Rajat Gupta

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Gupta joined McKinsey & Company in 1973 as one of the earliest Indian Americans at the consultancy. He was initially rejected because of inadequate work experience, a decision that was overturned after his Harvard Business School professor Walter J. Salmon called Ron Daniel, then head of the New York office and later also the managing director of McKinsey, wrote on Gupta's behalf.

Gupta's mentors at McKinsey included Ron Daniel, the former managing director who as senior partner first hired Gupta into the New York office, and Anupam (Tino) Puri, the first Indian at the firm and eventual senior partner. He, in turn, mentored Anil Kumar as another early Indian-American at the consultancy. Gupta and Kumar "were the face of McKinsey in India." According to The Financial Times, "the two operated as a forceful double-act to secure business for McKinsey, win access in Washington and build a brotherhood of donors around the Hyderabad-based ISB and a handful of social initiatives."

Gupta began his career in New York before moving to Scandinavia to become the head of McKinsey offices in 1981. He did well in what was then considered a "backwater" area; this is where he first made his mark. Elected senior partner in 1984, he became head of the Chicago office in 1990.

In 1994 he was elected the firm's first managing director (chief executive) born outside of the US, and then re-elected twice in 1997 and 2000. Gupta is widely regarded as one of the first Indians to successfully break through the glass ceiling, as the first Indian-born CEO of a multinational corporation (not just a consultancy). During Gupta's time as head of McKinsey, the firm opened offices in 23 new countries and doubled its consultant base to 891 partners, increasing revenue 280 percent to $3.4 billion. His annual salary was estimated at $5–10 million USD.

However Gupta's tenure was marked by controversy. When Gupta joined McKinsey, it was a small partnership run according to the high standards of its early leader, Marvin Bower, but by the time Gupta became managing director, McKinsey was under pressure from an increasingly competitive market, and Gupta's expansion efforts were said to have watered down McKinsey's vaunted principles. Enron, closely identified with McKinsey, collapsed during his time as managing director. During the dot-com bubble he and Anil Kumar created a program for McKinsey to accept payment from its clients in stock. Gupta's accountability for the shifting of standards was weighed differently by different observers, and some defended him noting that the managing director's job was like trying to "herd cats"; Gupta himself described it as "a sort of servant-leader job," with "at least 150, if not 400, leaders". In what was seen as a reaction against Gupta's aggressive firm expansion, Gupta's successor Ian Davis was elected by "emphasizing the need for a return to the McKinsey heritage".

After completing three full terms (the maximum allowed, by a rule he had himself initiated) and nearly a decade as head of the firm, Gupta became senior partner again in 2003 and senior partner emeritus in 2007. According to close friends when he stepped down as McKinsey management director, Gupta lost what NYU's Lechner called "the halo effect" including the tremendous status afforded by his previous role. Gupta reportedly began to express a certain resentment about money, as his peers in Silicon Valley and Wall Street (including McKinsey's private equity clients) at the time "raking in staggering amounts of money while Gupta soldiered on with a mere senior partner's millions".

Gupta maintained an office, executive assistant, email and phone at McKinsey and Company after 2007, and maintains the title "senior partner emeritus" of the firm. He also continued to receive a salary from McKinsey as senior partner emeritus, totaling $6 million in 2008 and $2.5 million for each of the following three years. However, in the wake of subsequent scandals a McKinsey spokesperson was quoted as saying, "Our firm no longer has a professional relationship with Rajat Gupta." According to NDTV, "sources tell us that the firm dropped Mr Gupta from its alumni database, and called clients worldwide to say that they would have nothing to do with him going forward." The manner in which the firm severed ties with its former head attracted some controversy. After his release from prison, Gupta continued to be rebuffed by McKinsey.

In 1997 Gupta co-founded the Indian School of Business (ISB) with friend and fellow senior partner Anil Kumar. The school was ranked number 13 in the world by The Financial Times in its Global MBA Rankings 2011. Gupta and Kumar have both since resigned as chairman and executive board director respectively.

Before stepping down as managing director he co-founded Scandent Solutions with Ramesh Vangal and the American India Foundation with Victor Menezes and Lata Krishnan. After McKinsey Gupta co-founded and chaired the private equity firm New Silk Route, formerly named Taj Capital Partners, with Parag Saxena and Victor Menezes.

In 2005, five years after Raj Rajaratnam "gave generously to two of Gupta's favorite Indian causes", Gupta, Rajaratnam and Ravi Trehan, an investor via BroadStreet Group and another friend of Gupta, co-founded Voyager Capital, 80% owned by Rajaratnam and capitalized at $50 million.

Gupta has served on several high-profile corporate boards as a director during his career. He became a member of the board of Procter & Gamble in 2007, and held that post until March 2011. He was also a member of the board of investment bank Goldman Sachs from 2006 until the expiration of his term in 2010. Gupta was also the non-executive chairman of Genpact from 2007 until March 2011. He also served on the board of AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, from 2008 until 2011, and on the board of Harman International from 2009 to 2011. Gupta has also served on the board of Russian bank Sberbank, and as a managing advisor to Symphony Technology Group.

Gupta has also served as a director of various financial groups. In addition to his work at Goldman Sachs, Gupta served as an advisory partner with Fjord Capital Partners and as chairman of the advisory board for Clutch Group. Gupta was also a member of the advisory board for OmniCapital Group.

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