There are academic careers and there are institution-building careers․ Soumitra Dutta is someone who has had both․ This is rare․ After completing a B․Tech in electrical engineering and computer science from IIT Delhi in 1985‚ Dutta went to the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed his master’s in computer science, master’s in business administration and PhD in computer science (with a major in AI)․ Even before he had completed his PhD‚ he had gotten a job with General Electric in the US‚ and then with Schlumberger in Japan․
He forayed into academia with INSEAD in France in 1989; his initial position was that of an assistant professor in information systems․ Over the next twenty-three years‚ he would work as dean of technology and e-learning‚ dean of executive education and dean of external relations at various points․
Soumitra Dutta co-founded Fisheye Analytics‚ a social media analytics firm‚ in 2008; WPP Group acquired the company five years later․
He joined Cornell University in 2012 as dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. Later, he was assigned the task of combining three independent business schools‚ each proud and distinct‚ into one․ This led to the creation of the SC Johnson College of Business after a $150 million gift, with Soumitra Dutta as its founding dean․
Oxford followed in 2022‚ when Dutta became the Peter Moores Dean of the Saïd Business School and Fellow of Balliol College․ He leveraged his work on the Global Innovation Index and the Network Readiness Index to help the institution engage with policymakers, innovation ecosystems and multilateral organizations․
Since leaving his post at Oxford‚ Dutta has had various engagements. Soumitra Dutta is now the Executive Director of Academic Initiatives at the SRM Group of Institutions in India‚ where he is applying decades of institution-building experience to a new‚ rapidly scaling context․ He is also a visiting professor there. He continues as President of the Portulans Institute‚ Washington DC‚ a think tank.
In April 2026‚ he co-founded Nexi Media‚ a research and intelligence firm built solidly on an AI-native foundation. The platform mitigates data hallucinations in high-stakes environments.