Sanjay Khosla
Encyclopedia
Sanjay Khosla is an Indian-American engineer
and a senior business
executive of multi-national corporations.
Sanjay Khosla is currently President
of Kraft International Commercial at Kraft Foods
he also presides over Developing Markets and Global Categories, responsible for leading Kraft Foods businesses in developing markets. He has been Executive Vice President
of Kraft Foods Inc. since January 2007. He manages a business that spans more than 40 countries. Sanjay also serves on the Board of Directors of Best Buy
Co., Inc. He has been an Independent Non-Executive Director of NIIT
Ltd. since 2002. He is a Trustee
of the Goodman Theater in Chicago
, Illinois
, USA.
Prior to joining Kraft Foods, Sanjay was with Fonterra
Co-operative Group, a multinational dairy
company based in New Zealand
, since August 2004. At Fonterra, Sanjay served as Managing Director of the company's consumer and foodservice business. He also spent 27 years with Unilever
in India, London and Europe, a career culminating in positions as Senior Vice President Global Beverages, and Chairman of the Board of Directors
for the $5 billion Unilever beverages category. He jointly chaired Unilever Global Market Research Committee Superstar of the Year by New York
publication Advertising Age
in 1998.
Sanjay Khosla developed Unilever's innovation
system, working with Professor Kim Clark, past Dean of Harvard Business School
, which was adopted globally by NIIT Ltd. Sanjay also managed Unilever's beverages and culinary businesses in Central Asia
, and for five years based in London
. His work included the transformation of the Lipton
tea business and the forging of a global joint venture with PepsiCo
. Sanjay has been a Director of Best Buy
Co. Inc. since October 2008.
He has taught courses on international business
at Kellogg School of Management
, Northwestern University
, Chicago; at Columbia University
, New York
; and at International Institute for Management Development
(IMD), Lausanne
, Switzerland
.
Sanjay graduated with a Honors degree of Bachelor of Technology
in Electrical Engineering
from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi
in 1973. In 2007, Sanjay was honored as a Distinguished Alumni of IIT Delhi. In 1998, Sanjay completed the Harvard University
Advanced Management Program.
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and a senior business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
executive of multi-national corporations.
Sanjay Khosla is currently President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of Kraft International Commercial at Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
he also presides over Developing Markets and Global Categories, responsible for leading Kraft Foods businesses in developing markets. He has been Executive Vice President
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
of Kraft Foods Inc. since January 2007. He manages a business that spans more than 40 countries. Sanjay also serves on the Board of Directors of Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
Co., Inc. He has been an Independent Non-Executive Director of NIIT
NIIT
NIIT Limited is a global computer education company. The company is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange of India. The company provides training for individuals, enterprises, schools and colleges. It has its presence in 40 countries worldwide.In 2004 , NIIT was...
Ltd. since 2002. He is a Trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...
of the Goodman Theater in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, USA.
Prior to joining Kraft Foods, Sanjay was with Fonterra
Fonterra
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited is a New Zealand multinational dairy co-operative owned by almost 10,500 New Zealand farmers. The company is responsible for approximately 30% of the world's dairy exports and with revenue exceeding NZ$19.87 billion, is New Zealand's largest company.- History :In...
Co-operative Group, a multinational dairy
Dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
company based in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, since August 2004. At Fonterra, Sanjay served as Managing Director of the company's consumer and foodservice business. He also spent 27 years with Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
in India, London and Europe, a career culminating in positions as Senior Vice President Global Beverages, and Chairman of the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
for the $5 billion Unilever beverages category. He jointly chaired Unilever Global Market Research Committee Superstar of the Year by New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
publication Advertising Age
Advertising Age
Advertising Age is a magazine, delivering news, analysis and data on marketing and media. The magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930...
in 1998.
Sanjay Khosla developed Unilever's innovation
Innovation
Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
system, working with Professor Kim Clark, past Dean of Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
, which was adopted globally by NIIT Ltd. Sanjay also managed Unilever's beverages and culinary businesses in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, and for five years based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. His work included the transformation of the Lipton
Lipton
Lipton is a brand of tea currently owned by Unilever.-History of Lipton Tea:Lipton was created at the end of the 19th century by a grocer, Sir Thomas Lipton, in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1893, he established the Thomas J. Lipton Co., a tea packing company with its headquarters and factory in Hobo ken,...
tea business and the forging of a global joint venture with PepsiCo
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
. Sanjay has been a Director of Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
Co. Inc. since October 2008.
He has taught courses on international business
International Business
International business is a term used to collectively describe all commercial transactions that take place between two or more regions, countries and nations beyond their political boundary...
at Kellogg School of Management
Kellogg School of Management
The Kellogg School of Management is the business school of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, downtown Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida. Kellogg offers full-time, part-time, and executive programs, as well as partnering programs with schools in China, India, Hong Kong, Israel,...
, Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, Chicago; at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
; and at International Institute for Management Development
International Institute for Management Development
IMD - International Institute for Management Development is a non profit business school located in Lausanne, Switzerland.- History & Mission :...
(IMD), Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Sanjay graduated with a Honors degree of Bachelor of Technology
Bachelor of Technology
The Bachelor of Technology is an undergraduate academic degree conferred after completion of a three or four year program of studies at an accredited university or accredited university-level institution...
in Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
in 1973. In 2007, Sanjay was honored as a Distinguished Alumni of IIT Delhi. In 1998, Sanjay completed the Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
Advanced Management Program.
External links
- Bloomberg Businessweek
- Reuters Profile of Sanjay Gupta
- Food Weekly news: Sanjay Khosla Joins Best Buy Board of Directors
- Best Buy Profile of Sanjay Gupta
- Links to Secondary Sources Profiling Sanjay Khosla
- M2 Presswire Article: Sara Lee Ahead of the Bell and Kraft Taps Sanjay Khosla to Head Section.
- Sanjay Khosla's Profile on IIT Alumni Web Page
- Distinguished Alumni Award for Sanjay Khosla by IIT Delhi- A Citation
- About Sanjay Khosla on Kraft Foods' Official Web Site