Getting to Know our Neighbors: Ash Rao

Continuing our series “Getting to Know our Neighbors,” we’d like to introduce Ashok (Ash) Rao who, along with his wife, Janis Gogan, have been residents of the Esplanade since 2005. Shortly after moving in, Ash was offered a deanship at the E. Philip Saunders College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology, an offer he said he “just couldn’t turn down.”  Since Janis was reluctant to give up her tenured faculty position at Bentley and would be commuting back and forth, Ash agreed to stay at RIT for five years and then return to Boston.  He kept his word and retired in 2012.  He noted that Janis will be retiring in July 2022 and added with a smile “that’s not a phrase I would usually use to describe Janis!”

Ash grew up in India at a time of enormous change in the country.  Family home movies show five-year-old Ashok at Delhi’s Red Fort for an Independence Day Celebration in August 1947, when the Indian flag was first raised.   His father had a distinguished career in the Indian Civil Service (ICS) that saw him as the first Chief Secretary of Karnataka, the Defence Secretary of India during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, and the first Director of the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines.  His parents were also present at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth.  Kids were not invited, so Ashok and his sister Usha joined the throngs outside to glimpse Her Majesty returning to India House to watch reports of Mount Everest being conquered for the first time.

On Ash’s return to India he attended and graduated from The Doon School (near where the Dalai Lama eventually took up residence) and then won a merit scholarship to go to the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur.  Upon graduation he applied to the University of Iowa which he heard of when James Van Allen had been featured on the cover of Time magazine.  He earned his MS in Electrical Engineering and, hoping to get into business, looked into getting an MBA.  But Iowa suggested he could get similar courses and offered him a full scholarship to study Industrial and Management Engineering. He graduated in 1968.

Ash has combined his engineering and business knowledge to work in academia and industry. In 1980, he accepted a position at Babson College where he was Professor of Technology Operations and Information Management until the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) sought him out in 2007. While at Babson, he was president of RAM Systems Inc., a software-consulting firm, and involved in the Center for Quality of Management and APICS (American Production and Inventory Control Society). 

A professor at Babson introduced him to Janis who at the time was teaching in Bentley. They got married in 1999. Ash and Janis each brought an adult son and daughter to their marriage. Valmiki (in Cambridge) is a software engineer; Christopher (in NYC) is a psychiatrist. Renuka (in Bethesda) and Heidi (in Evanston) are lawyers who married lawyers. During this pandemic-enforced confinement, they stay in touch through Zoom and texting.

With his background and talents, it is understandable that RIT selected Ash “from more than 100 applicants in a national search.” Ash did not tell me that; it’s on the RIT website and this speaks to Ash’s accomplishments and humility. 

While Ash was at RIT, Janis continued as tenured Professor of Information Systems Management at Bentley.  During the school year she enjoyed her midweek drives to Rochester and Sunday drives back to Waltham. “When the weather cooperated, it was six hours of ‘me’ time,” she explained. “I listened to fun novels – mostly fast-paced mysteries and some non-fiction” such as The Great Influenza (ironically).  In the summer, “working from Rochester with research colleagues around the world turned out to be good practice for the pandemic,” she says.

Since his retirement in 2012, Ash has been busy.  Several hobbies and interests keep him occupied. The first is bridge—he plays (now virtually) every afternoon from Monday to Friday. He describes it as “exciting and intriguing.” As a child he began playing chess and was captain of the chess team at The Doon School.  But, he finds bridge more challenging—“a little like life—with ambiguity, intrigue, and not just about strategy, like chess.”  He jokes-- “some chess players I know may disagree!” Since Janis continues to work, he volunteered to be the family cook. His cooking focused on a different region of the world each month.  Searching for ingredients, he got to know the various ethnic areas in Boston. For example, Ash discovered the Portuguese neighborhood around Cambridge Street in East Cambridge. If you want to know where to get Greek groceries, have a Spanish meal, or buy Japanese supplies, just ask Ash. He is also the couple’s fixit guy— “I should be since I was an engineer!” — and a founding member of the Esplanade men’s book club.  He also enjoys attempting to train their ever-entertaining Australian Labradoodle, Roxy.   Janis and Ash have a small condo in Kennebunk with a big view of Gooch’s Beach which provides a nice change of scenery during the summer and on the occasional weekend.

Ash and Janis have a full, rich life and have missed only a few but significant things during this time.  Traveling is one of them and they hope to resume that post-Covid. The other is entertaining their friends at weekly get-togethers. During this pandemic-constrained time, Ash and Janis do their best to keep up with other family and friends as well. Says Ash: “We look forward to a time when we can again throw lots of dinner parties and visit or travel with our friends, children, and grandchildren. Until then, we’ll keep phoning, Zooming and FaceTiming.” But, overall, Ash notes that they are “pretty happy” and he is optimistic that “things will get back to normal in the not-too-distant future.” So when you see him, often walking their Labradoodle, Roxy, stop and say hi.