Mr. Ayilam Panchapakesha Venkateswaran (1930-2014) was a career diplomat and IIMA Chairperson during the tumultuous years of the economic crisis in 1990-91.

He was born on 2 August 1930 in Brahmapur, then in the Madras Presidency. He studied at the Madras Christian College where he received a Master of Arts in Economics and a Master of Arts in Political Science. He was in the Indian Foreign Services from 1952 to 1987. He was sent to the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London 1953-54 as part of his training. He rose up the ranks to become the Foreign Secretary of India and resigned from the Indian Foreign Services in 1987. He later founded Asia Centre, a think-tank on foreign policy in Bangalore. He passed away on 2 September, 2014.