BOSTON — Former Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria will serve as Special Guest of Honor at the 9th Annual New England Choice Awards (NECA) Gala, to be held on November 1, 2025, at the Burlington Marriott Hotel in Burlington, Massachusetts.
Organized by INE MultiMedia, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, in collaboration with INDIA New England News, the annual gala celebrates outstanding contributions by entrepreneurs, academics, artists, and community leaders across New England.
This year’s event will host approximately 400 attendees from business, academia, healthcare, and the arts for an evening of recognition and inspiration.
At the 2025 gala, former PepsiCo CEO and Chair Indra Nooyi will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
A past recipient of NECA’s 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award, Mr. Nohria will present this year’s awards, recognizing excellence in various categories and fields. The 2025 honorees include:
- Sanjay Sarma (MIT) – Academia & Innovation Award
- Shadaj (Rajesh Godbole) – Art & Culture Visionary Award
- Naveen Pawar, Co-founder, Mighty Squirrel – Business Luminary Award
- Dr. Anil Chandraker, MD – Healthcare Trailblazer Award
- Dr. Gopala Dwarakanath, MD – Legacy in Community Service Award
- New England Malayalee Association (NEMA) – Non-Profit Organization of the Year.
The event will also debut a new category — the Legal & Justice Champion Award, which will be presented to Judge Neil Sherring. Leader Bank Founder and CEO Sushil Tuli will introduce and present the new award.
Mr. Nohria is the George F. Baker Jr. and Distinguished Service University Professor at Harvard Business School, where he served as the school’s 10th Dean from 2010 to 2020. During his tenure, he led transformative initiatives to strengthen the school’s focus on innovation, intellectual ambition, internationalization, inclusion, and integration with other schools at Harvard and advance its mission to educate leaders who make a difference in the world.
Currently, Mr. Nohria is Chairman at Thrive Capital, a leading venture capital firm investing in transformative technology companies. He also serves on the boards of ABI, Alsym, Bridgespan, Exor, Mass General Brigham, and Rakuten Medical, and is a senior advisor to Piramal Enterprises and Tata Sons.
An accomplished scholar, Mr. Nohria is the co-author of 16 books and over 200 scholarly articles and business cases, focusing on leadership and corporate performance. He earned his Ph.D. in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay.
The New England Choice Awards Gala continues to serve as one of the region’s most prominent celebrations of excellence and leadership, highlighting individuals and organizations shaping New England’s diverse and dynamic community.
