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IBIT News

Dinesh Desai grew Emtec into a high performing mid-market IT services firm

Dinesh Desai and colleagues grew Emtec into a high performing mid-market IT services firm, by creating a unique culture, acquiring firms, and digital co-innovation.

In the newly published case titled Emtec: Culture, Acquisitions, and Co-innovation as the Upstream Future for Midmarket Firms, Munir Mandviwalla, Larry Dignan, Laurel Miller, and Bertrand Guillotin tell the story of a how a start-up grew through acquisitions and an entrepreneurial cooperative culture in the cut-throat trillion-dollar IT services market. The case also shows how co-innovation enables digital transformation.

The case is dedicated to Dinesh Desai, Fox’78, founder, CEO, and Chairman of Emtec. He received the 2015 Fox IT Award for Distinguished Alumni and served on the IBIT board. Dinesh passed away on March 27, 2024.

Note: Colleagues of Dinesh interested in reading the case, please contact ibit@temple.edu

Cencora presents Virtual Reality and Bots workshop for students

Mike Marzano, mobile solutions analyst and Emily Rattner, business solutions analyst, at Cencora, led a workshop on Exploring Virtual Reality and Bots on April 3, 2024.

The 15 workshop attendees consisted of graduate and undergraduate students from three different schools at Temple.

The participants learned how Cencora is creating immersive spaces and how they build RPA bots.

DIF Workshop Series

Cencora presents Generative AI workshop for students

Amrut Patil and Parijat Naik, both architects at Cencora, led a workshop on Implementing Generative AI Applications on February 23, 2024. 

The 22 workshop attendees consisted of graduate and undergraduate students from three different schools at Temple and faculty members. 

The participants learned about the mechanics of Generative AI, understanding its ability to employ algorithms and machine learning techniques to create original content.

DIF Workshop Series

Mitchel Zilbershteyn receives scholarship to explore digital innovation

Mitchel Zilbershteyn received the Persson-Barbour Endowed Scholarship in fall 2023 to explore digital innovation.

Mitchel is currently working on a Generative AI prototype using ChatGPT to create a guide for MIS students. The guide focuses on the Temple Association for Information Systems (AIS) and the Temple MIS PRO points program. It enables students to ask relevant questions such as how to earn PRO points and how to maximize their PRO point earning activities.

Previously Mitchel worked on a DIF project to envision use-cases for no-code metaverse development platform.

IBIT Mentoring has served 173 students to date

The Institute for Business and Information Technology’s Fall 2023 mentoring program engaged 17 students and 15 mentors.  IBIT matches Temple University students with senior executive IT mentors based on students’ interests and career goals using a structured process that ensures regular engagement. The mentoring program runs each semester and has, to-date, served 173 students from three different schools at Temple since spring 2020.  One measure of the program’s success is that mentees stay connected to their mentors long after the end of the mentoring assignment. Sondra Barbour, Board Member, AGCO & Perspecta is the chair of the Mentoring Program.

Neil Mundell, Cencora and Nayana Santhosh

The fall semester’s mentors were:

  • Andrea Anania, Cigna (retired)
  • Sondra Barbour, AGCO & Perspecta
  • Chris Cera, Arcweb Technologies
  • Craig Conway, FIS
  • Kevin Dang, McKinsey & Company
  • Larry Dignan, Constellation Insights
  • Bruce Fadem, Wyeth (retired)
  • Vince Ford, Curtis Institute of Music
  • Chris Kearns, Kyndryl
  • Michael Luckenbill, Capgemini
  • Neil Mundell, AmerisourceBergen
  • Sukumar Narayanan, DecisivEdge
  • Niraj Patel, Greystone
  • Rich Rivara, Wave6
  • Dave Woodson, KPMG

The fall semester’s mentees were:

  • Tyler Allen
  • Rhenece Andrew
  • Nikitha Arramada
  • Victoria Doan
  • Nahum Elias
  • Adam Foster-Baird
  • Jonathan George
  • Emily Greene
  • Carly Krieger
  • David Levit
  • Veronica Li
  • David Liang
  • Mia Myers
  • Alison Park
  • Odalys Perez
  • Cole Roberts
  • Nayana Santhosh