Rajat Gupta (born December 2, 1948) is an Indian‑American business executive, academic, and former managing director of the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company. He was the first person of South Asian descent to lead a major multinational corporation. Gupta gained prominence for expanding McKinsey’s operations worldwide during his tenure from 1994 to 2003, after which he served on the boards of several major corporations, including Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble, and Bayer AG.
In 2009, Gupta was investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for insider trading related to the sale of Goldman Sachs stock. He was convicted in 2012 on charges of securities fraud and conspiracy, and subsequently sentenced to two years in federal prison. Gupta reported to prison in 2014 and was released in 2016 after completing his sentence. Following his release, he returned to academic and philanthropic activities, including serving as a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School and participating in various charitable initiatives focused on education and entrepreneurship.
Gupta holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. His career has been marked both by significant contributions to global management consulting and by legal controversies that have impacted his professional reputation.