Like many international students, Shrinivas V. Dempo's had a difficult first few months at school. Arriving at Tepper in the mid-1990s, he had to adjust not only to a new school, but to a new country—and being away from his family for the first time. Coming from a conservative household in Goa, India, he had always lived with an extended family in traditional roles—women staying home to tend to the household. Upon arriving in Pittsburgh and settling in an off-campus apartment, he had to prepare himself not only for his new MBA program, but also for cooking and cleaning. He had to make sure he woke up in time for classes, too, taking into account the mile or so walk to campus.

Soon enough, he mastered his routine. One of his professors, Sunder Kekre, remembers him as quiet but confident. "He was a kid on a mission," Kekre recalls. "And, of course, I knew who he was. I come from southwest India as well, so I know the Dempo name. It's like the Kennedys in Massachusetts. You wouldn't have known it if he was sitting in class next to you, but here was one of the future leaders of India."

Indeed, Dempo already had a career mapped out for him, one that followed a path laid out by generations of ancestors. Dempos were sailing cargo ships filled with coconuts from India to Africa as far back as the 16th century, controlling the coconut trade and major shipping routes for centuries. Moving into the 20th century, his grandfather, Vasantrao, started a mining business in 1941, at the age of 18, which Dempo's father, Vasudeva, eventually took over and expanded.

These days, the Dempo Group of Companies includes everything from shipbuilding plants to newspaper publishers, tourist resorts to soccer clubs, baby food factories to pig iron. So when it came time for Dempo to apply to business schools, there was plenty at stake. He was being groomed to helm a multi-million dollar company with a 500-year-old family enterprise pedigree. He had, quite frankly, some big shoes to fill.

"My grandfather, who never got an education himself, was determined I should get the best one possible," Dempo recalls. "When it came time to apply to schools, he was comparing rankings, prominent alumni, everything." Ultimately, they chose Tepper based on its strength in production planning and industrial management—the skills Dempo would need to one day manage the family's expansive holdings.

Despite Kekre's upbeat assessment about the new student, Dempo didn't get off to a fortuitous start. In his first semester, he recalls a management game in which he and a team of classmates took command of a simulated soap company faced with falling market shares. For Dempo, the experience was an eye-opener. "We really screwed up our company," he laughs. "I wasn't prepared to think critically, so when my first response didn't work, I was lost. I panicked."

As the professor approached his team, Dempo was certain they would be reprimanded. Instead, he explained where they went wrong. "Instead of us being hyperactive, he showed us how to be thoughtful. So rather than just trying anything, we ran through scenarios, began quantifying different approaches before we took them." They began to think like executives.

After earning his degree in 1995, Dempo returned home; his father and grandfather wanted to see what his new education was worth. So they tasked him with taking command of a company in their portfolio that was failing. It was like the classroom exercise all over again, only this time real money and real jobs were on the line.

Instead of making a quick, panic move, Dempo ran through scenarios, took a quantifiable approach, and looked for weak links. It became apparent that the biggest issue was with the supply chain. "India is changing so fast, which results in a lot of market inefficiencies, people doing business in old ways," he says. He reinvented the company's shipping logistics. Soon, the company was bringing its products from machine to delivery truck in two hours, instead of two days. The failing company turned around in a matter of weeks.

Today, following the passing of his grandfather and father, Dempo is chairman of the company that has combined annual revenue exceeding Rupees 7200 Million ($153 million). Along with the family holdings, he has also taken charge of the legacy of educational philanthropy that has existed in his family for generations. When Carnegie Mellon established the President's Committee on India, which hopes to deepen connections between the university and India, it was only natural that he became involved.

The result, announced earlier this year, is the Vasantrao Dempo Reflective Chair, a $3 million gift in honor of Dempo's grandfather, the founder of the company. It's a professorship unlike any other at Carnegie Mellon; the chair will be held simultaneously by a professor at Tepper, as well as a professor at an Indian university. The only qualification is that the holders of the chair be involved in research and teaching that is relevant to the challenges and opportunities of the Indian economy, which is the world's tenth largest and second fastest growing, behind only China. With the chair, Dempo hopes that all of India might be able to learn from Tepper, as he did.

A few years ago, he returned to Carnegie Mellon for the first time with his family in tow. He wanted his daughters, ages 7 and 10, to see where he had come from. As they drove into Pittsburgh, rather than heading straight to campus, they stopped by Dempo's old apartment. There, he parked the car and had his wife and daughters get out. "Come," he told his girls. "You must see how Daddy went to school." They walked to campus just as he had once done every morning. For his daughters, he hoped it was a motivating moment. As a student himself, he knew he had big shoes to fill. Now he wants to see his daughters walk a mile in them.

Bradley A. Porter (HS'08) has been a regular contributor to this magazine since his senior year at Carnegie Mellon.