Kunal Shah, son of Dhiren and Ashmi Shah of Needham, was presented with the 24th annual Needham High School George Dennett Distinguished Career Award on Friday, October 25th.  Two alumni received the award and the award founder, George Dennett, who passed away in June 2013 was also honored at the morning ceremony.

Kunal Shah is the quintessential young technology star who has accomplished a lot in a very short time. He is a successful entrepreneur who currently serves as the Group Manager of Rentals at Zillow, the nation’s leading online real estate company. Yet he hardly feels worthy of receiving a Distinguished Career award. In fact, when contacted by the Needham High Achievement Award Committee, Kunal felt sheepish about being nominated because he is at the beginning of his career. He responded in large part because he knew how proud his parents would be; Kunal’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from India and when they were ready to have children they researched where to live based solely on the quality of the area school system.  They debated different professional opportunities and bigger houses, but when his mom learned about the Needham schools, she declared the search over.

Kunal graduated from Needham High School in 2000 and then earned his B.S. with honors in IT/New Media from Rochester Institute of Technology. After graduating from college, Kunal lived in New York City where he ran the technical side of the website CollegeHumor, and even had a bit part on The CollegeHumor Show on MTV where he played the “IT guy” (before the show was canceled).

Kunal has a fondness for NHS and knows that it has played a pivotal role in his growth and success.  While at Needham High, Kunal played on the tennis team, and was a member of the chess team.  He also served as co-editor in chief of the school newspaper, and contributed to a non-school sanctioned, student-published humor magazine.  In hindsight, Kunal recalls that he was a “painfully underachieving student, who played out stereotypical teenage rebellion --constantly fighting with [his] parents, skipping classes and ignoring homework. Senior year,  [he] got kicked off the tennis team for failing a semester of stats class.”  Despite this tumultuous time, which he doesn’t, by the way, recommend, Kunal learned that most high school mistakes are, fortunately, not permanent.  He feels tremendously fortunate to have had a top caliber high school education, and is appreciative that NHS did an incredible job of preparing him for the days when he started “actually working hard.”

Throughout his career, Kunal has been involved with several startups in an advisory role and has made seed investments in companies that he thinks are bound for greatness. Currently, he sits on the board of a Bay Area startup called Imgix, and to give back to the community, he also volunteers with a nonprofit called Reading Partners where he works one-on-one with elementary school students that are falling behind in their reading abilities.  His advice to NHS students today is “keep making yourself uncomfortable (try new experiences, new places, new people) and be ravenously curious.”  

Kunal lives in San Francisco.

In 1990, Needham High School established the George Dennett Distinguished Career Award (named after NHS’s long-time teacher, coach and architect of the award) as a way to connect accomplished NHS graduates with NHS juniors who are beginning to think about higher education and career choices after high school.  Every year the Distinguished Career Award Committee solicits nominations of alumni (who have graduated at least 10 years prior to the award date) who have made significant contributions in a variety of business and creative settings.  Past nominations have included alumni working as corporate officers, community activists, entrepreneurs or those who have chosen to work in the non-profit world, government service or education.  Equally, the committee is interested in recognizing an alumni’s experience in the military, entertainment industry or the performing arts.

Since 1990, nearly 50 NHS alumni have been honored.  Past recipients include Charles Baker (’75), Past President/CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare and 2010 Gubernatorial Candidate; James S. Gracey (’45), Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.); Jeff Taylor (‘78), Founder and former CEO of Monster.com; Bert Jacobs (’83) and John Jacobs (’86), Co-Owners/Founders Live is good, Inc.; and Sunita L. (Pandya) Williams (’83), NASA Astronaut and Naval Aviator.

Award recipients are honored at an awards ceremony every October.  In attendance are faculty, community leaders, family, friends and the current junior class.  Award recipients are then recognized by the Superintendent of Schools and NHS Principal at a lunch reception hosted in their honor.

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