About Me

Dr. Praveen Aggarwal

Interim Dean, Labovitz School of Business and Economics

University of Minnesota Duluth

I was born and brought up in India. I earned my high school diploma from Central School No.1, Jalandhar (a mid-sized town in the northern state of Punjab) in 1982. My academic journey, which included more than a few fortuitous turns, took me through a Bachelor of Science (Medical/Life Sciences) degree and a Masters in Economics, both from Guru Nanak Dev University. I also earned a masters in management (Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Management) from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA). The two years that I spent at IRMA were truly transformative. The PGDRM program was fully residential, with faculty and students living on the same campus. I formed some lifelong friendships at IRMA and also discovered the beauty and promise of professional management at this great institution. Built into our curriculum was a stay in a remote village ( I got to stay in a very small village named Chali in Rajasthan) for 10 weeks, working on a multifaceted field project with economic, social, and cultural components. I also worked on two internships: a brand positioning project with the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF) and a bankruptcy modeling project with the Industrial Reconstruction Bank of India (IRBI). After IRMA, I joined Andhra Pradesh Dairy Development Cooperative Federation (APDDCF), where I worked as one of the five Regional Sales Managers. After working with APDDCF for three years (1987-1990), I joined Parle Agro as their Regional Sales Manager for Central India region. At Parle, I was named RSM of the Year, the same year that the company was selected as the Best Marketing Company in the country. I was serving as company's General Sales Manager when I decided to make the transition from the corporate to the academic world in 1993.

I joined Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY in Fall 1993, where I earned my Ph.D. in Marketing, with a minor in Econometrics. My doctoral dissertation advisor was Dr. Tridib Mazumdar, and my thesis examined the phenomenon of decision delegation. After completing my Ph.D., I joined UMD in 1998.

I am married to Medha, and we have two sons, Nakul and Pranav. Nakul earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin Madison and is now working on his MD from University of Wisconsin Madison’s School of Medicine. Pranav graduated with a degree in MIS and Business Analytics from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, and works for Optum. 

In my spare time, I enjoy reading books (mostly non-fiction), watching movies (mostly Bollywood), playing board games, and learning to play music (Indian flute, bansuri). I enjoy traveling, despite the airline industry’s concerted efforts at making flying dreadful! Among the countries that I have lived in or visited are: USA, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, UK, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, New Zealand, India, Nepal, China, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Mauritius. 

Contact Information

Office:    219E Labovitz School of Business and Economics, 1318 Kirby Drive, Duluth, MN 55812, USA

Phone: +1- 218-726-8971

Email: paggarwa @ d.umn.edu (no spaces before or after @)