Umesh Mehta, Global CIO at Jubilant Life Sciences and the President of CIO Klub has had an extraordinary career. From being an average student to becoming one of the most sought after technology leaders in the country, his journey has been only of dreams and chasing them till they turn into reality.
Born and brought up in Delhi, Umesh Mehta completed his schooling in 1984. He is a Delhi University graduate and has majored in computer science. He was part of the first-ever batch of computer science students who graduated from Delhi University.
Mehta remembers “In the first year of our college we did not have a computer lab and I joined a private institute to get exposure to working on computers.
In my career of 30+ years, I am fortunate to see three major technology interventions which changed the world, are the introduction of Personal Computers, Networks and the Internet.
Mehta did his Post Graduation from XLRI Jamshedpur and ranked 3rd in the batch of 2005 -2007.
Umesh Mehta’s father was an entrepreneur. Mehta wanted to join his father’s advertising firm but his father had guessed that computer science is the future and suggested that he should take up computer science as his career.
“I already wanted to join my father’s business, but then my father said computer science is the future and suggested that I should take up computer science. That’s how I picked up this line.”
Mehta’s first-ever job was at International System Services a data processing company, where he worked as a programmer from 1987 to 1989. He used to write programs in Fortran and Cobol on Main Frame and Mini Computers for processing of a large amount of Data for various Boards like CBSE, All India Senior Secondary Board, AIIMS Medical entrance & lottery companies etc.
Dream big and be people-oriented
“Best leadership lesson I learnt from my mentors would be to dream big, be humble, be honest, be a long time thinker and be people-oriented and most importantly be passionate about what you do,” Mehta said.
Mehta used to read magazines and fancied being on the cover pages like IT industry leaders. That is what kept him going.
“When I joined computer sciences, I knew nothing about it, and nobody in my family was familiar with computers. I used to read a lot of magazines and I used to see pictures and cover photos of IT leaders of those times and I used to think that someday I should also be on the front page of these magazines and I should be a CIO someday.”
Mehta says that he was not a brilliant student. But, he had a dream that was to be the head of Information and Technology in a large company one day. From that dream to now he is a global CIO of a large global conglomerate, and he is also heading the CIO Association, which is India’s largest association of CIOs. He is the President of CIO Klub which has 1400+ CIO members across 10 chapters PAN India and recently they have also expanded their association internationally in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Mehta says “When I started working, I wanted to be CIO of a large company and today I am not only global CIO of a large conglomerate but I am also leading an association of CIOs and representing 1400+ CIOs across the country, which is a big achievement for me.”
Be a constant learner
Mehta says change is the only constant and one should adapt to changes and stay positive. He thinks that challenges are a great opportunity to learn. Like for example, the recent pandemic has been a big challenge but generated new opportunities to turn around businesses using digital technologies.
He says “Challenges will always be there but we should take these challenges as an opportunity to learn, grow and move forward.”
Umesh Mehta is a constant learner and he is passionate about technology. He thinks we all should keep learning and moving forward.
He also believes that gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. Count your blessing, be grateful and stay positive.
Sky is the limit
Mehta thinks it is important to dream big. Everyone needs to have a goal in life. Everyone should dream and most importantly DREAM BIG.
Mehta states that “despite being a mediocre student, I managed to achieve my goal. Having a dream, working passionately and learning from every possible opportunity will surely make one successful.”
