Shri. K.M. Chandrasekhar, Professor of Practice at PSG College of Technology mentors students on transformational leadership with his vast and rich experience. He worked in the Indian Administrative Service from 1970 to 2011. During the last four years of his career, he held the apex position of Union Cabinet Secretary, reporting directly to Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. After his retirement in 2011, he was the Vice Chairman of the State Planning Board with the rank of State Cabinet Minister, which position he held for the next five years until 2016. He has varied experience, particularly in public finance, industry, agriculture, fisheries, international trade and diplomacy and has been Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and Finance Secretary in his State Government. He has diplomatic and negotiating experience as Indian Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation, Geneva, and as Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Brussels, dealing with the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg.
He has been at various times Chairman, Managing Director or Director of about 50 companies in the public, private, joint and cooperative sector. He was on the Boards of ten large private companies. He has been Chairman of the Federal Bank, President of the Sri Chithra Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum and has chaired in an elected capacity, the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, affiliated to the Jawaharlal University, New Delhi. He is presently Distinguished Fellow of the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, Member of the Council of Management of the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru and Honorary Adviser to the Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakkal. He has spoken at several institutions like IIT, Hyderabad, Christ University, Bangalore, the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad and IIT, Bombay.
He has written and published extensively in various newspapers and magazines, including the Times of India, Indian Express, the Hindustan Times, the Economic Times, the Financial Express, the Business Standard, the Print, the Wire, the Week and others. His memoirs, “As Good as My Word”, was published by Harper Collins (India) in December last year and discussions on the book have been held at Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It has been translated into Malayalam and published by Manorama Books with the title “Parayathe Vayya."He now writes a column every two weeks for the New Indian Express/ Morning Standard and has begun editing a new book on experiences of officers with links to Kerala. He has been honoured with the award of Kerala Shree by the State Government of Kerala.