Ratan Tata

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Not to be confused with Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata.
Ratan N. Tata
Ratan Tata photo.jpg
Born (1937-12-28) 28 December 1937 (age 75)
Surat, Bombay Presidency, British India
Residence Colaba, Mumbai, India[1]
Nationality Indian
Ethnicity Parsi
Alma mater Cornell University
Harvard University
Occupation Former Chairman of Tata Group
Years active 1962–2012
Religion Zoroastrianism
Relatives Jamsetji Tata (Great Grandfather)
Dorabji Tata (Grand-Uncle)
Ratanji Tata (Grandfather)
Naval Tata (father)
JRD Tata (uncle)
Simone Tata (step mother)
Noel Tata (half-brother)
Awards Padma Vibhushan (2008)
KBE (2009)
Signature Ratan Tata signature

Ratan Tata, KBE (Born Ratan Naval Tata on 28 December 1937) is an Indian businessman of the Tata Group, a Mumbai-based conglomerate. He was the chairman of the group from 1991-2012. Since 2012 he has stepped down as chairman and now holds the position of Chairman Emeritus of the group which is an honorary and advisory position.

Contents

Early life [edit]

Tata is the adoptive great-grandson of Tata group founder Jamsetji Tata. His father, Naval Tata, had been adopted from the family of a distant relative by Jamsetji's childless younger son, also named Ratan Tata, and his wife Navajbai. Tata's parents (Naval and his first wife Sooni) separated in the mid-1940s when Ratan was seven and his younger brother Jimmy was five years old. Both he and his brother were raised by their grandmother Lady Navajbai.[2] Many years later, Naval Tata took a second wife, Simone, and fathered another son, Noel Tata.

Tata began his schooling in Bombay at the Campion School and the Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, and finished his secondary education at the Cathedral and John Connon School.[3] He completed his B.S. in architecture with structural engineering from Cornell University in 1962, and the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School in 1975.[4] Tata is a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.

Career [edit]

Tata began his career in the Tata group in 1962; he initially worked on the shop floor of Tata Steel, shovelling limestone and handling the blast furnace.[5]

In 1991, J. R. D. Tata stepped down as Tata Industries chairman, naming Ratan as his successor.

In 1991, Tata was appointed as the chairman of the Tata group. Under his stewardship, Tata Tea acquired Tetley, Tata motors acquired Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Steel acquired Corus, which have turned Tata from a largely India-centric company into a global business, with 65% revenues coming from abroad. He also pushed the development of the Tata Indica and the Tata Nano.

Ratan Tata retired from all executive responsibility in the Tata group in December 28th 2012 which is also his 75th birthday and he is succeeded by Cyrus Mistry, the 44-year-old son of Pallonji Mistry and managing director of Shapoorji Pallonji Group.[6][7]

He is chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and a few other group companies. He is also the chairman of the main two Tata trusts Sir Dorabji Tata and Allied Trusts and Sir Ratan Tata Trust which together hold 66% of shares in the group holding company Tata Sons.

Ratan Tata has served in various capacities in organisations in India and abroad. He is a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry. Tata is on the board of governors of the East-West Center, the advisory board of R&D's Center for Asia Pacific Policy and serves on the program board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's India AIDS initiative.[8]

Honours and awards [edit]

Ratan Tata's foreign affiliations include membership of the international advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corporation, the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase and Booz Allen Hamilton. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the RAND Corporation, University of Southern California and Cornell University.[9][10][11] He also serves as a board member on South Africa's International Investment Council and is a member of the Asia-Pacific advisory committee for the New York Stock Exchange. He received the Padma Bhushan in 2000 and Padma Vibhushan in 2008 and Lifetime Achievement Award awarded by Rockefeller Foundation in 2012. In 2009, Tata was given an honorary knighthood, the Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (K.B.E.).[12][13]

Year Name Awarding organization Ref.
2013 Honorary Doctor of Business Practice Carnegie Mellon University [14]
2013 Ernst and Young Enterprenuer of the Year - Lifetime Achievement Ernst & Young [15]
2012 Doctor of Business honoris causa The University of New South Wales [16]
2010 Business Leader of the Year The Asian Awards. [17]
2010 Honorary Doctor of Laws Pepperdine University. [18]
2010 Legend in Leadership Award Yale University. [19]
2008 Honorary Doctor of Science Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. [20]
2008 Honorary Doctor of Science Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. [21]
2008 Honorary Doctor of Law University of Cambridge. [22]
2008 Inspired Leadership Award Inspired Leadership Award [23]
2007 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. [24]
2005 Honorary Doctor of Science University of Warwick. [25]
2004 Honorary Degree of Doctor of Technology Asian Institute of Technology. [26]

References [edit]

  1. ^ The amazing story of how Ratan Tata built an empire. Rediff (21 October 2010)
  2. ^ "Ratan Tata rode the tiger economy and now he drives Jaguar". The Daily Telegraph. 30 Match 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2012. 
  3. ^ "Ratan Tata goes back to school". Times of India. 31 March 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2012. 
  4. ^ Sharma, Subramaniam (2006-10-18). "India's Tata Takes Leap With $7.6 Billion Corus Bid (Update1)". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2009-09-12. 
  5. ^ Chidanand Rajghatta (2007-12-30). "Times of India Article: Man of the Year? Its Ratan Tata". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2011-02-23. 
  6. ^ "Cyrus P Mistry to succeed Ratan Tata". Retrieved 23 November 2011. 
  7. ^ "Ratan Tata, India's Corporate Czar, Retires With a $500 Billion Vision". Bloomberg. Retrieved 27 March 2013. 
  8. ^ "Chairman Profile, Interviews and Press Articles". Tata Group Website. 
  9. ^ Board of Trustees, University of Southern California, Accessed April 13, 2008.
  10. ^ Ratan Tata Joins USC Board of Trustees, USC News, August 30, 2005.
  11. ^ Ratan Tata India's most powerful CEO, Mistry debuts at No. 15 – The Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com (2012-05-25). Retrieved on 2012-12-27.
  12. ^ "Ratan Tata gets Lifetime Achievement Award". The Hindu. June 27, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2012. 
  13. ^ "LN Mittal, Ratan Tata, Narayana Murthy get Padma Vibhushan". 26 January 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2008. 
  14. ^ "http://www.cmu.edu/commencement/keynote_honorees/index.html Carnegie Mellon University". 
  15. ^ "http://www.ey.com/ Ernst & Young". 
  16. ^ "UNSW Newsroom". Indian industrialist Ratan Tata honorary degree. Retrieved 28 Nov 2012. 
  17. ^ "Winners of the Asian Awards 2010". Times of India. October 2010. 
  18. ^ "Pepperdine Confers Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree on Ratan N. Tata". Pepperdine University. September 2010. 
  19. ^ "Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute to Honor Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata with "Legend in Leadership Award"". Yale University. September 2010. 
  20. ^ "IIT Kharagpur confers doctorate on Ratan Tata". Economic Times. March 2008. 
  21. ^ "Ratan Tata gets smarter by a degree". Mumbai Mirror. August 2008. 
  22. ^ "University of Cambridge confers doctorate on Ratan Tata". University of Cambridge. March 2008. 
  23. ^ "Rajendra Pachauri and Ratan Tata guests of honour at Norwegian Creative Experience". Norwegian Embassy. November 2008. 
  24. ^ "Carnegie Medal for Philanthropy on Ratan Tata". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. March 2007. 
  25. ^ "University of Warwick confers Honorary Doctor of Science on Ratan Tata". London School of Economics. March 2005. 
  26. ^ "Asian Institute of Technology confers doctorate on Ratan Tata". Asian Institute of Technology. March 2008. 

External links [edit]

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