IMIx Inaugural Alumni Speaker Series Event was a Success
Thursday, October 31, 2019 - 3:03pm
By: Natasha Walli
natasha.walli@utoronto.ca
U of T alumni met for a networking reception and outstanding speaker on October 23, 2019 in downtown Toronto. It was the launch event for IMIx, new the executive programs unit for UTM’s Institute for Management & Innovation (IMI), and the attendees were genuinely excited. Our speaker, a young UTM alumna, Priya Dogra, has risen extraordinarily to be the Executive Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development at WarnerMedia in New York.
She spoke about key success factors that have propelled her career, with a focus on her 9-year stint overseeing Time Warner’s global M&A efforts. She stressed the importance of mentorship, networking and being authentic as key elements of her success, as well as how she learned to read and deal with bosses and subordinates.
Our audience showed their interest and excitement during the question period. Robert Dunford, Commerce alumnus from 1988 was in attendance and had some particularly thoughtful feedback following the event:
“You are never too old to learn something new. As a 1998 UTM alumni, with two daughters (18 and 23) and a son (20), Ms. Dogra's story resonated with me. When I returned home, I shared her successes with my youngest daughter who is trying to choose what she will be studying next year. Ms. Dogra's words gave me renewed hope and confidence to reassure my daughter that, if she works hard in her studies and in the experiences her life has to offer, she can do whatever she wants and define what success means to her in her own way. I do look forward to the next Alumni Speaker in the series and now that I know what this event is like, I'll invite my family to join me.”