Ratan N. Tata was the Chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, from 1991 until his retirement in 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 is also associated with various organizations in India and overseas. He is the Chairman of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, two of the largest private-sector-promoted philanthropic trusts in India. He is the Chairman of the Council of Management of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He also serves on the board of trustees of Cornell University and the University of Southern California. Mr. Tata initiated the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition, a long-term research initiative focusing on the design and evaluation of innovative interventions linking agriculture, food systems, human nutrition, and poverty in India. 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.
