WALTHAM, MA– Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria will be honored with the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award by INE Multimedia and INDIA New England News at the New England Choice Awards gala on October 26, 2018. About 400 entrepreneurs, corporate executives, philanthropists, educators and community leaders are expected to attend the gala, which will be held at Westin Hotel in Waltham, MA.
Mr. Nohria, who has authored or co-authored 17 books, is the tenth dean of Harvard Business School. He has previously served as co-chair of the Leadership Initiative, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development, and Head of the Organizational Behavior unit.
As Dean, building on input from faculty, students, staff, and alumni, Mr. Nohria has identified five priorities for Harvard Business School: innovation in the school’s educational programs; intellectual ambition that advances ideas with impact in practice; continued internationalization, through building a global intellectual footprint; creating a culture of inclusion, where every member of the community can do their best work in support of the school’s mission; and fostering a culture of integration within HBS and across Harvard University.
Desh Deshpande
“Nitin has proven to be a fantastic leader. He has an unusual combination of deep compassion, intellectual depth and ability to connect with others,” said Desh Deshpande, founder of the Deshpande Foundation, President and Chairman of Sparta Group, a life-member of the MIT Corporation, and supporter of MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. “He deserves the New England Lifetime Achievement Award for things that he has already achieved in his life. However, I hope his future contributions to humanity will be many more fold.”
Dr. Manju Sheth, MD, President of INE MultiMedia, a physician at Lahey Health and a member of Patient Care Assessment committee at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, said the Indian-American community is honored to bestow the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award to Mr. Nohria.
Manju Sheth
“Nitin Nohria is a true trailblazer. He has singlehandedly inspired an entire community to dream bigger dreams,” said Dr. Manju Sheth. “He is also a great human being. It is an enormous privilege for us to honor him with the Lifetime Achievement Award on October 26.”
Leader Bank President and CEO Sushil Tuli, who has known Mr. Nohria both personally and professionally, said he is very fortunate to have had the chance to work with Mr. Nohria closely as one of the founders of the Leader Bank.
“Nitin’s guidance was invaluable, and his courage and foresight inspired our team to reach beyond what we thought possible,” said Mr. Tuli. “Nitin brought these same leadership skills to Harvard Business School, and as a father of three HBS graduates during his tenure as Dean, I was able to witness the innovations he brought to the school and its curriculum. Nitin has created an environment to help train the future leaders of our country, and both Harvard and Leader Bank are much better places thanks to his expert guidance.”
Sushil Tuli
At Harvard Business School, Mr. Nohria launched numerous initiatives since he was appointed Dean in 2010.
- A year-long course in the Required Curriculum of the MBA Program, Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development (FIELD), that provides students with intensive, immersive, small-group opportunities to develop the knowing, doing, and being of leadership.
- The U.S. Competitiveness Project, a multi-faculty research-led effort to understand and improve the competitiveness of the United States—that is, the ability of firms operating in the U.S. to compete successfully in the global economy while supporting high and rising living standards for Americans.
- The launch of the Harvard Innovation Lab, an initiative to foster team-based and entrepreneurial activities and deepen interactions among Harvard students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and members of the Allston and Greater Boston community; the i-lab ecosystem now includes the alumni Launch Lab and the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab.
- HBX, the School’s digital platform—encompassing CORe, HBX courses, and HBX Live—that brings the dynamism of the HBX classroom to online learning.
Mr. Tuli said that Mr. Nohria is one of the most accomplished people he has ever met.
“Yet despite his achievements and his status at the pinnacle of his profession, he remains humble and dedicated to treating everyone like family, no matter who they are,” Mr. Tuli said. “Those who know Nitin are impressed not only by his brilliance, but by his humanity and work ethic. Nitin selflessly strives to do the right things each and every day for those around him, and I am privileged to count him as one of my dearest friends.”
Upendra Mishra
Upendra Mishra, publisher of INDIA New England News, IndUS Business Journal and Boston Real Estate Times, said that Mr. Nohria is not only an accomplished author, professor and administrator, but also a successful fundraiser.
“Under Mr. Nohria’s leadership, Harvard Business School surpassed an unprecedented $1 billion fundraising campaign a year early,” said Mr. Mishra. “We are honoring Mr. Nohria in recognition of his unique contribution to the learning environment of business management and entrepreneurship, leadership, and creating a culture of inclusion, innovation and diversity.”
Prior to joining the Harvard Business School faculty in July 1988, Mr. Nohria received his Ph.D. in Management from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (which honored him as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2007). He was a visiting faculty member at the London Business School in 1996.
Puran Dang
Puran Dang, Board Director Emeritus of IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA and Founder and Chairman Emeritus of IIT-SINE/IIT AGNE, said Mr. Nohria is one of the brightest star graduates of one of the IITs of India: IIT Bombay.
“He is one of the most intelligent men I have ever met. I am not surprised that he was given the crown job of the Dean of the Harvard Business School after teaching there for some years,” Mr. Dang said. “He is a world-renowned scholar and author of the most important thoughts and concepts of leadership.
I am most impressed by his successes in serving the HBS on various fronts including the creation of the most imposing Tata Building on the campus where the most successful executives from all over the world gather and mix and mingle with each other to deliberate the latest on the science and practice of management.”
Mr. Nohria is not only an eminent professor and Dean but also an avid reader of literature and an eloquent speaker of great substance.
Venkat Srinivasan
“Nitin Nohria is the loving family man first and has highest regard for his father and his late mother. In one of his speeches, where I was present, his eyes welled up when he talked about his parents for giving him the best education and utmost love,” added Mr. Dang. “That is the heart-warming human side of Nitin. I am very proud of Nitin and have no doubt in my mind that we have not seen enough of Nitin. A spectacular future beckons him.”
Venkat Srinivasan, a serial entrepreneur and managing director at Innospark Ventures, said that Mr. Nohria has led Harvard Business School with a great vision.
“Nitin has led HBS with extraordinary vision and distinction. He has used a remarkable level of innovation at Harvard Business School already in a brief tenure, and his contribution to and accomplishments at Harvard go far beyond the business school,” said Mr. Srinivasan. “Nitin and Monica exemplify the many qualities that make the Indian diaspora such a respected and valued part of the American Society.”
Raj Sharma
Raj Sharma, managing director of Private Banking and Investment Group at Merrill Lynch, a Trustee of Emerson College and Chair of the Board of YouthLEAD, said Mr. Nohria is a wonderful choice for the Lifetime Achievement Award.
“In the past eight years, he has done a remarkable job transforming the image of HBS by highlighting corporate ethics, social responsibility , gender equality and inclusion,” Mr. Sharma said. “Nitin is “not done” yet – I know he will go on to create meaningful impact on a global level in the decades to come.”
