Born in Mumbai on December 28, 1937, Ratan N. Tata joined the Tata Group in 1962. He was assigned to various companies before being appointed, in 1971, as director-in-charge of the National Radio and Electronics Company Limited. He was named chairman of Tata Industries Limited in 1981, where he was responsible for transforming the company into a group strategy think tank and advocate of new ventures in high-technology businesses. Tata holds a degree in architecture from Cornell University in 1962, and has also completed an advanced management program from Harvard University in 1974-1975. In 1991 he was appointed chairman of Tata Sons Limited, the holding company of the Tata Group. In addition to this position, he is currently the chairman of several major Tata companies including Tata Steel, Tata Engineering, Tata Power, Tata Tea, Indian Hotels and VSNL, besides Tata Chemicals. Tata is also the chairman of two of the largest private-sector philanthropic undertakings in India, the Sir Dorab Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. Tata also serves in important capacities in various organisations in India. He is a member of the central board of the Reserve Bank of India and the Prime Ministers Council on Trade and Industry. He is on the international advisory boards of Mitsubishi Corporation, the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase and Booz-Allen Hamilton Inc, and is a member of the board of trustees of the Ford Foundation. Tata also serves on the International Investment Council (South Africa), the Asia Pacific Advisory Committee to the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange, the board of governors of the East West Center, the advisory board of Rand's Center for Asia Pacific Policy and the programme board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's India Aids Initiative. The Government of India honored Tata with the Padma Bhushan Award on January 26, 2000. In March 2001 the Ohio State University awarded Mr Tata an honorary doctorate in business administration. In addition, he was also named the Telecom Man of the Year in 2002-2003, and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2003. Under the leadership of India's industrial architect, Tata Group is poised to restructure and refocus as the country's largest industrial conglomerate.