HIMANSHU RAI

Dr. Himanshu Rai is the Director of the Indian Institute of Management Indore, where he has led a transformational journey focused on academic excellence, global engagement, ethics, and social impact. Under his stewardship, IIM Indore achieved the coveted Triple Crown accreditation (AMBA, AACSB, and EQUIS)—a distinction held by fewer than one percent of business schools worldwide—and significantly strengthened its standing in national and international rankings, including NIRF and the Financial Times. A Fellow of IIM Ahmedabad and an alumnus of KREC Surathkal, Prof. Rai brings together rigorous scholarship and deep corporate experience. Prior to academia, he spent over eight years at Tata Steel, where he led major initiatives in quality systems, project execution, and corporate communications, including the development of company-wide communication policy and ISO 9000 frameworks. He has also served as Dean of the India campus of SDA Bocconi School of Management and taught at leading institutions in India and abroad.

At IIM Indore, Prof. Rai has driven wide-ranging institutional reforms, including a six-fold expansion of executive education revenues, a ₹500-crore campus expansion, major research and consultancy grants from the World Bank and Government of India, and collaborations with over sixty international universities. His leadership philosophy—anchored in ethics, empathy, and empowerment—has shaped initiatives in sustainability, inclusivity, and digital transformation.

A prolific author and public intellectual, he has written several acclaimed books, including the bestseller Negotiation, Organizational Behavior (with Steven McShane and Mary Ann Von Glinow), Pravah, and Brand India. He also writes three widely read weekly columns, collectively reaching nearly 30 million readers.

Prof. Rai is a globally respected trainer and consultant, having trained over 50,000 professionals, including senior bureaucrats, diplomats, and armed forces personnel. An avid mountaineer, yoga practitioner, and cultural enthusiast, he exemplifies holistic leadership—where intellect, integrity, and purpose converge in service of society. He has skydived from 13,000 feet and done the world’s longest zipline.