Page 10 - INAE Yearbook 2020

Dr. Sanak Mishra stood first in the State of Odisha at the High School
Certificate examination in 1961. As a Government o f India National Merit
Scholar, he obtained BSc Honours degree in Physics from Ravenshaw College,
Cuttack in 1965 and Bachelor of Engineering degree in Metallurgy in 1968
from the Indian Institute of Science, both in First Class with Distinction. He
then received MS (1970) and PhD (1973) degrees in Metallurgical Engineering
from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, while working as Research
Assistant to Prof. Paul Beck, the world-famous Metallurgist and a pioneer of
the new field of Materials Science. A part of Dr. Mishra’s doctoral thesis work
was conducted at the Massachusetts of Technology (MIT) in association with
Dr. Simon Foner. Dr. Mishra received the Alexander von Humboldt
Fellowship from Germany in 1979 and spent two years as Guest Scientist at
the Technological University in Aachen, where he collaborated with Prof. Kurt
Luecke, Director of the Institute of Physical Metallurgy.

At a young age, Dr. Mishra received international acclaim as a brilliant
scientist and academician. He is credited with the discovery of magnetic
clusters in dilute alloy systems. Separately he has also to his credit the
discovery of the texture memory effect in grain-oriented steels. He has over
100 publications in journals, has edited several books, and holds a number of
Patents. Today, an iconic figure in the Science & Technology Sector and the
Indian Metals Industry, and a charismatic leader of Corporate India, Dr. Mishra
held Executive Director/CEO/ Managing Director positions of major national
and international companies from 1996 to 2017. He was Member of the Board
o f Directors of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), and Managing
Director o f its Rourkela Steel Plant during 2002-‘05 and transformed this sick
steel plant from a level of Rupees 3 crores net loss a day to 3 crores net profit a
day. He accomplished this through the implementation o f a unique and
Visionary Mission called SAMSKAR. Between 2007 and 2013, he was Vice
President of ArcelorMittal group, the largest steel producer in the world, and
was Chief Executive Officer o f its Projects in India. He set up its Indian
subsidiary, ArcelorMittal India Limited and also established in Kolkata the
ArcelorMittal Design & Engineering Centre as a global facility.

In 2014, Dr. Mishra was hand-picked to take charge as the first Secretary
General and full-time Executive Head of the Indian Steel Association (ISA).
He built it up from scratch, anchored it, institutionsalised it, and created for it a
credible and sustainable brand as the “Voice of the Steel Industry”. Through
the data anlytics based advocacy of ISA, the Government of India took a
series of steps beginning June 2015 to ensure the sustainability of the domestic
steel sector which was plagued by large-scale imports at predatory prices. The

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