Wharton Honors Chair of India's Reliance Industries
Dhirubhai H. Ambani, founder and chairman of India’s
Reliance Industries, Ltd., was awarded the Dean’s Medal at
a ceremony in Mumbai, India, on June 15.
Established in 1983, the Dean’s Medal is the school’s
highest tribute for extraordinary achievement or service by
individuals throughout the world.
The medal recognizes Ambani’s leadership in founding
and building Reliance Industries into India’s largest, most
widely traded and most profitable company. The citation
specifically refers to the founder’s success in “revolutionizing
the very concept of equity investing in India by
creating wealth and value for millions of shareholders.”
Reliance Industries began in a one-room Bombay office
and went public in 1977. Today the petrochemical and textile
conglomerate has annual sales of $3.4 billion. Last year
Reliance completed an expansion that has made the company
one of the top ten petrochemical producers in the world.
Dhirubhai Ambani’s son, Anil D. Ambani, WG’83, is
managing director of Reliance Industries and a member of
Wharton’s Asian Advisory Board.
Among the previous 23 recipients of the Dean’s Medal
are Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister of Israel, Reginald
Jones, chairman emeritus of General Electric Co., C.F. Koo,
chairman of Taiwan Cement Corp.,
Laurence Za Yu Moh, chairman
emeritus of Universal
Furniture Ltd. and Peter D.
Sutherland, chairman, Goldman
Sachs International and
former Director General of
GATT.
|
