Tata Trusts move to ready next gen for leading roles

Tata Trusts’ decision to get the three executives on the Tata Medical Centre board will help groom them for bigger roles under chairman Ratan Tata’s watch, the person said, requesting anonymity. The appointments were made with effect from 31 October. Ratan Tata, Vijay Singh and Mehli Mistry were already on the board of Tata Medical Centre Trust, which runs a cancer hospital in Kolkata. Involving them in a smaller trust within Tata Trusts is also seen as a way to make the three work their way up. The number of trustees in the Tata Medical Centre Trust has doubled with their appointment.

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An email query to the trustees of Tata Medical Centre Trust did not elicit any response till press time.

Tata Medical Centre is a philanthropic initiative aimed at helping cancer patients from east and northeast India and Bangladesh. It started operations in 2011 and runs a 431-bed hospital. The hospital was established in Kolkata as cancer patients from the east and northeast had to travel to Mumbai for treatment. Ratan Tata and Noel Tata’s family have bonded well in recent years, with the former attending family get-togethers on occasion.

Leah, the eldest daughter of Noel Tata, studied marketing at the IE Business School in Madrid and is a manager responsible for development and expansion at Indian Hotels Co. Ltd. Maya works at Tata Digital, the Tata Group’s venture in the digital space, while Neville is associated with retailer Trent Ltd, founded by his grandmother Simone, and currently led by his father.

All three are working in middle management roles as the family elders felt they needed to work their way up the ladder. Noel Tata, chairman of retail chain Trent and Voltas Ltd, in a recent interview, said his children had the choice to join different firms in the group, and as a father, he encouraged them to pursue their passion, akin to what he did for most of his career.