"The youngest nominee to attain a unanimous vote from the selection committee,” 20-year-old Khurshed Mehta earned the Westpac Banking, Insurance and Financial Services Award for 2019. The prize is awarded to "a student who is passionate about Australia’s financial industry and actively seeks to partake in shaping its future,” noted a communication from the Westpac Group. Mehta stood out for his "outstanding academic results… displays a penchant for leadership, shows a laudable track record in co-curricular activities and exhibits a zest for community service.”
Khurshed Mehta (l) commended by Dara McCallion
According to chief panelist Dara McCallion, Mehta is "the epitome of what this award seeks to recognize. He is young, intelligent, hardworking and most of all humble in success. Whether in serving his community, academics or work, he strives for excellence in everything he does.” Mehta was presented the honor at the annual Top 100 Future Employers Gala on February 13, 2019. "The prize included recognition from the Westpac Group’s chief talent officer as well as a full-time job offer in their corporate and investment banking division starting 2021,” the awardee responded to Parsiana’s queries.
"I aspire to partake in Australia’s banking industry and actively improve its relationships with the developing economies in Asia,” conveyed Mehta who is currently pursuing a dual degree in finance and Mandarin Chinese at the Australian National University (ANU) having earned a full honors scholarship. Among the other awards he has won at ANU are first class honors for Foundational Finance and Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation for achieving high distinction in all his courses. To expand his knowledge of Asia and strengthen his Mandarin skills he attended summer school at China’s Fudan University and an exchange semester at the National University of Singapore.
Youngest child of Kayu Mehta, former managing director at Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, and Jeroo, a homemaker, Khurshed’s brother Ardershir is a management trainee at Hilton Worldwide and sister Tushna is a content marketing coordinator at G8 Education. Khurshed stated, "I was strongly motivated by my father’s career in finance and grew up fascinated by what he did. By constantly asking him questions on the global economy, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. Further, I always took pride in knowing that Zoroastrians have been industry leaders in banking and have played a significant role in shaping India’s financial markets.” His grandfather, the late Freddie Mehta was a respected economist in Bombay.
Khurshed’s early education was at Campion School, Bombay until the age of 11 and thereafter at The Southport School on the Gold Coast. He enjoys playing golf, pursues mountain biking, has learnt the piano and is fascinated with cinema and how films are made.
Happy to attend Zoroastrian get-togethers in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, and participate in religious ceremonies when in Bombay, Khurshed maintains, "As a proud Parsi, I cherish our culture and ethnicity, or as some may say, our Parsipanu. However, the most important thing for me is our overriding Zoroastrian principles and values, namely good thoughts, words and deeds.”