Delhi, India, March 2026 — Dr Suresh Ramanathan has joined IMI as the Chief Executive Officer with leadership responsibility across its campuses in Delhi, Kolkata and Bhubaneswar. IMI is among India’s leading business schools and part of the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group. It is known for its long-standing focus on management education and industry engagement.
Dr Ramanathan has spent his career across some of the world’s top academic institutions.His extensive teaching portfolio includes prestigious names such as the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School, the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, HEC Paris, the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Indian School of Business (ISB).
Prior to his appointment at IMI, he served as Dean and Principal at the Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai, where he raised research output and lifted academic standards across the institution. Dr Ramanathan overhauled the research rewards structure, shifting the focus from publication volume to journal quality. Scholarly output climbed considerably as a result, with much of the work appearing in ABDC A-level or higher-ranked journals. Beyond the numbers, he built a living research culture through faculty seminars, brown-bag sessions and hands-on support for conference participation, research databases and analytical tools.
Dr Ramanathan also launched a PhD program benchmarked against international standards, designed to equip scholars to produce globally competitive research and build a presence in leading academic forums.
Before moving into academia, Dr Ramanathan spent nearly a decade in sales and strategy roles at various levels of leadership in the corporate world, with stints at Unilever (Brooke Bond), JWT, Lintas, MTV India and McCann Erickson. His client work spanned some of the most recognised global brands: Citibank, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, ITC Limited and Britannia Industries, giving him a practitioner’s grounding in marketing strategy and leadership that informs his teaching.
He has designed and delivered executive education programs worldwide, drawing on his research and hands-on experience to help organisations tackle complex business challenges in emerging markets.
Commenting on his appointment, Dr Ramanathan said, “IMI has a distinguished legacy in management education in India. I look forward to working with faculty, students and industry partners across the IMI campuses to further strengthen the institute’s research ecosystem, deepen industry engagement and build programmes that prepare leaders for a rapidly evolving global business environment.”
About IMI
IMI is India’s first corporate-sponsored business school with campuses in Delhi, Kolkata & Bhubaneswar and a rich legacy of over four decades in delivering world-class education and research in management. IMI is committed to addressing contemporary global challenges through its programs, research, and initiatives that promote sustainability, innovation, and responsible leadership. IMI Delhi has been ranked in the global top 100 for the fourth year in a row and #11 (overall) in India, in the prestigious Financial Times Masters in Management 2025 Ranking. This makes us one of only four Business Schools in India that have been ranked consistently in the global top 100 for the last four years in a row.
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