Purple parrots for life: An Executive MBA couple’s journey to living their dreams

Already established in their individual careers, married couple physician Satish Annadata ’17 MBA and medical researcher Indra Sandal ’17 MBA both realized they needed a business degree to take the next step in their professions. They wanted to learn more about being effective leaders and managing teams, so they researched Executive MBA options and agreed on Kellogg as their top choice. 

They realized there would be challenges, but they were ready to face them head-on. Their first hurdle? Getting to class. Based in separate cities for work, Sandal would fly on class weekends from her home in Tennessee to Annadata’s home base in Iowa, and together they would make the 4-hour drive across Illinois to the Evanston campus. After classes wrapped up on Sunday, they would reverse the commute and each head back home to study and work, until next time. 

We sat down with the couple to hear why attending Kellogg was such a priority for them, how they made it through the program and why the experience was worth it.  

How did you decide to take the leap together into pursuing your Executive MBAs? 

Indra Sandal: At the time, I was an assistant professor of medicine, but my dream job was to work for the veterans in U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, since I come from a military family. Given that my background was primarily in research, I wasn’t going to see patients — joining via the management or innovation side would be my only option to impact veterans’ lives. To do that, I knew I needed management foundations, and to get that I needed to go to best business school in the world.  

Satish Annadata: I grew up in a slum in Hyderabad in India with nothing. But my parents showed us the value of a good education, and they sent us to some great schools, despite the fact they didn’t have money. I excelled in what I needed to do as a medical student and as a physician.   

When Indra said she wanted to go back to school, I was at the point in my career where I was asking myself some important questions. Do I want to be a physician all my life? Do I want to be another ordinary manager? Or do I want to be a good leader, driving the organization to perform better? So, both things came together: Indra had this drive, and I said I will support you by being there with you. I wanted to help Indra reinvent herself so we could both live our dream. We both had a strong desire to serve at the highest level of the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs. 

Indra: What we did was scary — really scary. It was hard and there were a lot of unknowns. But we wanted to take on that challenge, and we did it together. It didn’t matter that we were in different cities; we were supporting each other. We were both pursuing our Executive MBAs with a much greater purpose in mind. We both had a very big vision and a common goal.   

What daily routines helped you maintain a work/life balance while you were in the Executive MBA program? 

Annadata: Indra and I backed each other up; we were each other’s support system. What I learned through getting my MBA is that you have to really live in the moment. We really had to carefully navigate through the situation. Planning everything doesn’t help because things are constantly changing. Owning the moment was the most effective tool in helping us get through getting our MBAs. 

Sandal: We were absolutely support for one another. We definitely lost a lot of date nights because of the class schedule. But we were a team and we made things work, and we spent time together when we were able. When we were in class, it didn’t feel like school. Everyone at Kellogg was so warm and welcoming, and our classmates also supported us, which helped a great deal.  

I still remember talking with Tom Hollinden, our classmate. All three of us used to sit in the back of the classroom, and every time we were in class, we used to have great fun, like a family. 

What are some of the courses you enjoyed most? 

Annadata: The Kellogg professors are brilliant. The leadership courses taught by professors Brian Uzzi and Harry Kraemer were among my favorites. They helped me realize it is okay if you don’t have all the answers. Having good communication skills and a good team are what really matters — that was my biggest lesson from my time at Kellogg. Kellogg has given me the ability to understand things from a business perspective.     

Sandal: The courses I took in strategy resonated with me the most, and I continue to use what I learned in those classes today. The course taught by professor Thomas Hubbard was just the beginning for me.  Kellogg gave me clarity; it has given me everything I needed to become the leader and person that I want to be. Without Kellogg, I wouldn’t be in the position to support our veterans the way I currently am.

Satish, what career path did you take after graduating from the Executive MBA Program? 

Annadata: After graduation, I was catapulted into a role on the executive leadership team with Veteran’s Affairs in Montana. I later moved to United Healthcare where I was a chief medical officer in the western United States. I have since returned to Veterans’ Affairs where I am now the chief of staff of the VA Finger Lakes Health Care System in upstate New York. I am blessed to have a great team at Finger Lakes. My organization is ranked No. 1 in quality of health care in the New York/New Jersey region and is also rated a leading 5-star facility in quality of health care in the country. I am at the pinnacle of my career; I couldn’t ask for anything more. I am incredibly honored and humbled by how I reached this point personally and professionally. 

I have always been interested in the operational side of healthcare, but Kellogg has helped me understand the business side of things. Business school really helped me as a physician leader understand the distinction that when I come to work, I do the right thing, and that right thing is measured.  

We do that in the form of measuring our care — because if we don’t measure, how will we know where we are? And if we don’t know where we are, how do we compare ourselves to where we were? And if we cannot compare, how do we improve? And once we improve, how do we broadcast our sensational news to people? That involves a lot of marketing that healthcare lacks today. 

Indra, your MBA helped you jump into an intrapreneurship role launching a national collaboration with VHA and Uber Health that improves veterans’ access to healthcare. How did you achieve that? 

Sandal: Once I was accepted into Kellogg, I applied to positions within Veteran’s Affairs everywhere. I ultimately joined the Memphis VA as a researcher. I began doing rotations and shadowing the medical center director. He was someone who respected the value of business school, and he’s still been my mentor and advisor for the last eight years. I surrounded myself with enthusiastic mentors who helped me to shape my innovation career.

Once I completed my MBA, I was named the director of innovation. It was a new position bringing innovation across the hospital, and from there I launched the VHA-Uber Health Connect (VUHC) Initiative. I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved, but I see that as just one step in my innovation journey. Innovation never ends, I’m already looking for the next challenge to tackle. Right now, I’m exploring the possibility of launching another public-private collaboration to test a new prescription delivery model to deliver life-saving medication to veterans within a shorter delivery timeframe.  

I am now the chief of innovation in Tampa VA Medical Center and establishing one of the six National Centers of innovation for Impact (NCi2I) that promotes transformational innovation solutions for veterans nationwide. I love it — I am very passionate about this. Kellogg played a huge part in getting me where I wanted to go. Because of my experience at Kellogg, I am now a part of creating a solution for changing the lives of our veterans. There is no way that I could have made the jump from research to my current role without my MBA. I never imagined my career path would look like this; I have Kellogg to thank for getting me to this point. My Kellogg MBA showed me what service looks like. I am also leading an initiative, Veterans Health - MIT Hacking Medicine 2024, which took place in Tampa this month, and Kellogg was a collaborator in that event.

What else is next for you both? 

Annadata and Sandal: Outside of our careers in healthcare, we’re actually venturing into entrepreneurship. We bought a vineyard with 86 acres of land in upstate New York, right across from Keuka Lake. The previous owner called it the Purple Foot Farm, and we’re rebranding it to the Purple Parrot as a nod to Northwestern and the posters that hung in the Allen Center bedrooms when we were students. This is giving back to Kellogg for preparing us to live our dreams.  

We’re continuing to develop it in the hopes that people will come and stay and enjoy the beauty of the vineyards, as we turn it into a working winery and eventually create our own wines. 

Note: The views and opinions expressed here are those of Dr. Sandal and Dr. Annadata and do not represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.

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