In his memoir, former Hindustan Unilever chairman Ashok Ganguly invites readers to journey with him as he looks back fondly on his extraordinary life – from his childhood to his upbringing in the metropolitan Bombay of the 1930s, to his PhD in Illinois and his eventual return to India. After joining Hindustan Unilever’s R&D department, Ganguly quickly rose up the ranks as a talented young professional, eager to discover and learn new things. The story spans across eighty years of his life, its edges tinged by the tumultuous events in India in the twentieth century, and interspersed with fascinating people, from the mysterious Kishen Khanna, who accurately predicted events in Ganguly’s life, to encounters and friendships with well-known historical figures such as Mother Teresa and Rajiv Gandhi. Ashok Ganguly’s journey was interspersed with failures, but he doesn’t shy away from talking about these and the sacrifices that went on to define his life. Honest, reflective, personal and revelatory, Afterness provides valuable insight into his thinking process and decision-making skills that enabled Ganguly’s meteoric rise and sustained his legendary career.
5:45 PM Login by members / invitees
6:00 PM Welcome Address
Past President, MMA & Former MD, Pond's India Ltd
E-Launch of the book
Introductory Remarks by the Chairman Fire Side Chat with the Author
Author & Former Chairman, Hindustan Unilever Ltd
Former Executive Director, Tata Sons Ltd
Q & A 7:15 PM Vote of Thanks
DrAshokSGangulyisaresidentofBombayandbornon28July1935.HecompletedhisPrimaryandSecondarySchoolat theMasterTutorialHighSchool,Mumbai,andobtainedhisB.Sc.degreefromtheJaihindCollege,Mumbai.Hecompleted hisM.S.in1959andPh.Din1961fromtheUniversityofIllinoisDepartmentofFoodScienceandHumanNutrition,Collegeof Agriculture,ConsumerandEnvironmentalSciences.HewasmarriedtoMsRooma(Lonnie)Bhattacharyaandhavingtwo daughtersnamelyNiveditaandAmrita.
MuchofDr.Ganguly'sworkinglifehasbeenwithHindustanUnileverLtd,wherehespentover35yearsfrom1962.Hewas theChairmanofHindustanLeverLtdfrom1980to1990andamemberoftheUnileverBoardfrom1990to1997. Dr.GangulyhasheldboardlevelpositionswithvariousmultinationalslikeIndependentDirectorB.AandTrusteeLeverhulum Trust(inLondon)Non ExecutiveChairmanICI(India),FirstSourceSolution(ICICI)andAnandBazarGroup,External DirectorReserveBankofIndia(2000-2009).IndependentDirector,ICICIBank,M&M,DRLfrom1996 2018. DrGangulyhasbeenonvariousadvisoryboardsingovernmentsacrosstheworld:
GovtofIndia PMsScienceAdvisoryCommittee(19841988) ChairmanBOG,IITKanpur(19851990) BoardandSocietyofCSI(19801984) InvestmentsCommission,KnowledgeCommission(2004-2014) India USABusinessCouncil PM’stechnologyAdvisoryCommitteeetc
Recognitions BusinessManoftheyear(1986), PadmaBhushan(1988) Hon.MemberChineseAcademyofSciences(1991) InternationalAlumniAward(LCofIIinois2003), LifetimeAchievementAward(Eco.Times2003) C.B.E(2006) PadmaVibhushan(2009) HewasalsoelectedasMemberofParliamentforRajyaSabhafrom20092015(nominated).
R. Gopalakrishnan is an author, speaker and a corporate advisor. His career spans over 50 years: 31 in Unilever where he rose to be vice chairman, HUL, and later 19 years in Tata Sons as a director. He now serves as non-executive chairman of Castrol India, an independent director of Hemas plc, Sri Lanka, Executive-in-Residence at S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai and Distinguished Professor of IIT, Kharagpur. He has authored nine books so far, notably A Comma in a Sentence, Six Lenses and Doodles on Leadership.
Former MD of Pond's India Ltd
Former export Director of Hindustan Lever
Was independent director on Nokia, Mahindra World city; Polaris; Mother Dairy New Delhi; Intellect Design Arena Ltd
Chairman of CAMS; Chairman of Footwear Design and Development Institute.
Currently on Delphi TVS and India Nippon Electricals Ltd Past President of MMA.
