Vinod Kumar Jain's Obituary
Vinod Kumar Jain, 80 of Ashburn, Virginia passed away peacefully and surrounded by his family on Sunday, April 20, 2025, at INOVA Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia. Born Tuesday, April 22, 1944, in Buriya, India, he was the son of the late Gian and Lajvanti Jain. Vinod studied at the Indian Statistical Institute in Calcutta, India, where he earned a B.S. (Honors) and M.S. in Statistics and met his beloved wife of 54 years, Kamlesh. After working for Coca Cola as a Marketing Research Executive in Delhi, Vinod continued his education at the University of California, Los Angeles where he earned an M.S. in Management. In the mid-1970s, he taught Marketing at Aston University in Birmingham, UK before moving back to India in 1977. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Vinod co-led a Management Consultancy firm that provided training and advisory services to a myriad of corporations, and held roles of increasing responsibility in industry, Molins (Manager) and Macmillan Publishers (Vice President).
In 1990, he decided to make a big change and enrolled in a full-time PhD program at the University of Maryland. His PhD in Strategy and International Business in 1994 (with a 4.0 GPA!) enabled Vinod to pivot his career toward academia. In the 1990s and 2000s Vinod taught at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX, California Polytechnic in San Luis Obispo, CA, Bowling Green State University in Toledo, OH, and the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.
While at these universities Vinod successfully vied for, received, and managed five significant competitive academic research grants from the U.S. Department of Education and other research grants from the IBM Center for the Business of the Government and Ernst & Young. He published papers in the Academy of Management and Academy of International Business journals and received scholastic excellence and teaching awards. During this period, Vinod held board appointments and leadership positions including President of the Toledo Area International Trade Association, Board Member of Ohio’s IT Alliance, Board Member of TiE-DC. He also earned recognition such as the Ohio Governor’s “E” Award for Excellence in Exporting “for services provided to Ohio’s exporting companies.” At Maryland, he was the Founding Director of the federally funded Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and Academic Director of Smith School’s Executive MBA program in China.
By the mid-2000s, Vinod was a well-respected expert and was appointed Fullbright Scholar and Professor. Over the next decade, he was invited to teach international business and strategy abroad in Poland, India, Denmark, Finland, and China. He started and (for 10 years) served as President of the India-US World Affairs Institute. The Institute hosted several thought-leadership events in Washington, D.C., led two business delegations to India, and published a research monograph, “How America Benefits from Economic Engagement with India.” He co-led Montgomery County (Maryland) Executive’s India Business Mission and received a citation from Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich for his contributions to promoting international understanding among people from various parts of the world. He was also appointed by two successive Secretaries of the U.S. Department of Commerce to serve on the Maryland/Washington D.C. District Export Council for seven years.
In the last decade of his life, Vinod turned his considerable energy toward writing. His MBA textbook Global Strategy: Competing in the Connected Economy was published by Routledge in July 2016 and has been adopted by business schools in the U.S. and abroad. His next strategy book, Global Meets Digital: Global Strategy for Digital Businesses; Digital Strategy for Global Businesses, was published by Taylor & Francis in June 2023. His opinion pieces have appeared in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Mensa Bulletin, CEO World Magazine, Forbes, Authority Magazine (Medium), and Economic Times and Mint (India's #1 and #2 business dailies).
Vinod was well-engaged in his community. He was one of the founding members of an American History Group, he was an active member of the local writing group, he spoke on varied topics at the Osher Life Learning Center at George Mason University, and locally in his neighborhood where he was also on the Board of Directors.
Vinod leaves many to cherish his memory including his wife, Kamlesh Jain, his daughters, Sumita and Anupama Jain, his sister, Vimla Jain (m. Yogesh), uncle, Mahendra Kumar Jain (m. Sarita), aunts, Aruna and Chitra Jain, and a close-knit extended family of many cousins, nieces and nephews, and grandchildren.
The Jain family will receive guests for Visitation at 10:00 AM on Thursday, April 24, with the funeral service beginning at 11:00 AM at Loudoun Funeral Chapel located at 158 Catoctin Cr. SE Leesburg, Virginia 20175. Lunch will follow the service.
The Service will be livestreamed via zoom here https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85606670926
Online condolences may be made to the family at http://www.loudounfuneralchapel.com. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Vinod’s honor to the Inova Health Foundation Donate in honor or memory of a loved one - Inova Health Foundation
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