KMG Executive Board, 2026-2027
Sanhita (Sanaa) Dhar, President
Sanaa is an MS in Marketing Analysis student, currently serving as Graduate Assistant in the Department of Marketing. She’s spent 3 years across journalism, brand marketing, and film in India, writing for major publications, creating content for an audience of over 2 million, and directing documentaries that won at national festivals. She believes kindness is a superpower, and she's building KMG around it, with real opportunities, honest connections, and with people genuinely rooting for you.
Sanaa is also an avid traveller who's happiest discovering a culture through its food and its people. She's just as happy eating off a street cart with a stranger as at the nicest table in town. Off the road, she's drawing her own comics, losing an afternoon to a movie, or curled up with a cozy video game. She also plays a mean game of table tennis, and won't let you forget it if she wins.
Jessica Perez, VP of Events
Jessica is an M.S. in Economics and Quantitative Analysis student at DePaul University and serves as the VP of Events for Kellstadt Marketing Group. She recently graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science and enjoys bringing together research, creativity, and people. Her interests span international business, market research, and understanding how different perspectives and case studies can shape the way organizations connect with their audiences. She’s especially excited about creating thoughtful events that give people opportunities to learn, connect, and share ideas.
Outside of school and work, Jessica loves taking long walks and having conversations with people about their experiences, cultures, and perspectives. She’s always curious about how people see the world, and usually leaves a conversation having learned something new.
Elisa Schuch, VP of Social Strategy
Elisa is an M.S. in Marketing Analysis student with a background in International Business and experience in digital marketing, content creation, and social media strategy. Originally from Germany, she is passionate about using data and creativity together to develop effective marketing strategies and build meaningful connections with audiences.
Outside of academics and work, Elisa enjoys fashion, sewing, cooking, going to the gym, and exploring new places. She Ioves experiencing different cultures and meeting new people and is always looking for new creative projects to pursue.
Haydar Temirlioglu, VP of Public Relations
Haydar is an M.S. in Marketing Analysis student who recently served as Communications & Marketing Intern at Capari Partners, leading marketing for the Chicago Social Impact Atlas. Before graduate school, he spent four years in B2B and B2C marketing, where he learned that a brand is not what you say about yourself, it is what people feel when they deal with you.
As VP of PR & Sponsorship, he wants KMG's partnerships to be worth something to everyone in the room. Outside of class, he shoots black and white film, cooks, and takes his standup comedy and gaming more seriously than he probably should.
Naveen Raj Kanagaraj, VP of IT & Analytics
Naveen is an M.S. in Marketing Analysis student, Ambassador for the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, Graduate Research Assistant in the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship, and a Student Assistant in the Department of Marketing.
Janvi Patel, Director of Events
Janvi is currently pursuing her MS in Marketing Analysis. She loves the idea of understanding how consumers think and what really drives them to choose one product over another. Originally from Mumbai, she has gained experience across e-commerce and sales, and currently works as a Student Assistant at DePaul's ID Services. As Director of Event Management, she's excited to plan events that bring the KMG community together and create experiences people genuinely look forward to.
Outside of academics, Janvi volunteers at PAWS Chicago with pet fostering and adoption, loves exploring Chicago's food scene, and is always on the hunt for the city's best sweet treat.
Pallavi Srivastava, Director of Events
Pallavi is currently pursuing her MS in Marketing Analysis at DePaul University. With over 7 years of experience as a design specialist in branding, visual design, and marketing, she loves bringing creative ideas to life and exploring what makes people connect with brands. She enjoys meeting new people, collaborating, and turning ideas into something meaningful. As Director of Events at KMG, she's excited to bring the community together, plan engaging events, and create experiences that everyone can enjoy and remember.
Outside of academics and work, Pallavi loves photography, capturing little moments through her lens, exploring new places, and discovering good food and cafés. She's always up for good food, great conversations, and a little adventure!
Titiksha Talreja, Director of Public Relations
Titiksha is an MS in Marketing Analysis student and KMG's Director of PR and Sponsorships. She loves how data shapes real business decisions, letting marketers back up their calls with numbers, not just instinct, while the creative side only sharpens with evidence behind it. A firm believer in third spaces, she brings that same curiosity to growing KMG's partnerships.
Outside of work, Titiksha is chasing good food, good stories, and good music. She loves exploring cultures through food and travel, discovering new music, watching a great movie, or spending sunny Chicago days by the water.
Genesis, Director of Social Strategy
Genesis is an MS in Marketing Analysis student with a professional background in logistics and procurement. Through her own practice, she has coordinated and curated art exhibits and events, giving her hands-on project management experience in the arts and culture industry. For her, marketing is a powerful tool for understanding people, and art is their means of manifestation. She strongly advocates for diverse cultural expressions, including pottery, film, architecture, and gastronomy.
In her personal time, she volunteers at Arts of Life, supporting artists and different projects; you can also find her teaching ceramics or doing yoga. She is crazy about taking long walks, drinking coffee and having a sweet pastry every sunday.
Zafar Iqbal, Faculty Advisor
Zafar Iqbal is the Associate Professor of Marketing at DePaul University's Driehaus College of Business and Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. He is also Associate Director for Regional Initiatives at DePaul, developing and executing DePaul’s strategy in India.
Zafar earned a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Pittsburgh, an M.S. in Industrial Relations from Iowa State University, and a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT at the University of Poona, India. He teaches courses in new product development, developing sustainable business models, marketing strategy and management, and advanced consumer insights. He has taught at the MBA level at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, the Czech Management Center in the Czech Republic and at the executive level at Steinbeis University in Germany. He also leads international study abroad programs for DePaul students to India, Japan and the Middle East. For his teaching, he has been awarded the Lawrence W Ryan Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award 7 times, the DePaul University Excellence in Teaching Award 2 times, and the Gus Economos Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award 2 times.
Zafar is also the author of business and scholarly articles which have appeared in journals such as Journal of Marketing, California Management Review, Sloan Management Review, Journal of Service Research, and Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management.
Zafar has worked in business-to-business marketing for Thermax Corporation, India. Zafar is the Principal Consultant at Erudite Consulting, which he founded in 2005. He has 15+ years of consulting experience, having worked as a consultant to various corporations, including Knowles Electronics, Terumo, Alfa Laval, Skoda, Walgreens, Motorola, Healthpoint, DHL, ISACA, Pohang Iron & Steel Company, Zenith Corporation, Credit Suisse First Boston, and the Iowa Department of Transportation.
He is the co-founder of Friends for India’s Development and Assistance (FIDA), a not-for-profit founded to educate tribal children in rural India. He is fluent in English, Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Gujarati. He speaks German at an intermediate level, and reads Arabic at a basic level.
Past Presidents
Riya Chettiar, 2025-2026
Amaka Okosieme, 2024-2025
Ozlem Elgun Tillman, 2023-2024
Zach Bosy, 2022-2023
Janaki Soni, 2021-2022
Pieper James, 2020-2021
Seorin Chae, 2019-2020
Jennifer Kuo, 2018-2019
Olena Cruz, 2017-2018
Anna Gong, 2016-2017
Aparna Grover, 2015-2016
Nishat Fatima, 2014-2015
Stefanie Dahl, 2013-2014
Michael Che, 2012-2013
Stephanie Shea, 2011-2012
Allison Massey, 2010-2011
Andrew Ladd, 2009-2010
Neil Feuling, (Founder) 2008-2009