Nirmalya Kumar

Nirmalya Kumar is the Lee Kong Chian Professor of Marketing at Singapore Management University and Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD Emerging Markets Institute.

Previusly, heading strategy as member of the Group Executive Council of Tata Sons, he reported to Cyrus P. Mistry, the Chairman for the 100 billion dollar Tata Group with over 650,000 employees worldwide.

Nirmalya was professor of marketing and director of Aditya Birla India Centre at the London Business School, besides having taught at Columbia University, Harvard Business School, IMD (Switzerland) and Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management).

As a consultant and coach, Nirmalya has worked with more than 50 Fortune 500 companies in 60 different countries. He has served on several boards of directors, including ACC, Bata India, Tata Chemicals, UltraTech Cement and Zensar.

As an author, his eight books include Marketing as Strategy, Private Label Strategy, Value Merchants and Brand Breakout. Thinking Smart: How to Master Work, Life and Everything In-Between by Harper Collins is the latest. He has nine appearances in Harvard Business Review and several articles in leading academic journals. These publications have attracted over 19,000 citations on Google Scholar.

Nirmalya is one of the world’s leading thinkers on strategy and marketing. He was thrice included in Thinkers50 (the biannual listing of the top 50 management thinkers in the world) before being inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2017 for his lifetime contributions to management thought leadership. In 2011, he had also received their “Global Village Award” for the person who contributed the most to the business community’s understanding of globalisation and the new frontiers established by emerging markets. Over the years, he has been included in 50 Best B-school Professors (Poets & Quants) and 50 Most Influential Business School Professors (mbarankings.com).

Nirmalya received his Bachelor in Commerce degree from Calcutta University, his Master in Business Administration degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and his Doctoral Degree in marketing from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Passionate about art, he supports exhibitions and publications through his Indian art collection. In 2013, he was recognized for his efforts on behalf of South Asian art with an Honorary Fellowship by SOAS University of London.

Education

• Ph.D. Northwestern University (1986 — 1991)
• Honorary Fellowship SOAS University of London (2012 — 2012)
• Master of Business Administration (MBA) University of Illinois at Chicago (1983 — 1986)
• Master of Commerce Shivaji University, India
• Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) Calcutta University, India (1978 — 1980)
• High School La Martiniere School for Boys Calcutta (1968 — 1978)

Companies

• Lee Kong Chian Professor of Marketing Singapore Management University (2017)
• Distinguished Fellow, Emerging Markets Institute INSEAD (2015)
• Member of the Board of Directors Tata Chemicals (2016 — 2016)
• Member of the Board of Directors Tata Capital (2014 — 2016)
• Member, Group Executive Council Tata Group (2013 — 2016)
• Independent Director UltraTech Cement (2011 — 2013)
• Professor of Marketing London Business School (2003 — 2013)
• Independent Director Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd. (2006 — 2009)
• Independent Director ACC Limited (2006 — 2009)