Harvard Business School Notable Alumni

Ratan Tata is a well-known Indian industrialist and the former charman of Indian multinational conglomerate Tata Sons. His reign as chairman was marked by acquisitions of iconic global brands, such as Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover and Corus by the Tata Group. Ratan Tata was instrumental in turning Tata Group from a largely India-centrist group into a global business.

Michael Collins is an American astronaut who became the fourth person to perform a spacewalk. He is also the second person to orbit the Moon alone. Collins is best known for flying the Apollo 11 command module Columbia while Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon. In 1969, Michael Collins was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

What began as amateur math tutorials for his cousin later became Sal Khan’s dream project, the online education platform Khan Academy, which now has over 42 million users worldwide. Named to Time 100 in 2012, the American-born Bengali former hedge fund analyst is an MIT and Harvard alumnus.

Julie Bishop is an Australian former politician who once served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs. For several years, she was the deputy leader of the Liberal Party. She studied law at the University of Adelaide and worked as a commercial lawyer before venturing into politics. In 2020, she became the first woman chancellor of the Australian National University.  

Initially the CEO of Coca-Cola Mexico, Vicente Fox increased the sales of the soft drink in Mexico by 50%. He later focused on politics, joining the National Action Party and leading the country as its president. He has a rare condition called polydactyly, meaning he has 6 toes in both feet.

Bill Ackman is an American hedge fund manager and investor. He is credited with founding the popular hedge fund management company, Pershing Square Capital Management. Also a philanthropist, Ackman has donated millions of dollars to various charitable causes like the Center for Jewish History. In 2006, he founded the Pershing Square Foundation, which supports various sectors like education and healthcare.

Tagg Romney is an American businessman, management consultant, political advisor, and venture capitalist. Apart from working for major companies, such as Reebok, McKinsey and Co, and Monitor Group, Romney has also worked on his father Mitt Romney's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. He is also credited with founding Season Perks, a software design company which was subsequently sold.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis is a Greek politician who has been serving as the president of the New Democracy political party since 2016. The current Prime Minister of Greece, Mitsotakis also served as the Minister of Administrative Reform between 2013 and 2015. He is also one of the most controversial leaders, having been associated with the Siemens Greek bribery scandal in 2007.

Nigerian statesman and lawyer Chief Ernest Shonekan GCFR, served simultaneously as head of government and head of transitional council under Ibrahim Babangida. Following crisis of Third Republic, the Interim National Government was established with Shonekan as interim Head of State. Shonekan’s largely powerless government was eventually overthrown in the 1993 Nigerian coup d'état led by Defence Minister General Sani Abacha.

The son of former Wipro chairman Azim Premji, Rishad Premji has now taken over as the new chairperson of the company. Equipped with an MBA from Harvard, he now also serves on the board of the non-profit Azim Premji Foundation. He was also named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

NASA astronaut and USAF pilot Stuart Roosa served as the Command Module Pilot for the 1971 Apollo 14 mission. He had begun his career as a smokejumper for the US Forest Service, before moving on to the USAF. Following his stint at NASA, he worked as an executive for Greek and US businesses.

George Yeo is a Singaporean retired politician best known for his service as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 12 August 2004 to 20 May 2011. He also held other important ministerial positions, such as the Minister for Trade and Industry, Minister for Health, and Minister for Information and the Arts. Prior to entering politics, Yeo served as a Brigadier-General.

A renowned investment banker and the ninth President of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn was also a transformative and hands-on leader and a global champion of human rights.  Beginning his career in investment banking, he worked for several different institutions, before being nominated to the World Bank, shifting the Bank’s commitment back to alleviate poverty and promote social justice.