Prof. Suresh A Seshan was a Research Fellow at IIMA (1963-65) and faculty member in the Finance & Accounting Area (1967-1981).

Born in 1939, he did his B. Com at Sydenham College, University of Bombay in 1959. From 1960 to November 1963, he worked in Bombay for W.F. Titchner and Associates, Thackersey Group of Mills and Pfizer Limited in costing and accounts. He obtained the Associate Membership of the Institute of Cost and Work Accountants of India in 1963.

He joined IIMA as a Research Fellow in 1963 and was assigned to work with Prof K. V. Ramanathan in the Finance and Accounting (F & A) Area. He prepared case studies and teaching materials for the Management Accounting courses. Sponsored by IIMA, he completed his MBA (1965-67) at the Harvard Business School and returned to IIMA in 1967 as faculty in the F & A Area. He taught the PGP first-year courses ‘Management Accounting I and II’ and several second-year electives besides participating in the Management Development Programmes (3TP, MEP) and other functional and sectoral area programmes.

At IIMA, he held various administrative positions: Hostel Warden (1968-70), Member – Placement Committee, PGP Chairperson (1974-76), Finance & Accounting Area Chairperson, Coordinator – 3 Tier Programme in Management. As PGP Chairperson, he headed a Committee to review the PGP curriculum and oversaw curriculum and other changes – adoption of a 3-term PGP 1st year model, addition of new required courses, increase in class size (from 2 to 3 first-year sections), movement of classrooms to the newly built classroom block (adjacent to the Louis Kahn Plaza). He also prepared case studies and technical notes for use in Man Acc I and II and other courses which were well received and used for several decades thereafter.

He undertook consulting assignments with several private and public sector companies. He coordinated an inter-Area faculty project to prepare an integrated case series on Voltas Ltd. The case series was used as a capstone case study in the 3TP, MEP and other programmes. He coordinated an International Conference of Management Education Institutions held on IIMA Campus (1977) and edited and published the proceedings of the conference. Along with Mahendra Gujarathi (FPM candidate), he produced a monograph titled “Financial Reporting Practices in India: Trends and Developments”.

He served as a Visiting Faculty at the Asian Institute of Management, Manila, Philippines (1978-80). He resigned from IIMA in July 1981 to join the Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines. He held various positions at ADB in the Budgets, Planning and Management Systems Department and retired as Director in July 1999. He was Executive Director of “Foundation for Excellence Inc.” in Santa Clara, California, USA (2001-2010). He setup the Foundation’s India Trust and served as its first Managing Trustee (2003-2011).

Suresh A Seshan lives in Bangalore with his wife Lakshmi. They have two sons and one grand-daughter who live in the USA.

(With inputs from Krishna Chidambi, PGP 1968-70, and Prof. Suresh Seshan)

Date of Birth: 7th April 1939