A Night with the Stars 2007 - Eller College of Management ...

over 25 employees. In 2001 his partner bought him out and since then he has divided his time
between designing custom database software, working as a real estate broker with Santana
REALTORS®, and teaching for Hogan School of Real Estate. He has also been a SCUBA
instructor for 19 years and still teaches occasionally. George got involved with ECA at the start
and has rarely missed a day of admissions interviews or make-ups. He also works closely with
Kappa Sigma on campus; he was their live-in advisor from 1990-1997. His wife Jennifer is the
chapter advisor for Alpha Chi Omega; she got her Master’s degree at the U of A. They live five
blocks from campus and both enjoy travel and volunteer work. While they presently own an
airplane, George’s latest obsession is building a faster one in their garage.
Leo B. Hart Humanitarian Award
The Arizona Alumni Association's Leo B. Hart Humanitarian Award will be given to an
alumnus/alumna in order to recognize the outstanding contribution which he or she has made
for social reform. Special consideration will be given to an individual who has received a degree
from the University, but that need not be a requirement. It was established in 1986.
Nita Umashankar
Nita Umashankar received a Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the
University of Arizona in 2003. She continued her coursework at the University and in 2004
received a B.S.B.A. in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the Eller College of Management.
Additionally, Nita is pursuing a Ph.D. in Marketing at the University of Texas Austin. As apart of
her dedication to humanitarian work, Nita has selected to research the following subjects: “Value
from Services Innovation: When and How Services Innovation Affects Firm Performance,” “How
Goods Firms Succeed in Creating New Services,” and “The Evolution of Fads.” Nita has also
been invited to speak on these topics at conferences and presentations. Furthermore, Nita
continues to contribute to the academic community by teaching an array of courses at UT
Austin. Outside of academia, Nita founded ASSET which stands for Achieving Successful Social
Equality through Technology in India and is the Programs Director for the Baduku Non-Profit
Organization in India. The Eller College of Management would like to congratulate and honor Nita
for her dedication to education and social reform.
ASSET – Achieving Sustainable Social Equality through Technology
ASSET which stands for Achieving Sustainable Social Equality through Technology grew out of
the passion of a U.S born Indian young woman to educate and provide better opportunities in
life for the children of sex workers. The pilot project is being implemented in Chennai with plans
to expand to Bangalore and Hyderabad soon.
The belief of the founders of ASSET, Inc. is that every child, irrespective of parentage counts.
Our mission is to give children access to education which is not available to them through
traditional means and to emphasize on structural intervention aspects of using technology to
enable sex workers to dream of a better future for their children. This gives them something to
live for and so adopt healthy behaviors.