Contributor : Profile

Tarun Khanna is the Director of the Harvard University South Asia Institute, and the Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School. He joined the HBS faculty in 1993, after obtaining an engineering degree from Princeton University (1988) and a Ph.D. from Harvard (1993), and an interim stint on Wall Street.  He currently teaches in Harvard College’s General Education ‘core’ curriculum, in an elective course on entrepreneurship in South Asia in several of Harvard’s professional schools. He chairs Harvard Business School’s activities in India and South Asia.

His book, Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours, was published in February 2008 by Harvard Business Press (Penguin in South Asia). His most recent co-authored book, Winning in Emerging Markets: A Roadmap for Strategy and Execution, was published by Harvard Business Press in March 2010.

Outside HBS, he serves on the boards of the global power company, AES Corporation, and one of India's largest microfinance firms, SKS Microfinance, and on the advisory board of the Tata Opportunities Fund. He actively invests in and mentors startups all over Asia. He also serves on the board of Parliamentary Research Services, and the advisory board of Primary Source.

In 2007, he was nominated to be a Young Global Leader (under 40) by the World Economic Forum. In 2009, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of International Business.

He lives in Newton, MA, with his wife, daughter and son.