Board

Who We Are

USIT is overseen and led by a 3-member Executive Team and a 5-member Board of Directors who manage the day-to-day operations of the organization and run USIT's flagship competition events. Each member brings to the organization a unique perspective that we believe contributes to USIT's success. Directors are further supported by six Board Chairs who learn the operational, marketing, technical, and financial skills necessary to run a successful venture.

How to join

Board Chairs are selected through a competitive application process at the beginning of each fall semester. Interested applicants will submit both a resume and application and then be called to interview with the Executive Team and Directors. Members are encouraged to attend our information sessions to gain more insight into responsibilities and the application process. We encourage members of all academic backgrounds and experience to apply.

Our Team

Executive Team

Maahika Saini
President
Allen, TX
CBHP, Finance
Class of 2026
president@usiteam.org

Maahika is a junior majoring in Finance and BHP who enjoys baking and playing the guitar. Outside of school and USIT, you can find her rewatching New Girl or catching up on the latest show in the Bachelor franchise. The parts of her brain not occupied by random psychology facts are filled with the lyrics of Taylor Swift's entire discography. She's always down to try different foods, so hit her up anytime to test out new restaurants! She spent her freshman summer studying at the London School of Economics, her sophomore summer at an Austin-based venture capital firm called BuildGroup, and will be joining Greenhill & Co for her junior summer.

**Karime Ramirez**
Vice President
Del Rio, TX
CBHP, Finance
Class of 2026
vicepresident@usiteam.org
If she’s not out exploring new restaurants around Austin, you can find Karime at Zilker Park reading a new book. She absolutely enjoys listening to music and is always open to new recommendations! Karime loves meeting new people so definitely reach out to her. This past summer Karime was in New York City interning at Avance Investment Management, a Private Equity Firm.

**Freddy Guo**
Director of Investment
Austin, TX
CSB, Finance
Class of 2026
investment@usiteam.org
Freddy is a food truck connoisseur who spends his time watching soccer, listening to house music, and logging his runs on Strava. This past summer, Freddy made many great memories visiting his relatives in China and interning at BDT & MSD Partners in New York. He is looking forward to spending next summer at Qatalyst Partners in San Francisco. Don't hesitate to reach out and excited for the year ahead!

Directors

**Dilan Patel**
Director of Finance
Coppell, TX
CBHP, MIS
Class of 2027 accounting@usiteam.org
Dilan tries not to watch tv as he unfortunately gets hooked very easily. You can find him trying new food with his friends, listening to all types of music, or playing IM sports! This past summer, Dilan interned as a Financial Analyst at Christus Health and traveled to 4 different countries. Always feel free to reach out!

**Aashna Gautam**
Director of Operations
Plano, TX
Finance
Class of 2027 operations@usiteam.org
Aashna, a boba aficionado and spicy food seeker, can often be found sipping her way through every local boba joint or trying out new restaurants in search for the perfect chili oil noodles. When she’s not indulging her taste buds, she’s jet-setting to far-flung destinations from Brazil to Thailand, dropping way too much on concerts, or binge watching sitcoms. She’s always up for late night rain-soaked frolicking and any type of dancing. This past summer Aashna was an intern at Gravitas Consulting LLC. Hit her up to explore Austin!

Stephanie Xia
Director of Technology
Coppell, TX
CBHP, MIS
Class of 2027 technology@usiteam.org

Stephanie is a sophomore majoring in BHP and MIS. The most important things to know about her are that she is obsessed with Miffy, coffee (blonde roasts), and food (ask about her Beli). This past summer she studied abroad in Copenhagen but also traveled to Rome, Budapest, and through Norway. In her free time she likes to read, watch k-dramas, and watch her pet snails crawl around.

Nivy Manikandan
Director of Marketing
Frisco, TX
Finance
Class of 2027 marketing@usiteam.org

When Nivy’s not taking a late-night walk around campus, you’ll find her in her apartment trying out all sorts of recipes, or trying DIYs off TikTok. Recently, one of her favorite things to do has been to read in a quiet spot (her hot take is that music is played too often to be truly appreciated). This summer she visited Banff, Canada and Gulf Shores, Alabama, and interned at Startery. Talk to her about fried rice, short but good books, and the best walking routes in Austin!

Ria Nanjundan
Director of Internal Relations
Houston, TX
Finance
Class of 2027 internalrelations@usiteam.org

You can almost always find Ria in 3 places: at the gym, bouldering, or curled up with a good fantasy novel. She loves hiking and plans to summit all the highest peaks on each continent one day. Since she was chronically unemployed this past summer, she climbed both Half Dome in Yosemite and Pikes Peak in Colorado while also taking some really cool photos for her photography instagram (@ria_takes_cool_pictures). If you ever need book recs or just want to grab coffee and yap, hit her up! Fun Fact: she has a knife collection.

Chairs

Applications are closed.

Advisors

Aaron Lee
Board Advisor
Richmond, TX
Computer Science
Class of 2025

Outside of Computer Science, Aaron enjoys fencing and learning the guitar. If he isn’t wandering around lost from his poor sense of direction, you can usually find him at the Gates Dell Complex working on CS projects. This past summer, Aaron interned at Principal Financial Group as a software engineer intern.

**Abhinav Rao Talluri**
Board Advisor
Frisco, TX
Finance
Class of 2025
Abhinav has been on USIT’s Board all four years of college. An avid reader, movie fanatic, and recreational photographer, Abhinav is always trying new cuisines and pushing himself outside his comfort zone. He is obsessed with listening to new music and you can probably find him running on the track to train for his transcontinental bike ride the summer of 2025. This past summer, he acted in a theatrical comedy in front of hundreds, built a 2,000+ piece Lego set, and interned as an FP&A Analyst at CVS Health.

**Sydney Chung**
Board Advisor
Austin, TX
CBHP, Finance
Class of 2026
Sydney is a junior studying finance with a double minor in marketing and art history. When she’s not nose-deep in texts about papal art from late medieval Italy, she’s probably looking up what half the words even mean, or being less productive by scrolling pinterest or making a new playlist. Sydney spent her summer studying abroad in London and traveling around Europe—ask her about Wimbledon and she’ll only talk about the four players she knows. She’s always down for a caffeine boost, so feel free to reach out!

Faith Fulbright
Board Advisor
Odessa, TX
Finance, Plan II
Class of 2025

Faith is a junior who has served on USIT’s board all three of her years at UT as a media chair, finance director, and board advisor. She loves watching campy B-movies (shoutout Sharknado and Army of Darkness), being bullied into hiking by her athletic friends, and ending the day with a nice face mask. This past summer, she worked at the Investment Corporation of America and prepped to study abroad in London. She is a member of Wall Street For McCombs (WSFM), the Texas Investment Banking Association (IBA), and will be interning in New York summer ‘24 with Nomura. This semester, you can find her exploring Europe!

**Rachel Koh**
Board Advisor
Austin, TX
Finance
Class of 2026
During my time so far with USIT, I was a Chair as a freshman, Director as a sophomore, and now a Board Advisor. I love baking & coffee (opening a ‘home cafe’ this year), as well as video games & leisurely bike rides around Lady Bird Lake. This summer, I interned at BofA in San Francisco in GCIB Credit — and a highlight was a beautiful croissant I met there. Super excited for the upcoming year!

Emily Guo
Board Advisor
Plano, TX
CSB
Class of 2026

Beyond obsessing over her two cats, Emily usually enjoys her limited free time outside of CS/Business assignments reading Chinese novels. Most days, you can find Emily at a coffee shop or in the GDC struggling to be a good TA. This past summer, Emily interned at Google in Seattle.

Sruthi Morusupalli
Board Advisor
Frisco, TX
CBHP, Finance
Class of 2025

When Sruthi isn’t on the hunt for new Austin restaurants, you will definitely find her planning her next road trip, forcing everyone to smile in her digi cam pics, or crying about missing her senior football season (she will be studying abroad this semester in Madrid). This past summer, Sruthi interned with Sixth Street Partners in NYC in their Credit Market Strategies group. Feel free to reach out to her about anything -- especially if you're a yapper.