Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute to Honor Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata with "Legend in Leadership Award"
The Yale CEO Leadership Summit will take place in Mumbai on October 25.
New Haven, Conn., October 18, 2010 — Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons, will accept the prestigious "Legend in Leadership Award" of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute at the 64th Yale CEO Leadership Summit to be held in Mumbai at the Taj Mahal Palace on October 25. This award will be presented to Mr. Tata by Yale University president Richard C. Levin.
The summit will convene one hundred world-renowned business leaders from the U.S., Europe, and India to discuss the theme "Leading Global Enterprises Across Global Cities: Aspirations, Realities, and Alternatives." The conference co-sponsors include: Deloitte, IBM, PepsiCo, UPS, Mahindra & Mahindra, Volt, Modi Enterprises, Russell Reynolds Associates, the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), and FICCI.
Among those who are expected at this 24-hour summit are a wide range of leaders including Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Sons; Udayan Sen, CEO, Deloitte India; Shachindra Nath, CEO, Religare Enterprises; Amit Mitra, secretary general, FICCI; K.K. Modi, CEO, Modi Enterprises; John Flannery, CEO, General Electric India; Rajeev Dubey, president of human resources, Mahindra & Mahindra; Vanitha Narayanan, managing partner, Global Business Services, IBM India/South Asia; Manoj Singh, global managing partner, Deloitte; Umang Bedi, managing director, Intuit India; Charles Brown, president, International, Office Depot; Sandy Chandra, CEO, Mascon Global; Craig Foster, senior vice president, UPS Asia Pacific; Amit Kapoor, COO, IBM India/South Asia; Sanjay Kapoor, country manager for India, Russell Reynolds Associates; Anil Menon, president, globalization, Cisco Systems; Ajay Nanavati, managing director, 3M India; Mahesh Samat, CEO, The Walt Disney Company India; Vipul Shah, CEO, Dow SE Asia and India; Steve Shaw, CEO, Volt Information Sciences; Praveen Someshwar, president, PepsiCo India; Tarun Kataria, CEO, Religare Capital Markets India; Rajan Mittal, vice chairman and managing director, Bharti Enterprises; Richard Levin, president, Yale University; Shyam Sunder, professor, Yale School of Management; and Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean, Yale School of Management, president of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, and conference organizer.
Professor Sonnenfeld commented:
There is no better place for leaders across sectors to celebrate successes and surface setbacks in the novel urban growth challenges of the world’s mega cities. Mumbai, as one of the world’s oldest cities, the most populous city in India, and the second-most-populous city in the world, is an economic hub for India, with 6 percent of Indian GDP, 25 percent of industrial output, and 40 percent of foreign trade. The richest city in India, it also suffers widespread poverty.
The conference will consider the theme "Leading Global Enterprises Across Global Cities: Aspirations, Realities, and Alternatives," with global business leaders across sectors discussing new urbanization challenges in commerce, transportation, communication, finance, technology, and sustainability, and general life quality. We are sharing lessons from Mumbai and other mega cities around the world.
No company and no living leader better embodies the themes of this CEO Summit than the Tata Group in general, and chairman Ratan Tata in particular. For roughly twenty years, he has brilliantly led one of India's most venerated family enterprises, and India's largest conglomerate, which includes prestigious hotel chains (the Taj) and vast steelmaking operations as well as leading forces in consulting, wireless, and cable services. He has been a model of entrepreneurial creativity, institutional transformation, global greatness, and inspiring integrity. It is with pride that we celebrate his award at his gorgeously restored Taj Mahal Palace of Mumbai.
The Tata Group was founded by Jamsedji Tata and expanded by later generations of his family. Ratan Tata became chairman of Tata Sons in 1991. He is also the chairman of major Tata companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, The Indian Hotels Company, and Tata Teleservices. Ratan Tata reshaped this great enterprise, which now has the largest market capitalization on the Indian Stock Exchange. He brought Tata Consultancy Services public, as well as leading Tata Motors to public listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Three years ago, under Ratan Tata’s leadership, Tata Sons successfully acquired Corus, an Anglo-Dutch steel and aluminum producer, creating the world’s fifth-largest steel producer. In 2008, with Tata Motors, the company bought the iconic British auto brands of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Company. That same year, Mr. Tata unveiled the Tata Nano — his promised 1 lakh rupees ($2,500) car.
Renowned for his erudition, Ratan Tata has supported the advances of many universities around the world. He has served on many Indian and global commissions including the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry. He is regularly listed in Fortune magazine and Time magazine’s lists of most influential leaders. The Government of India honored Mr. Tata with its second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2008.
Past winners of the "Legend in Leadership Award" include: Alan Mulally of the Ford Motor Company; Infosys founder Nandan Nilekani; Yin Mingshan, founder of the Lifan Group; Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase; Robert Iger of The Walt Disney Corporation; Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone Group; Roger Enrico of PepsiCo; John Pepper of Proctor & Gamble; Don Keough of The Coca-Cola Co.; McKinsey founder Marvin Bower; Jim Kelly of UPS; Richard Teerlink of Harley-Davidson; Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson; Lou Gerstner of IBM; and Anne Mulcahy of Xerox.
This event is the 64th CEO Leadership Summit of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute. This part of the Yale School of Management is the world’s first school for incumbent CEOs. It was founded in 1989 to provide original research on leadership and lively, current educational forums through peer-driven learning for accomplished leaders across sectors. Visit the CELI website to learn more.
For an interview with Jeffrey Sonnenfeld or other participants, or to register for the "Legend in Leadership Award" presentation ceremony at 7 p.m. in the Mumbai Taj Mahal Palace, please contact:
Joseph DeLillo: joseph.delillo@yale.edu (001-404-307-6146)
Tabitha Wilde: tabitha.wilde@yale.edu (001-203-432-6010)
Dan Mullins: dan.mullins@yale.edu (001-770-605-5032)
Vineet Handa: vineet.handa@kaizzencomm.com (+91-9811660897)