Pinstriped lab coat: Some people wear many hats professionally; here, Avi Nash (playfully) wears two jackets. The Kellogg alum has built a successful career that blends his expertise in chemical engineering and investment banking.  Photo © David Neff

Avi Nash finds the formula for success

By Matt Golosinski

Straddling two worlds — business and science — puts Avi Nash right where he wants to be: in the heart of the massive global chemical industry, facing down a multitude of complex competitive dynamics.

A chemical engineer by training, earning the degree in 1975 from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, Nash finds the sheer variety of products in his professional life intellectually intoxicating.

"It's not one product, but dozens of different yet interrelated products with changing global competitive dynamics," says the 1981 graduate of the Kellogg School's Part-Time MBA Program. "Strategic issues become particularly interesting."

This is especially the case, he says, since firms can end up being alliance partners, competitors or even customers of each other at different times — and what's more, these roles can change on a product-to-product basis.

"I find that to be fascinating," he says.

As a science, chemistry grew out of alchemy, the ancient practice that sought to understand nature through the transmutation of common metals. Medieval practitioners of this art were forever experimenting in an effort to obtain the fabled "philosopher's stone," a kind of universal cure-all.

Nash, 53, has discovered his own ideal elemental mix, blending his engineering expertise with a love of business. Today, the founder of the Greenwich, Conn.-based management consultancy that bears his name is an adviser to many CEOs and describes his work as "a combination of investment banking and strategy consulting, and yet it is neither of them."

Instead, the TMP alumnus draws upon his stellar career as managing director and then partner at Goldman Sachs from 1987 to 2002 and his experience as senior consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton from 1984-1987. At Goldman, Nash racked up an incredible record, including being named to Institutional Investor's "All-American Research Team" for 15 straight years, occupying the No. 1 position seven times. Prior to this success, Nash spent seven years at UOP Inc., a leader in process technology for petroleum refining and petrochemicals, working in a variety of positions, including R&D, engineering and strategic planning.

But despite his aptitude for the scientific side of life, Nash says he really found his passion for business irresistible, which eventually brought him to the Kellogg School.

"Hardcore engineering was not my interest," says the genial, soft-spoken Nash, who nonetheless communicates with intensity and purpose. "My interest was a business school that could blend academic theory with solving real problems."

Though he had other opportunities, he chose Kellogg because of its marketing strength and reputation for bridging the worlds of academia and business.

He also discovered that the Kellogg School's Part-Time MBA Program demanded full-time dedication and talent.

"It was fun but it was a grind," he says with a laugh. "My wife is a physician who, at that time, was doing a residency at Cook County Hospital and, later, Loyola. We also had our first child then, so juggling all these things I was convinced I was mad."

Fortunately he was prepared for this academic rigor, tested early by his father, a man he describes as "a super Type A personality." As a child growing up in India, it was not enough simply to be the best in his school's class; Nash's father wanted him to outdistance the pack by an ever-wider margin.

While the reality was often different, the message was clear: "He continuously wanted me to excel, and to do so by being individualistic," recalls Nash. His father also engrained in him a simple but influential rule: "Do the right thing for the right reasons."

Out of these youthful academic experiences, Nash has cultivated a framework that informs his managerial and engineering prowess. He calls it his "Basic Five Questions," and he shares them with peers and the younger colleagues he mentors.

The questions are designed to go to the core of one's priorities, probing and challenging easy assumptions. Nash ticks off the list: "How are you spending your time or capital? Why are you doing what you are doing? Why now? How is it different than what others are doing and what you were formerly doing? How meaningful is it?"

When he concludes, Nash seems like an existential philosopher sweeping aside all nonsense to find the vital essence.

"These are simple questions, but very, very helpful," he says. And they can illuminate priorities and strategy for both individuals and companies.

He has asked and answered the questions himself, perhaps explaining his unabated passion for his work today.

As a consultant, his job is split among mergers and acquisitions, capital market transactions and operating strategy, working with chemical companies around the globe. "Roughly half the market capitalization of the U.S. and European chemical industry have been clients of mine over the past three years," he says.

He thanks IIT and the Kellogg School for helping him succeed.

"Kellogg is such a terrific institution," he says. "It has done so much for me, including helping me transition from engineering to the world of business."

In particular, the Kellogg emphasis on teamwork proved useful to him, as did courses on organizational behavior and decision-making under uncertainty. He continues to enjoy collaborating with others, since doing so offers a great way to learn.

"God is truly democratic," says Nash. "He gives everybody some ideas, but he never gives any one person everything."

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