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.

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 @)