We are delighted to introduce Professor Sougata Ray, who has joined as Vice Chancellor at SVKM'S NMIMS Deemed to be University.
Professor Sougata Ray is one of India's leading management scholars, academic leaders, and institution builders. Prior to joining NMIMS as Vice Chancellor, he served at the Indian School of Business (ISB) as the Thomas Schmidheiny Chaired Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship Practice and Executive Director of the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise. With a distinguished career spanning more than three and a half decades, he has built an exceptional reputation in strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship, family enterprise governance and management, and higher education leadership.
Earlier in his career, Professor Ray spent over two decades at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM Calcutta), serving as Professor of Strategic Management, Dean, and a member of the Board of Governors. He also led the Innovation Lab at Infosys Technologies as General Manager, working at the intersection of research, technology, and business innovation. In addition, he was the founding Chairman of the PGP, MDP, and Industry Linkage Committees of IIM Indore during its formative years. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and the Indian Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur.
An Internationally respected scholar, Professor Ray’s research spans strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship, digital transformation, sustainability, international business, and family enterprise. Widely regarded as one of India’s most accomplished home-grown strategy scholars, he has authored nearly 200 research papers, articles, monographs, book chapters, case studies, and teaching materials. He has published extensively in top-tier management journals and presented at premier global conferences. He is also a highly regarded teacher and mentor, having inspired generations of MBA students, executive education participants, young scholars, entrepreneurs, and family business leaders.
Beyond academia, Professor Ray has advised entrepreneurs, business families, corporate boards, and CXOs of multinational corporations, public sector enterprises, and government agencies on visioning, strategy, governance, innovation, and strategic and digital transformation. He has led over thirty senior executive delegations for international immersions and high-level dialogues with governments, industry associations, and multilateral organisations. He has served on the boards of several leading companies and chaired multiple board committees, bringing deep experience in corporate governance and institutional stewardship.
An accomplished institution builder, Professor Ray has played key leadership roles during important phases in the evolution of three institutions—IIM Indore at its foundation, IIM Calcutta during its revitalisation around its Golden Jubilee, and ISB during its growth years. He has also contributed significantly to advancing management scholarship and leadership development through his professional engagements with global academic bodies, leading management journals, multilateral organisations, and industry associations.
As Vice Chancellor, Professor Ray brings to NMIMS a bold vision for higher education in an AI-driven world—one that combines academic excellence with innovation, interdisciplinary learning through exploration, experience, experimentation, and entrepreneurship, global engagement and collaboration, industry partnership, and societal impact. He believes that, alongside creating and disseminating knowledge, universities must foster curiosity, creativity, character, and the capacity to solve complex real-world problems.
