Pramath Raj Sinha

Pramath Raj Sinha has earned the tag of an institution builder, a profession that neither existed, nor could he ever have imagined for himself, when growing up in Patna, Bihar. What is perhaps less widely known is that as a Partner at McKinsey & Company, then as one of the Founders of the Indian School of Business (ISB), the Young India Fellowship (YIF), Ashoka University, the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women and the Naropa Fellowship, he has guided hundreds of students on their academic and career choices. As someone who studied metallurgical engineering, did robotics research, failed as an academic, then became a management consultant, a CEO, a media and now edtech entrepreneur, he believes you can surprise yourself with what you can do, yet shape your career purposefully and deliberately.

This philosophy is the foundation for Pramath’s latest venture, Harappa Education and its School of Leadership (HSoL), an online learning institution to teach Thrive Skills to working professionals across the world. For over twenty years now, he is a pioneering force in higher education, setting up more than a dozen innovative institutions and programs in India and abroad. His first book, An Idea Whose Time Has Come, about the ISB story, is now required reading for anyone building a new university or institution. In 2015, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) named him ‘Personality of the Year’ for his contributions to education. Earlier, he was listed by Thinkers50 as one of India’s Top 50 Management Thinkers.

Pramath received a BTech from IIT Kanpur (where he was conferred with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2018) and an MSE and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics.