Anu Aga is known as much for her social work and activism as her business accomplishments. She is also closely associated with the Thermax Social Initiative Foundation (TSIS). The foundation, in partnership with the municipal corporations of both cities and Akanksha, manages two schools for lower-income groups. She is also known for her to transparency in corporate governance.
Background
Ethnicity:
Anu Aga was born on 3 August 1942 in an upper middle-class Parsi family in Mumbai. Now she is living in Pune.
Anu Aga was born on August 3, 1942 in an upper middle-class Parsi family in Mumbai. Anu was married to Rohinton Aga and gave birth to daughter Meher and son Kurush. Rohinton died in 1996, and a little over a year later, her son Kurush died at the age of 25 years.
Anu started her career in Thermax in 1985 and later headed its human resources division from 1991 to 1996. After the death of husband, Rohinton Aga, she took over as Chairperson of Thermax, retiring in 2004 and succeeded by her daughter and company vice-chairperson, Meher Pudumjee. Anu has since remained on company's Board of Directors, and involved with social work.
Education
Anu Aga graduated with a Bachelor's in Economics from St Xavier's College in Mumbai and has a post-graduate degree in medical and psychiatric social work from the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). She was also selected for a Fulbright Scholarship and studied in the United States for four months.
Career
The death of her husband Rohinton in 1996 from a heart attack thrust her into the chairperson's role of Thermax, an engineering company that was begun by her father A S Bathena three decades ago and later managed by Rohinton. Just as Aga, till then director of human resources, was finding her feet as the head of Thermax. After retiring from Thermax, she took to social work, and 2010 was awarded the Padma Shri for Social Work by the Government of India.She is currently Chairperson of Teach For India. She was nominated to Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Indian Parliament on 26 April 2012, by president Pratibha Patil.
Views
According to Ms Aga, her husband often teased her for her incessant chatter. Now, she says, Vipassana, a form of meditation, helps in times of distress. "It required the rigour of maintaining silence," she said.
Quotations:
"Early to bed and early to rise"