Ajay Pallegar
Toastmasters member since : May 1, 2017
Education: MBA – Finance, Webster University (Thailand)
MA – Marketing, Webster University (London, UK)
Toastmasters offices held and terms of service:
District Roles:
District 0121 Area Director Jul. 01, 2023 Jun. 30, 2024
District 0092 Club Extension Chair Jul. 01, 2021 Jun. 30, 2022
District 0092 Area Director Jul. 01, 2020 Jun. 30, 2021Extended District Roles:
District 0092 Mentorship Chair – Jul. 01, 2022 Jun. 30, 2023
District 0092 Co-registration Chair of Coronation 2023
District 0121 Fun Night Chair of Crescendo 2023Club Officer Roles:
Cisco-Vani Club Treasurer Jan. 02, 2024 Jun. 30, 2024
Cisco-Vani Club Sergeant at Arms Jan. 02, 2024 Jun. 30, 2024
Cisco-Vani Club VP PR Jan. 01, 2024 Jan. 01, 2024
Cisco-Vani Club VP Education Jan. 01, 2024 Jan. 01, 2024
Cisco-Vani Club VP PR Jul. 02, 2023 Dec. 31, 2023
Cisco-Vani Club President Jul. 01, 2023 Dec. 31, 2023
Cisco-Vani Club Sergeant at Arms Jul. 01, 2023 Jul. 01, 2023
Cisco-Vani Club Sergeant at Arms Jan. 02, 2023 Jun. 30, 2023
Cisco-Vani Club President Jan. 02, 2023 Jun. 30, 2023
Cisco-Vani Club VP Education Jan. 01, 2023 Jan. 01, 2023
Cisco-Vani Club VP Education Oct. 05, 2022 Dec. 31, 2022
Cisco-Vani Club President Oct. 01, 2022 Oct. 04, 2022
Cisco-Vani Club Secretary Jul. 01, 2022 Sep. 30, 2022
Blue Expression Toastmasters Club Club President Jul. 01, 2018 Dec. 31, 2018
Blue Expression Toastmasters Club Club VP PR Jan. 01, 2018 Jun. 30, 2018
Toastmasters honors and recognition:
- Leadership Development 3 (LD3) November 17, 2020
- Leadership Development 2 (LD2) October 06, 2020
- Leadership Development 1 (LD1) April 04, 2019
Relevant work experience and how it relates to Toastmasters and your role as a District leader:
I have over 15 years of experience in diverse roles – Business development, Account management, Service Delivery & Project management. I have lived & worked in countries like Thailand, England & the Middle East. I am currently working with Cisco as a Project Manager for Customer Experience Enablement & I handle APJC (Asia Pacific, Japan & China) region. As a PM, I handle several projects & training initiatives which help to enable the sales & technical teams on the latest offerings & services of Cisco. I handle these projects from the start till the finish (from conceptualization till execution & also take care of post event reports). As a District leader (Area Director), I have helped all the clubs in my area to prepare meticulous plans & the Club Success Plan, after meticulous analysis of the needs of the club & it members. Based on the Club’s plan, I prepared the Area Success plan, which defined my goals & targets, which was designed towards helping all the clubs in my area to achieve their goals & eventually work towards achieving the Area’s goals. My role as PM at Cisco has helped me to manage the requirements of all clubs of my area. The learnings from toastmasters has also helped in my career.
What experience do you have in strategic planning?
Over the years in my corporate experience as Service Delivery Management at IBM or as PM at Cisco, I have always been involved in strategic planning. At IBM, I used to lead the planning of the strategies to ensure our enterprise level customers did not face any destructions/downtime. At Cisco, I am involved in the planning of the workshops & training programs we conduct across APJC (Asia Pacific, Japan & China) region. time.
What experience do you have in the area of finance?
At Cisco, as a PM, I plan all upcoming projects & budget for them (ensuring that they all fit within our team’s budgets & we do not exceed the allocated budget). As an Area Director, I planned the Area Contest to ensure the gifts, trophies & all expenses are managed within the allocated budget. As a President at IBM’s BETC, I ensured all of the club’s activities & celebrations were managed within the club’s budget. I had managed the budget & expenses for the club’s outdoor meeting at Nandi Hills & several club activities.
What experience do you have in developing procedures?
As a SDM (Service delivery manager) at IBM, I devised processes which helped to track all downtimes & plan to ensure lesser downtimes in the future. I led the team that automated reports, making it easier for SDMs to generate reports the customers require. At Cisco, I enhanced the process used to plan & track all the upcoming training sessions. I developed & designed APJC’s site on SharePoint, which became a benchmark for Americas & Europe regions.
As the PR chair for Division G’s contest (D92), I developed the plan for the PR campaign. The plan involved creating & sending several posters on scheduled dates, to create the buzz for the event. It also involved taking caring of all communications for the contest & ensuring that all posters/communications are in compliance with TI’s brand guidelines. As the co-ordinator of (D121) Div I’s Leadership Lerning series I helped to organise engaging sessions which were rewarding for the members & aimed at helping them to become better leaders
What lessons did you learn from previous leadership positions?
Time management is an important lesson I have learnt from all of previous roles.
I also learned how to build a rapport & inspire teams to work towards a common goal.
Toastmasters has taught the value of servant leadership. At Toastmasters when I was able to inspire & motivate a team (who are not getting paid, but are only driven by passion), it became easier for me to lead the team at work (career). The leadership roles at Toastmasters has taught me to respect (& honor) the varied interests of all team members & use that as an advantage to achieve the goals.
Why do you want to serve as a District leader?
Over the years, I have honed & developed my Public speaking, communication, articulation & leadership skills at Toastmasters (& in my career). The role of Division leader will help to further enhance my skills & impart my learnings with others. I want to learn the art of leadership, through the core of my heart & help others do the same.
In your opinion, what are the District mission’s major objectives and how would you work to achieve them?
The District’s mission is to build new clubs and support all clubs in achieving excellence. I will definitely help do all that I can to ensure the district achieves this mission.
As an Area Director (for D92 in the past), I was instrumental in chartering 3 new clubs – Legato Orators, Legato Influencers & Cadence.
In D121, I am currently working on Chartering a new Club at Dassault Systems (have already conducted 2 demo meetings & 3 pre-charter meetings). I am also working on 2 leads which hopefully will get converted into clubs very shortly. I have also helped all the clubs in my area to achieve excellence, despite all the challenges.
I strongly believe practicing the core values of Toastmasters International ( Integrity, Respect, Service & Excellence) will help to achieve our goals.
Additional information about yourself:
I have been a passionate Toastmaster since 2017. I have always taken the opportunity to play several roles at Club, Area, Division & District level at Toastmasters, which have helped me to improve my skills.