Alumni Spotlight

Chittranjan (Chuck) Thakkar '75

Passion for excellence builds customer loyalty

Spend an hour with Chittranjan (Chuck) Thakkar and it becomes obvious his humility is the secret to his success. "I try not to think of myself as successful," said the president of DCT Systems Group, a $150 million supplier of high-end personal computers and computer services to large corporations with locations in Georgia, Texas and California.

That humility has allowed Thakkar to survive - and thrive - for more than a quarter century in an industry that has one of the highest failure rates.

"I like to go one day at a time and do the best I can for the customer," he said. "To run a company that has the same ownership and management for 25 years in the computer industry is something I am very appreciative of."

The 1975 University of Wisconsin- Whitewater graduate’s philosophy is simple: Never take the customer for granted. "I feel it's a privilege to have the opportunity to do business with these customers," he said. His past and current customers are some of the largest companies in the world, including American Express, Coca- Cola, General Mills and Lockheed Martin.

DCT is known for providing world-class products and support, a reputation says Thakkar, that works to the company's advantage when dealing with "customers who have become extremely demanding with their customer service and the prices they are willing to pay have been dropping."

Those demanding customers are loyal to DCT, and according to Thakkar, their loyalty is one of the main reasons his business has survived and been profitable. Staying prepared to meet the needs of a dynamic industry has also been critical to DCT's success.

Since 2000, he has been involved in real estate and hotel development in Georgia and Alabama. Thakkar is a founding director of Embassy National Bank in Lawrenceville, Ga., and a member of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Asian Chamber of Commerce and the Fulton County chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

His message to entrepreneurs is the same one he shared with UWWhitewater business students during a recent visit to the university. "Remember these fundamentals: Have a high level of passion for excellence; take a relationship-building approach to every venture; do what you say; have a 'can do' attitude; and 'no' should not be in the vocabulary," he said.

Thakkar and his wife, Saloni, live in Atlanta. They have two sons, Niloy and Rohan.