AN ICON OF GLOBAL RETAIL AND REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY.
Dr. Dheeraj Dogra, an illustrious Scholar, Marketing and Brand Strategist, Faculty and Author, shares his story as a life of C-level Retail, Real Estate Executive in India and beyond.
Hailing from a humble, educated family, where both his parents were Government servants in senior positions, Dheeraj did his early education in India. He then moved to the U.S.A for his professional education, where he is a global Ivy League scholar. His post-graduate degree in management was awarded jointly by MIT Sloan School of Management, Columbia Business School and Tufts at Dartmouth, U.S.A. Being scholarly, he also has an advanced post-graduate certification in Marketing
Strategy from Cornell University, a Diploma in Customer Relationship Management from Baruch College, City University of New York.
Surely coming a long way from his first assignment of management trainee with Bed, Bath & Beyond, then a small business in the suburbs of New York, he changed jobs and countries while holding several “C” level positions. Dr. Dheerajhas worked extensively with some of the biggest retail chains globally the likes of Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Abraham & Strauss, and more. While in India he has served at some of the biggest and most popular brands like DLF, OMAXE, Ansal Api & BNP Paribas Real estate in leadership roles.
Currently, Dr. Dogra is a senior consultant in real estate and retail, with over 27 years’ cumulative experience in real estate and retail across the nation and globally and with over eighteen years of international experience (USA) in business development and relationship management.
Determination and his passion to better the industry he chose to work has been rewarding to him. Dr. Dheeraj has an illustrious career and has many individual awards and recognition conferred upon him. Briefly, ‘Global Pursuit of Excellence in Real Estate’ by CNBC and Khaleej Times 2019 at Dubai; ‘Best Individual Strategy Award- for devising a strategy using technology and social media to increase footfalls in a shopping Malls’, by The Hindustan Times and UnBox Retail and FICCI, in 2018.
Dr. Dheeraj narrates, ‘The day I was declared “Employee of the Year” at Macy’s, which is an iconic US chain of retail stores. Being a brown-skinned Short Indian for me to achieve that in a trade which is mostly dominated by Caucasian Americans was no small feat and that made me believe that anything is possible provided there are hard work and perseverance.’
Dr. Dogra was felicitated with a “Bharat Gaurav Award” by Govt. of India acknowledging his efforts in promoting sustainable real estate development in India, in 2017. The award was presented by the deputy speaker of Lok Sabha in presence of other distinguished members of parliament and senior govt. officials. The Bharat Gaurav Award is conferred on the recommendations made by the Bharat Gaurav Award Selection Committee in association with All India Human Welfare Council, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India.
Dr. Dheeraj has shown exemplary achievements, been recognized among 100 TOP Retail Minds of India at the 14th Edition of Asia Africa GCC Retail & Shopping Centre Congress in Feb 2018. He was adjudged “Marketing Professional of the Year “ by the World Marketing Congress in Singapore for using Social Media Marketing techniques in Real Estate in Nov 2015. He has won “Marketer of the Year Award” in Real Estate presented by CMO Asia (part of CMO World Council) on July 31, 2014, held in Hotel Pan Pacific, Singapore for successfully applying guerrilla marketing techniques to create a unique, engaging, and thought-provoking concept.
Dheeraj was a member of CII (Confederation of Indian industry) subcommittee for Retail & Real Estate for East India from Apr 2014 to 2016. He was also featured by Estate Avenue as one of the top Real Estate professionals of India in Mar 2014 by Estate Avenues Magazine.
He has developed a keen interest in knowledge sharing and academic interfaces. He became passionate about giving back to the society at large, here in India he lectures pro-bono in several colleges, and shares his vast knowledge and experiences. He is a member of the World Smart City Council, Faculty with RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, London), Faculty with RED COH (Real Estate Development Council of Haryana), Strategic Advisor to the Asia Retail Congress.
His profound knowledge makes him being sought from major retail companies for either brand development or content contribution or even strategy. Dheeraj is contributing Editor for Tradebriefs.com (India Retail News), which is India’s most widely read retail-centric portal and for EtRetail.com, an Economic Times web initiative. He is also a Member of the Advisory board of Estate Avenues, a monthly real estate magazine.
In his quest to pay back to society, he serves as Guest faculty of several leading management institutions
like ISB Hyderabad, IIM Kozhikode, Delhi University, Amity University, ICFAI, Great Lakes School Chennai, Skyline Business School, BIMTech and Asia Pacific School of Management amongst others.
Dr. Dheeraj quotes, ‘Perhaps my USP like I would call it is – Relentless pursuit of Excellence’.
