Harish S. Mehta

As Founder of Onward Group Mr. Harish Mehta has led, grown and mentored two generations of this technology company. He was the Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Onward Novell Software (I) Ltd. (1993-2005), a 50:50 JV between Onward Group and Novell, Inc. (2nd largest personal software company globally then). Onward Technologies took off in 2005 where he served as MD & Chairman from inception to 2015. He has since been the Executive Chairman of the company as Jigar Mehta took over as the MD of Onward technologies from 2015. Previously, Mr. Harish Mehta was one of the chief architects of the Hinditron–Digital (DEC) JV in India in 1987.

Mr. Mehta was the driving force behind galvanising the IT industry in India by co-founding NASSCOM, the IT industry association of India. NASSCOM started from his office and was formally established in 1988. He is a founder member, the first elected Chairman and now the Convenor of Chairman’s Council of NASSCOM. He was honoured by the PM Mr. Narendra Modi, for 25 years of exemplary contribution to Indian IT.

Mr. Mehta Introduced the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a Silicon Valley based Organisation, to Mumbai, and he was the First President of TiE – Mumbai (1999). He also served on the TiE Global Board from 2001-2002. He continues to be an active mentor for TiE Mumbai as convenor of its President Council. He is a director of Indian Angel Network (IAN), the world's largest and most active angel investors group. He is a former Expert Advisor at Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for its Fund of Funds Operations. He is also a former Director of Gujarat Venture Funds Limited and a founding member of Infinity Venture Fund, India’s first corporate VC fund.

He was director at The College of Engineering, Pune. (2010-2015). He was awarded ‘CEO of the Year’ in 1994 by NMIMS, Tata HRD Network and World HRD Congress. He was honoured with a Life Time Achievement Award for HR Excellence by Deccan Herald in 2004. He was also honoured with a Life Time Achievement Award by IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2018.

He is also an active volunteer of Onward Foundation & Dewang Mehta Foundation. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from College of Engineering, Pune and a Masters in Computer Science from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, NY.