Nitin Nohria | |
|---|---|
| 10th Dean ofHarvard Business School | |
| In office January 1, 2010 – December 31, 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Jay Owen Light |
| Succeeded by | Srikant Datar |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 9, 1962 (1962-02-09) (age 63) New Delhi, India |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Monica Chandra |
| Education | IIT Bombay (BTech) University of Mumbai (MBA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD) |
Nitin Nohria (born February 9, 1962) is anIndian-American academic. He was the tenth dean ofHarvard Business School. He is also theGeorge F. Baker Professor of Administration. He is a former non-executive director ofTata Sons.
In January 2025, he was honored with thePadma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award, by theGovernment of India.[1][2]
Nitin Nohria was born in a HinduBaniya (trader) family originally fromNohar,Rajasthan, India. His father, Kewal Nohria, was the former chairman ofCrompton Greaves in India, and was one of the reasons Nohria decided to embark upon a career in business.[3]
Nohria attended high school atSt. Columba's School inNew Delhi, India. He earned aB.Tech inChemical Engineering at theIndian Institute of Technology Bombay, graduating in 1984, and then received anMBA fromJamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies at theUniversity of Mumbai.[4] He earned aPhD in Management from theSloan School of Management atMassachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988.[5]
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Nohria served as co-chair of the HBS Leadership Initiative and sat on the executive committee of the University's interfaculty initiative onadvanced leadership. Nohria is working with fellow HBS professorRakesh Khurana, theWorld Economic Forum and theAspen Institute to create a business oath, like theMBA Oath,[6] that might be used globally. In aHarvard Business Review piece published in October 2008, Khurana and Nohria linked the connection between professionalism of a profession and the profession's ability to deliver value to society.[7]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Nitin Nohria, Dean of the Harvard Business School, talks about leadership, case studies, and efforts to help women succeed at the school., 37:25,Charlie Rose, January 22, 2015 |
On May 4, 2010,Drew Gilpin Faust,President of Harvard University, appointed him as the Dean of Harvard Business School, effective July 1, 2010.[8] He is the second HBS Dean, afterJohn H. McArthur, born outside the United States and the first Dean sinceDean Fouraker in the 1970s to live in the Dean's House on the HBS campus.[9] In January 2014, he tendered an apology on behalf ofHarvard Business School for the perceivedsexism at the school.[10]
In August 2017, Nohria argued that PresidentDonald Trump's support for "isolationism" was detrimental to American economic prosperity, as it discouraged successful foreigners fromimmigrating to the US.[11]
In November 2019, Nohria announced that he would step down as dean in June 2020 but, in light of theCOVID-19 pandemic, Nohria decided to stay on as dean through the end of 2020.Srikant Datar took over for him beginning January 1, 2021.[12]
Nohria has won several awards and honors including the 2008 McKinsey Award for the best article inHarvard Business Review for "How Do CEOs Manage Their Time?" and the 2005PricewaterhouseCoopers Best Article Award for "How to Build Collaborative Advantage".[13]
In 2013, a lengthy front-page article inThe New York Times described HBS efforts to deal with gender inequality.[14] In 2014, Nohria apologized for HBS on how it had sometimes treated its female students and professors offensively.[15]
Under Nohria as dean for 10 years atHarvard Business School, there was a low percentage ofAfrican Americans as enrolled MBA students and had nine out of 270 faculty members in the faculty who were black.[16] Faculty memberSteven S. Rogers stepped down from teaching at the business school because it had long given short shrift to the black experience,[16] and had maintained anti-African practices.[17]
In June 2020, Nohria publicly apologized for failing to mount a more successful fight against racism and pledged to move urgently forward with what he called an "anti-racism action plan".[18][19]
Nohria is married with two daughters, both of whom currently attendHarvard College.[20] Nohria earned "$727,365 in salary and benefits in 2014."[21]
