Publishing. One of his recent case studies on sustainability was recognized as a runner-up under ‘The Financial Times’ Responsible Business Education Awards 2022 -Teaching cases category.

Vijaya has been a keynote speaker in national and international conferences and events including NASSCOM, Production & Operations Management Society, Decision Sciences Institute, and Society of Operations Management, among others. He conducted Faculty Development programs for the Indian School of Business, IIT-Madras, JK Lakshmipat University, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, National Rail & Transportation Institute, DB Jain College, and others. He was a resource person in many Management- and Executive- Development Programs conducted for Indo-Tibet Border Police, Indian Railway Service Officers, Indian Administrative Service Officers, National Police Academy, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Department of Economic Affairs (Govt. of India), LV Prasad Eye Institute, National Mineral Development Corporation, and others.

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) in 2022 awarded Vijaya the prestigious global Crosby Award for his extraordinary contributions to the field of Quality Management for business executives, researchers, academics, and practitioners. In 2021, he was awarded the Walter E. Masing Book Award 2020 by the International Academy for Quality, USA, and honored as a thought leader in the global quality management community. Vijaya was recognized with the Outstanding Reviewer Award 2018 and the Highly Commended Paper Award 2017 by Emerald Publishing. In 2018, the IIT Madras awarded him the Institute Research Award for his research productivity. The Bharat Vikas Award 2019 was bestowed on Vijaya by the Institute-of-Self-Reliance, for his outstanding contributions in research on continuous improvement in Healthcare and Banking sectors. Recently, Vijaya was honored with the BAT Research Award by the British American Tobacco plc. Further, the Indian School of Business bestowed him with the Professor of the Year: Teaching Excellence Award in 2021.

Experience

Academic

• 2020 - Present: Assistant Professor (Practice), Indian School of Business
• 2019 - 2021: Visiting Faculty, National Rail and Transportation Institute, Vadodara
• 2013 - 2020: Visiting Faculty, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Puttaparthi
• 2019 - 2019: Visiting Faculty, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai

Professional

• 2015 - 2019: Head of Department – Business Process Excellence & Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, The World Bank Group, Chennai, India and Washington DC, USA
• 2012 - 2015: Assistant Vice President – Change Management Initiatives, Barclays, Chennai and Mumbai, India and Delaware, USA
• 2011 - 2012: Manager – Six Sigma and Project Management, American Express, Gurgaon, India
• 2009 - 2011: Assistant Manager – Process reengineering Group, Citi Group, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, India
• 2004 - 2007: Trainer, Sri Sai Institute, Chennai, India

Education

• Indian Institute of Technology, Madras - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Operational Excellence
• Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning - Master of Business Administration - MBA, Strategy and Quality
• Anna University - Bachelor of Engineering - BE, Electronics & Communications
• Robert MHSS - Schooling, Mathematics and Computer Science