A successful technocrat of global standing, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw heads India’s leading Biotechnology enterprise, Biocon. She is highly respected in the corporate world and has been named among TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. Recently, Economic Times placed her at India Inc’s top 10 most powerful women CEO for the year 2012. Her pioneering efforts in biotechnology have drawn global recognition both for Indian Industry and Biocon.
She chairs Karnataka’s Vision Group on Biotechnology and also served on the Board of Science Foundation, Ireland. She presently serves on the Advisory Council of the Government’s Department of Biotechnology where she has been instrumental in bringing government, industry and academia together, to chart a clear and progressive growth path for Biotechnology in India. She is also part of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry in India and the US-India CEO Forum. She serves as a Member, Governing Body and General Body of the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, an Autonomous Body of the Government of India. She is also a member of the Union Commerce Ministry-instituted committee to advise the government on India’s export promotion strategy.
She is a member of committee of Indian National Corporate governance policy to prepare a draft for a concept paper. She serves as a Member of the Eminent Persons Group of the Competition Commission of India, New Delhi. She’s also on the honorary Board of advisors of The National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS), USA. Ms. Shaw serves as a co-opted member on the new Board of governors of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).
She is a founder member of the Society for the formation of “Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine”. She has been nominated as Member of the Board of Trade, Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Moreover, she is serving on the Global Advisory Committee for its “Women and the Green Economy Campaign” (WAGE)™ initiative that engages woman business, government, and NGO leaders to help create and develop a global green economy.
Kiran is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Nikkei Asia Prize, 2009 for Regional Growth, Express Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit Award 2009 for Dynamic Entrepreneur, the Economic Times ‘Businesswoman of the Year’, the ‘Veuve Clicquot Initiative For Economic Development For Asia, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare, ‘Technology Pioneer’ recognition by World Economic Forum and The Indian Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award. Her most cherished awards are the national awards, PADMASHRI (1989) and PADMA BHUSHAN (2005) presented to her by the President of India, for her pioneering efforts in Industrial Biotechnology.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw received a graduate honors degree in Zoology from Bangalore University (1973) and qualified as a Master Brewer from Ballarat University, Australia (1975). She also received an honorary Doctorate of Science in 2004, from her alma mater, Ballarat University, in recognition of her pre-eminent contributions to the field of Biotechnology. She has also been awarded honorary doctorates from University of Abertay, Dundee, U.K. (2007), University of Glasgow, U.K. (2008) and Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, U.K. (2008). She recently received an honorary Doctorate of Science by the National University of Ireland (2012) for her contribution to economic life and was also conferred an honorary doctorate by Trinity college Dublin (2012).
Under her stewardship, Biocon has evolved from its inception in 1978 as an industrial enzymes company to a fully integrated Biopharmaceutical enterprise encompassing a well-balanced business portfolio of products and services with a research focus on Diabetes, Oncology and Auto-immune disease. During this transition, Biocon has established 2 subsidiaries: Syngene (1994) to provide development support services for discovery research and Clinigene (2000) to cater to services in clinical development.
