Sougata Ray

About Sougata Ray

Sougata blends three and half decades of experiences in diverse roles – international quality academic, research and institution building practices with hands on corporate managerial and governance experiences as an executive, member of Board of Directors, co-founder of start ups, advisor, trainer, mentor and coach. He served IIM Calcutta for over two decades as Professor, member of Board of Governors and Dean. He was a senior level executive in Infosys Technologies in a strategic role as Head of innovation Lab spearheading innovation co-creation culture and practices. Sougata has developed deep insights into strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship, family and corporate governance, international business, global competitiveness and digital strategy of firms in high growth economies through intense academic research and varied corporate interactions as a consultant, trainer, mentor, executive and board member. Given the ubiquity of family businesses in India and observing how family owners and leaders play pivotal roles in shaping the future of enterprises, he was drawn into FB research. Under the aegis of the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise in ISB, Sougata has been spearheading a mega program towards developing a solid research based understanding of business families and family businesses. He has also been leading a research program in the areas of social entrepreneurship, corporate sustainability strategy and practice, and Base of the Pyramid initiatives. He is one of the most prolific and cited home-grown strategy scholars in India and authored many research papers, monographs, case studies, and has been regularly publishing in top tier international journals. Sougata has been an advisor to numerous medium and large corporations, family businesses and start ups, and Principal Consultant to leading International Development Agencies. He takes keen interest in helping ambitious entrepreneurs and firms and enjoys working with leaders aspiring to make quantum improvement in performance and willing to embrace new technologies. Sougata has taught in numerous executive education programs, designed and conducted many workshops exclusively for Owner-managers, Entrepreneurs and CXOs of companies in India, Asia, Middle East, Nordic and Scandinavian countries. Over the years he has led over thirty CXO delegations to multiple countries in every continent for high-level meetings with the Ministers and high ranking officials, Multilateral agencies such as WTO and ILO, Chambers of Commerce, MNCs, Research Labs and Academic Institutions.

Experience

1. Independent Director

   Tata Group

   May 2011 — Present

Education

• Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

  Doctorate, Management

  1993 — 1997

• Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur

  B. Tech, Mechanical

  1985 — 1989

Skills

• IT Strategy
• Data Analysis
• Strategic Consulting
• Management Consulting
• Teaching and Research
• Innovation Consulting
• Consulting
• Analytics
• Business Strategy
• Policy
• Market Research
• Triple Bottom Line
• Change Management
• Business Analysis
• Management
• Entrepreneurship
• Start-Ups
• Higher Education
• Strategic Planning
• Sustainability
• Research
• International Business Consulting
• Business Intelligence
• Strategy
• Business Planning
• Organizational Development
• Business Development
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Valuation
• Corporate Sustainability
• Corporate Governance
• Leadership