University of Cincinnati has honored former Indian American Boeing executive Dinesh Keskar with the prestigious Kautz Alumni Master Award for his lasting global impact on aviation, engineering, and internal industry collaboration.
“Getting an award from my alma mater is always a very big deal to me,” Keskar said on getting the award earlier this year, according to a university release.
Developed by alumnus Jim Kautz, the highly selective award is given to only one or two alumni each year. A core piece of this program is the connection with current students. The Kautz Alumni Masters Forum brings these esteemed alumni back to campus and puts them in a room with the next generation of Bearcats to share their expertise and experience.
Keskar came to the U.S. from India in 1975 with a dream of working in aerospace engineering, just a few years after former astronaut Neil Armstrong’s historic moon landing. When considering schools in the U.S., Armstrong’s presence at UC as an aerospace engineering professor was a major draw.
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After completing his master’s degree under Gary Slater in 1977, he stayed for his PhD. Keskar’s PhD adviser was William Wells, and when choosing the rest of his PhD committee, it was a no brainer that Armstrong would be among the faculty.
“Being advised by Professor Armstrong was amazing,” he said. “The engineering library historians haven’t come across anyone else with a dissertation signed by Neil Armstrong, so I feel remarkably fortunate.”
Earning his MS in 1977 and his PhD in 1979 from UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, he went on to have a historic career at the Boeing Company, retiring in 2019 as senior vice president. Keskar spent nearly four decades at the Boeing Company and facilitated billions of dollars in sales.
He got hired as a research engineer at the Boeing Company in 1980, just after completing his PhD. Seven years later after earning his MBA, he got a sales job at Boeing and began working in the Asia-Pacific region.
Following some lost deals in India, Boeing was determined to claim that market, and Keskar had the skillset and cultural roots to help them do so. In 1993, Boeing completed its first billion-dollar deal with India. Keskar orchestrated it.
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“A billion dollar deal was something Boeing hadn’t done in a long time. After this deal I was given more control of other airlines and spent four years opening the Boeing office in India,” he said.
In 2005, India made the largest deal in aviation history worth $13.5 billion with Boeing thanks to groundwork laid by Keskar in the country. This propelled the rest of his career, leading to him serving as head of the Asia-Pacific region. Over the course of his career at the Boeing Company, Keskar estimates he sold around 2500 airplanes, valued between $300-$350 billion.
Over the years, he has remained connected with UC, returning to campus most recently for the Kautz Award. He is a member of UC’s advisory board for aerospace engineering and recently hosted a presentation for students as part of the Kautz Alumni Masters Forum.
For Keskar, returning to campus brings his journey full circle. “Getting a Kautz Award is a recognition that you’ve done something as an alumnus,” he said. “Even more important, you can share your experiences with students and inspire them to be anything they want to be.”