Ratan N. Tata was the Chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata  Group, from 1991 till his retirement on December 28, 2012. Effective December 29,  2012, Mr. Tata has been conferred the honorary title of Chairman Emeritus of Tata  Sons, Tata Industries, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals. 

Mr. Tata was the Chairman of the major Tata companies, including Tata Motors, Tata  Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Global Beverages, Tata  Chemicals, Indian Hotels and Tata Teleservices and during his tenure, the group’s  revenues grew manifold, totaling over $ 100 billion in 2011-12. 

Mr. Tata serves on the international advisory boards of Mitsubishi Corporation and JP  Morgan Chase. He is the Chairman of the Tata Trusts which are amongst India's  oldest, non-sectarian philanthropic organizations that work in several areas of  community development. He is the Chairman of the Council of Management of the  Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and also serves on the board of trustees of  Cornell University and the University of Southern California.  

Mr. Tata joined the Tata group in 1962. After serving in various companies, he was  appointed Director-in-charge of the National Radio & Electronics Company Limited in  1971. In 1981, he was named Chairman of Tata Industries, the group’s other holding  company, where he was responsible for transforming it into a group strategy think tank, and a promoter of new ventures in high technology businesses.  

Mr. Tata received a B.Arch. degree from Cornell in 1962. He worked briefly with Jones  and Emmons in Los Angeles before returning to India in late 1962. He completed the  Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1975. 

The Government of India honored Mr. Tata with its second-highest civilian award, the  Padma Vibhushan, in 2008. He has been appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Most  Excellent Order of the British Empire and Rockefeller Foundation has conferred him  with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Among his other achievements, Mr. Tata is also an honorary fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Royal Academy of  Engineering and a foreign associate of National Academy of Engineering. He has received honorary doctorates from several universities in India and overseas.