Kiran Mazumdar Shaw: Corporate Czarina

BIOCON’S Chairperson & Managing Director, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is a celebrated global thought leader in the biotechnology space and a successful technocrat of global standing.

Under her leadership, Biocon has evolved from an industrial enzymes company to a fully-integrated bio-pharmaceutical enterprise encompassing a well balanced business portfolio of products and services with a research focus on diabetes, oncology and auto-immune disease. In her four decade journey, Biocon has also established two big subsidiaries: Syngene (1994) to provide development support services for discovery research and Clinigene (2000) to cater to services in clinical development.

For her thought leadership, Shaw is highly respected in the corporate world and has been voted by Nature Biotechnology as ‘The Most Influential in Bio-business person’ outside Europe and USA. A leading US trade publication in its listings has ranked Biocon 20th amongst the leading biotechnology companies in the world and the seventh-largest Biotech employer globally.

Shaw wears many hats. She Chairs Karnataka’s Vision Group on Biotechnology and has served on the Board of Science Foundation, Ireland. Shaw also serves on the Advisory Council of the Government’s Department of Biotechnology, where she has been instrumental in bringing government, industry and academia together, to chart a clear and progressive growth path for Biotechnology in India. Most recently, she has been invited to join the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry in India and the US-India CEO Forum.

For her commendable work, Shaw has received several prestigious awards including Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare, Technology Pioneer among others. Her most cherished awards are the national awards, Padmashri (1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005) presented to her by the President of India, for her pioneering efforts in Industrial Biotechnology. 

For her commendable work, Shaw has received several prestigious awards including Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare, Technology Pioneer among others