K. V. KAMATH

Kundapur Vaman Kamath (born December 2, 1947 in Mangalore, Karnataka) is the Non-executive Chairman of ICICI Bank, the largest private bank in India.
Mr Kamath served as ICICI Bank's Managing Director and CEO from May 1, 1996 until his retirement from executive responsibilities on April 30, 2009.
Early life
Kamath is a GSB Konkani born on December 2, 1947, in Mangalore, Karnataka. After completing Higher Secondary and Pre-University from St. Aloysius School, he joined the Karnataka Regional Engineering College in Surathkal for a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering. After graduating from KREC in 1969, he joined the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) for a Masters Degree in Business Administration.
Career
After graduating from IIM-A in 1971, Kamath started his career with ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India), As part of his general management responsibilities he initiated and implemented ICICI's computerisation programme.
Substantial investments in technology from the early years have resulted in systems that are today a competitive advantage for ICICI. Kamath has generally been credited with expanding ICICI's businesses to evolve it into a technology-enabled financial organisation catering to the financial needs of corporate and retail customers.
In 1988, Kamath joined the Asian Development Bank, Manila in their Private Sector Department. His principal work experience at ADB was in various projects in China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
In May 1996, Kamath returned to ICICI as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Kamath was instrumental in expanding the Group's services to the retail customers. He initiated a process of a series of acquisitions of non-banking finance companies in 1996-98, and led the way to the formation of ICICI Bank
Personal life
Kamath presently resides in Mumbai. He is married to Rajalaxmi and has a son, Ajay Kamath and a daughter, Ajnya Kamath Pai. He has two grandsons, Nandan K. Pai and Lakshan K. Pai who reside in the United States.
Board membership
Kamath is a Member of the Governing Board on various educational institutions including the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Indian School of Business, National Institute of Bank Management and Manipal Academy of Higher Education. Kamath is also a Member of the National Council of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). KV Kamath was elected to the Board of Directors on infosys Ltd on May 2, 2009, it has been speculated by the media that Mr. Kamath may become the nonexecutive Chairman of Infosys upon Mr Murthy's retirement in 2011.
Awards
§ Most e-savvy CEO amongst Asian banks - The Asian Banker Journal of Singapore
§ Finance Man of the Year award - The Mumbai Management Association
§ Best CEO for Innovative HR practices - World HRD Congress
§ Asian Business Leader of the Year - Asian Business Leader Award 2001 (CNBC Asia)
§ Outstanding Business Leader of the Year - CNBC TV-18, 2006
§ Businessman of the Year - Business India, 2005
§ Business Leader Award of the Year - The Economic Times, 2007
§ Businessman of the Year - Forbes Asia
§ Padma Bhushan award from the Indian government - 2008

Dr. Vijay Mallya

Dr. Vijay Mallya was born on 18 Dec. 1955, is an Indian alcohol, airline and sports team businessman and former Rajya Sabha MP. He is son of industrialist Vittal Mallya he is the Chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines, which draws its name from United Breweries Group's flagship beer brand, Kingfisher.
He also owns the Formula One team Force India, the Indian Premier League team Bangalore Royal Challengers, and the I-League team East Bengal FC

Personal life
Mallya is originally from the town of Bantwal (near Mangalore) in Karnataka. He was educated at La Martiniere Boys' College, Kolkata and completed his degree from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta under Calcutta University. He was conferred a Doctorate in Business Administration by the University of Southern California USC.
Mallya is married twice. His first wife was Sameera and they have a son together, named Sidhartha Vijay Mallya. Later on, he married Rekha and has two daughters Leana Mallya, Tanya Mallya.
BUSINESS
Breweries

Mallya took over as Chairman of the United Breweries Group in 1984. Since then, the group has grown into a multi-national conglomerate of over sixty companies with an annual turnover which has increased by only 63.9% in 15 years to US$11.2 billion in 1998-1999. The focal business areas of the group encompass alcoholic beverages, life sciences, engineering, agriculture, chemicals, information technology, aviation and leisure. He owned McDowell Crest.
In May 2007, United Breweries Group announced the all-cash acquisition of scotch whisky maker Whyte & Mackay for £595 million (approximately Rs 6000 crore). In 2005 he took over Millennium Breweries Ltd (formerly known as Inertia Industries Ltd), which owned the two premium beer brands named Sandpiper and Zingaro.
Airlines
In 2005, Vijay Mallya established Kingfisher Airlines. At present, the airline connects 32 cities. Kingfisher Airlines obtained a 26% stake in Air Deccan, a low cost Indian airline which Mallya later acquired fully and integrated into his Kingfisher fleet, rebranding it as Kingfisher Red. Vijay Mallya and his Jet Airways counterpart Naresh Goyal announced an alliance after a marathon meeting on 13 October 2008 at Mumbai, India
Investment in sports
Formula One
In 2007, Mallya and the Mol family from The Netherlands bought the Spyker F1 team for 88 million euros.[7] The team changed its name to Force India F1 from the 2008 Season.[8] Team's car VJM-01 was named after its owners Vijay Mallya, Jan Mol and Michiel Mol.
Mallya also represents India in the FIA World Motor Sport Council, where he has a seat from 2009 to 2013
Football
Mallya's United Breweries sponsors the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football clubs in Kolkata.
He also was part of the consortium that acquired Queens Park Rangers FC, as part of the Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal.
Cricket
Mallya's flagship firm UB Group owns the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the Indian Premier League. He won this team in an auction by paying US$111.6 million for the team. The Royal Challengers Bangalore team includes players like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Kevin Pietersen, Jacques Kallis, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Robin Uthappa, Mark Boucher, Sunil Joshi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Ross Taylor and Dale Steyn
Horse racing
Mallya also owns the company, United Racing and Bloodstock Breeders (URBB) which has interests in horse racing. URBB runs the Kunigal stud farm, under lease from the Government of Karnataka.

Political career
Mallya entered politics in 2000 and replaced Subramanian Swamy as the president of the Janata Party, a breakaway faction of the original Janata Dal party. His party contested almost all of the 224 seats during the Karnataka State legislative election. He campaigned vigorously through the media, but his party failed to make any impact and did not win a single seat. Following the party's failure in the elections, it has been largely ignored by the media

Auction purchases
Vijay Mallya is noted for his successful bidding in auction of items that are considered of great cultural value to India. In 2004, he placed the winning bid of £175,000 for the sword of Tipu Sultan at an auction in London, and brought it back to India.[13] In March 2009, Mallya successfully bid for the belongings of Mahatma Gandhi at US$1.8 million, in a New York auction that initially caused an uproar in India and its government tried and failed to prevent it from going under the hammer.

Achievements
Establishment of Mallya Hospital in Bangalore. The hospital is located in Vittal Mallya Road, named after his father.
Helped to fund the Mallya Aditi International School, a private school in Bangalore

Deepak Parekh

Deepak Parekh
(Chairman of HDFC)
Deepak Parekh is the Chairman of HDFC, the India's leading housing finance company. A pioneer in mortgage finance, he has enabled scores of Indian middle class people owning their houses or apartments through affordable loans.
A chartered accountant, Deepak Parekh began his career with Ernst & Young Management Consultancy Services in New York. After returning to India, he worked with Grindlays Bank and also Chase Manhattan Bank as its assistant representative for South Asia. Deepak Parekh joined HDFC in 1978. He was promoted as its Managing Director in 1985 and appointed its Chairman in 1993. He is instrumental in making the HDFC a premier housing finance institution in the country. Deepak Parekh is also the Non-Executive Chairman of Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd (IDFC), a Government of India enterprise for infrastructure projects in 1997. He is also the Non-Executive Chairman of Glaxo India Ltd & Burroughs Wellcome (India) Ltd and on the Board of Castrol BP India; Hindustan Lever; Siemens Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra and Indian Hotels Company. He is also a non-executive, independent Director of SingTel.
Deepak Parekh has been a member of various Committees set up by the Government of India. He was appointed Chairman of the high level expert committee, formed to recommend measures for strengthening the Unit Scheme – 1964. The Reserve Bank of India appointed him Chairman of the Advisory Group for Securities Market Regulation, which was tasked to compare the level of adherence to international standards in India with that in other countries. He was also Chairman of the Expert Committee constituted by the Ministry of Power to look into the reform efforts in the power sector.
Deepak Parekh has won several awards including Businessman of the Year 1996 by Business India and the JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award by All India Management Association (AIMA). He was the first recipient of the Qimpro Platinum Award for Quality for his contributions to the services sector and the youngest recipient of the prestigious Corporate Award for Life Time Achievement by the Economic Times. He was also conferred Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Early Life-:
Oprah was born in Mississippi in January 29,1954. As a child, she was raised by her grandmother on a farm, who many years later described how little Oprah used to interview her dolls and farm animals. Her grandmother made sure Oprah knew how to read and write from an early age. From age six, till she entered her teens, Oprah lived with her mother, who worked as a maid, and thus, could not devote much attention towards Oprah. Suffering from abuse and neglection, Oprah ran away from home, and was later sent to live with her father, Vernon Winfrey. Vernon was more particular about Oprah's education and conduct, and wanted his daughter to make the best of her life. Later, she attended Tennessee State university where she majored in Speech Communication and Performing Arts.

Career-:
Oprah's career began when she started working for WVOL radio, Nashville. Two years later, she moved on to WTVF-TV, Nashville as a reporter and anchor.

In 1976, she joined WJZ-TV news in Baltimore as a co-anchor for the six o'clock news. Two years later, she began co-hosting WJZ's local talk show 'People are talking'. It was then that her talent as a talk show host came to light.

Next, Oprah moved to Chicago in January 1984, to host WLS-TV's, poorly rated, local talk show “AM Chicago”. Her skills as a talk show host quickly propelled the shows ranking to top slot. The shows format was expanded to one hour and rechristened 'The Oprah Winfrey Show'.
The went national in September of 1986, and quickly became the highest rated talk show in history, with accolades and TRPs that were off the charts. Oprah became the youngest person to receive the International Radio and Television Society's 'Broadcaster of the Year' award.
In 1985, Oprah gained much critical acclaim for her role in Steven Spielberg's movie 'Sofia', an adaptation of Alice Walker's novel, 'The Color Purple'. She was nominated for an Oscar, as well as the Golden Globe, in the category of Best Actress. Later, she dazzled audiences once again with her performance in 'Native Son'.
In 1986, Oprah formed HARPO Productions Inc, a film and television production house. Today, HARPO Entertainment Group consists of HARPO Productions, Inc., HARPO Films and HARPO Video, Inc. By October 1988, HARPO gained control of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show', making Oprah the first woman to ever own and produce her own talk show. HARPO produced several miniseries and movies starring Oprah.
The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Concert was hosted by Oprah and Tom Cruise. There were musical performances by Cyndi Lauper, Andrea Bocelli, Joss Stone, Chris Botti, Diana Krall, Tony Bennett and others. The concert was broadcast in the United States on December 23, 2004, by E!.

As well as hosting and appearing on television shows, Winfrey co-founded the women's cable television network Oxygen. She is also the president of Harpo Productions (Oprah spelled backwards).

Accolades-:
Time magazine featured Oprah Winfrey in its list of 'the 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century'. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1988 from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Oprah's Book Club selections have become a huge hit, and in 1999, she was presented with the National Book Foundation's 50th anniversary gold medal for her service to books and authors. As per Forbes, Oprah, who pocketed $250 million between June 2006 and June 2007, is the first African-American woman to have become a billionaire, the richest African-American ever, as well as the highest paid entertainer in Tinsel town.

Books and magazines-:

Winfrey on the cover of O, The Oprah Magazine.Winfrey publishes two magazines: O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home. She has co-authored five books; at the announcement of her future weight loss book (to be co-authored with her personal trainer Bob Greene), it was said that her undisclosed advance fee had broken the record for the world's highest book advance fee, previously held by former U.S. President Bill Clinton for his autobiography My Life. In 2002 Fortune called O, the Oprah Magazine the most successful start-up ever in the industry.and although its circulation had declined by more than 10 percent (to 2.4 million) from 2005 to 2008, the January 2009 issue was the best selling issue since 2006.The audience for her magazine is considerably more upscale than for her TV show, earning US $63,000 a year (well above the median for U.S. women).

Future projects-:
On January 15, 2008, Winfrey and Discovery Communications announced plans to change Discovery Health Channel into a new channel called OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. OWN will debut at an unspecified time in 2010. It was scheduled to launch in 2009, but has since been delayed. It will be available in more than 70 million homes because of the present position of Discovery Health Channel. This was a non-cash deal with Winfrey turning control of her website Oprah.com to Discovery Communications.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump

Early Life-:

Donald Trump, popularly known as 'The Donald', was born in New York in June 14,1946. After completing his high school education at the New York Military academy with, Trump attended Fordhand University for two years, after which he transferred to Wharton School at UPENN. From there, he graduated in 1968, with a Bachelor of Science in economics and focus on finance, before joining his family's real estate business.

Family-:
Trump's mother Mary Anne was born on the Isle of Lewis. She left Tong, Scotland in 1930 aged 18 for a holiday in New York, met a local builder, and stayed. Born in Queens, New York, United States, Trump has four siblings - two brothers (Fred Jr., who is deceased, and Robert) and two sisters (Maryanne and Elizabeth). His older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, is a federal appeals court judge and the mother of David Desmond, who is a neuropsychologist and writer.

In 1977, Trump married Ivana Zelničkova (later Ivana Trump) and together they have three children: Donald, Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. They were divorced in 1992. In 1993, he married Marla Maples and together they had one child, Tiffany. They divorced on June 8, 1999. In a February 2008 interview on ABC's Nightline Trump commented on his ex-wives by saying, "I just know it's very hard for them (Ivana and Marla) to compete because I do love what I do. I really love it."

On April 26, 2004, he proposed to Melania Knauss (Melanija Knavs in Slovenian, later Melania Knauss-Trump) from Slovenia. Trump and Knauss (who is 24 years Trump's junior) married on January 22, 2005, at Bethesda by the Sea Episcopal Church on the island of Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a reception at Trump's Mar-A-Lago estate. Neither Melania nor Trump is an Episcopalian.Melania gave birth to a boy named Barron William Trump, Trump's fifth child. Trump became a grandfather when son Donald Jr. and his wife Vanessa welcomed a daughter named Kai Madison. Trump became a grandfather of two after Donald Jr. and Vanessa had their second child and first son, Donald John Trump III.

Career-:

Donald claims his father to have been his mentor since he was a boy, and credits him for helping Donald develop a sound business sense since his younger days. His father, in turn, was impressed with his son's business prowess and stated "everything he seems to touch turns to gold".

At first, Donald concentrated on his father's preferred field of middle class rental housing, but when he moved to Manhattan in 1971, Trump recognized huge economic opportunities in the city. Having already gained the necessary business skills in real estate business, while working under his fathers wing, Donald shifted his attention on the Manhattan real estate scenario. He started by landing rights to develop the old Penn Central yards on West Side and then with help of certain tax abatements, invested in developing the Commodore Hotel into a new Grand Hyatt. Trump went on to own some of the most prestigious properties in the city, such as the Trump Casino, Trump International Hotel, Trump Marina Hotel and Casino, Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort and Trump Tower. Trump pays special attention to branding. His properties have the Trump name displayed prominently and the "T" symbol is placed all over their important areas.

By 1989, recession left Trump unable to meet loan payments. He began financing his further developments with high interest bonds, in hopes of making enough money in time to be able to sustain the business. But all didn't go as planned and in 1990s, Trump suddenly faced bankruptcy, and was $900 million in personal debt, while his business faced a further debt that went into billions. Trump was forced to reduce his holdings and exchange stock with bond holders in return for surrendering debt. But by 2005, the company re emerged from bankruptcy, rechristened Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings, and has several projects underway.


Besides Trump Empire-:

Besides real estate, Trump's interests include entertainment, gaming and sports. He is a co-owner of three very famous beauty pageants, which are, Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. He has also authored several best-sellers, including The Art of the Deal, The Art of Survival and How to get Rich.

He has appeared in several television shows and is a prominent socialite, appearing in various media events. In 2004, Donald starred in his reality TV show, titled 'The Apprentice'. The programme has the selected candidates pit their business abilities against others, with the ultimate objective of becoming Trump's apprentice. They would be rewarded with a high level managerial job in one of Trump's ventures. The programmes ratings went off the charts, making Trump an instant world-wide celebrity among millions of viewers. The programme also helped him land a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

During the 2000 elections in USA, Trump publicly announced his inclination towards running for President, though he later decided against it.

Trump has been an a member of various civic and charitable organizations, and is known to be a generous philanthropist.

In 2005 he formed the Trump University, which teaches business students online. Courses focus on real estate investing, being a successful entrepreneur, business management, and career success.

Golf course-:

Trump testified in June 2008, as first witness at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) inquiry (ordered by Scottish ministers) after an Aberdeenshire Council committee denied his plans to build a £1billion golf resort north of Aberdeen, at the Menie Estate. Environmental groups and local campaigners opposed the bid in which part of the course would be built on sand dunes that are a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), though business leaders supported the would-be golf course.Trump stated the site "had the potential to be the greatest golf course in the world."

Hobbies-:

Trump is an enthusiastic golfer, with a low single-figure handicap. He is a member of the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, and also plays regularly at the other courses he owns and operates.[34]

Vineet Nayar

(CEO-HCL Technologies)

Vineet Nayar was born in 1962.

Education-:
Nayar received his engineering bachelor's degree from G.B. Pant University in 1983. Nayar received his business management degree from XLRI, Jamshedpur in 1985 and joined HCL as Senior Management Trainee (SMT) from campus.

Early career-:

Vineet started his journey with HCL in 1985 after completing his engineering and management degree. After spending seven years of his career as engineer, product manager, sales & marketing head at HCL, Vineet founded HCL Comnet in 1994 . [1]

It was one of HCL’s most innovative and successful businesses to provide IT infrastructure and networking services.

He became the President in April 2005 and later CEO in October 2007 of HCL Technologies. Under his leadership, HCL Technologies has made it to the fastest growing “Business Week Top 100 Tech companies” (2007). IDC recognizes Vineet as having “the most cohesive and articulate vision” in the IT services sector.

Fortune Magazine has articulated his leadership style as “The World’s Most Modern Management” and the London Business School calls him “the leader of organizational Innovation”.


"American graduates are unemployable"

In June 2009, Vineet Nayar created quite an uproar by commenting that American tech graduates are unemployable. He made this comment while talking to some technology enthusiasts and officials in New York city. When an official wanted to know why HCL, a $2.5 billion (revenue) company with more than 3,000 people across 21 offices in 15 states, wasn't hiring more people in his state, Vineet Nayar's short answer was: because most American college grads are "unemployable." Mr. Nayar's comment was met with some angry remarks in newspapers[2] and blogs.[3] Mr Nayar clarified his stand on the remarks in his blog[4]

Brijmohan Lall Munjal

Brijmohan Lall Munjal

Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal is an Indian businessman and the founder of The Hero Group which owns Hero Honda Motors in India and is one of the richest people in India.

Early life-:

Brijmohan Lall Munjal was born in 1923 at Kamalia in unpartitioned India. Kamalia is now in Pakistan. He was from a simple middle-class Hindu family, After completing his formal education he worked at the Army Ordnance Factory, before moving his base to India after partition



Career-:

In 1944, when Brijmohan was 20, his family sensed partition, So Brijmohan along with his elder brothers Dayanand Munjal, Satyanand Munjal and his younger brother Om Prakash Munjal came to India and settled in Amritsar. The brothers initially started a business by supplying components to manufacturers of bicycles in and around Amritsar. After the partition in 1947 the Munjal family completely shifted their base from Pakistan to Ludhiana.

At that point and still today Ludhiana was an important destination for manufacturing and industry hub of bicycles and textiles. Slowly they expanded their distribution network and by early 1950s they were supplying components of bicycles throughout India.

Hero Cycles Ltd-:

In 1954 Hero Cycles Ltd moved up the value chain by making a shift from supplying to manufacturing. They started manufacturing handlebars, front forks and chains. In 1956, the Punjab Government issued tender notices for twelve new industrial licenses to make bicycles in Ludhiana. Brijmohan Lall Munjal and his brothers participated in the bid and won the contract. Hero Cycles was registered as a large-scale industrial unit. The capital was partly financed by the Government of Punjab.

In 1961 Rockman Cycles Industries was established to manufacture bicycle chains and hubs. Under his leadership Hero Cycles was the first company to export bicycles in large scale. In 1975 they had earned the distinction of Largest bicycle manufactures in India. By 1986 Hero Cycles Limited entered the Guinness Book of Records as the largest manufacturers of bicycles in the world.

Hero Honda-:

Before entering into a joint venture with Honda Motors, Dr. Munjal started the Majestic Auto Limited and started to manufactured Hero Majestic Moped. To manufacture motor cycles in 1984 the Hero Group started a joint venture with Hero Honda. Hero Group expanded so big that by 2002 they had sold 86 million bicycles producing 16000 bicycles a day.

Awards and recognition

· Awarded Businessman of the Year in 1994 by business magazine "Business India"
· Received the National Award for outstanding contribution to the Development of Indian Small Scale Industry in 1995.
· In 1999 Featured in Most Admired CEO List of the magazine "Business Barons".
· Received The Distinguished Entrepreneurship Award from The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1997.
· Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Conferred Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal for Industrial Peace in 2000.
· Featured as Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the year in 2001.
· Received The Lifetime Achievement award for "Management" from All India Management Association in 2003.
· Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi conferred him with a Doctrate; degree of "Doctors of letters" Honoris Causa in October 2004.
· Awarded "Padma Bhushan"in March 2005 for his contribution to Trade and Industry in 2005.