Ajit Jain

Ajit (born 1951 in Orissa, India) is an Indian born employee of Berkshire Hathaway who currently heads several reinsurance businesses. He was raised in India's coastal state of Orissa. He is a strict vegetarian because of his religion, Jainism. Ajit Jain is an older cousin of Anshu Jain, who was the Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank.

Education

In 1972, he graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.

Career

From 1973 to 1976, Jain worked for IBM as a salesman for their data-processing operations in India. He was named "Rookie of the Year" in his region in 1973. He lost his job in 1976 when IBM discontinued their operation in India because they declined to allow any Indian ownership of the company, as was then required by law.

In 1978, he moved to the United States, where he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and joined McKinsey & Co.. He returned to India in the early 1980s and married. They then moved back to the United States, as his wife preferred to live there.