Bengaluru: Devi Prasad Shetty, new IIMB Board chairman

Bengaluru: Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairman and Senior Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, Narayana Group of Hospitals, assumed office as the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) on Monday.

The decision to appoint him was taken by the Board of Governors at its 167th meeting held on October 9. IIMB Director Prof. G. Raghuram said, “It is a matter of immense happiness that one of the most well-known and respected persons in the field of medicine and in the business of hospital management, Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, is IIMB’s Chairperson.”

Dr Shetty, who was the chief guest at the Foundation Day lecture in 2008 and the 2015 Convocation Day at the Institute, said, “Over the years, IIMB has grown to become India’s leading management institute that attracts the best and brightest students from across the country. The alumni of this institution are sought after by leading companies from across the world, including my own.”

He said that surgeons are like artists as they approach the world through feel, touch and instinct. “However, the world of business is more complicated than an open chest, and only the devotees of technology who can synthesise multiple data points will be able to make good decisions. The companies of the future will invest more into digital assets than bricks or mortar and their managers will have to supervise bots, not humans. So, the management curriculum must evolve to cope with a rapidly evolving digital landscape.”

Dr Shetty founded Narayana Hrudayalaya (NH), a hospital group across the country managing 32 hospitals, performing approximately 12% of the total heart surgeries in the country. He was nominated to the Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India (MCI) between 2010 and 2011 and was tasked with reforming medical education and medical practice. He was elected representative of the President of India in the Board of Governors of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and launched a Diploma in Community Cardiology programme to train 2000 specialists for treating heart patients in rural India. He is the brain behind ‘Yeshaswini’, a micro-health insurance scheme. He is a recipient of several prestigious awards, including Padma Shri (2003), Padma Bhushan (2012), MCI Dr B C Roy Award (2003) and World Economic Forum Social Entrepreneurship Award (2005).

Dr Shetty succeeds Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who was the first woman to be the chairperson of any IIM Board and held office previously from February 11, 2014.

Dr Shetty will hold office for a term of four years till October 22, 2022.