15 Facts About Salil Shetty

Salil Shetty is affiliated to Harvard University's Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute since 2018.

Salil Shetty did his schooling from St Joseph's Indian High School, Bangalore.

Salil Shetty received a BCom in Advanced Accounting from St Joseph's College of Commerce in 1981, an MBA in 1983 from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and an MSc in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics in 1991 with distinction.

In 1983, Salil Shetty was hired from IIM-A by Azim Premji and began working for the Indian IT company Wipro.

Salil Shetty was the first person from the global south to be appointed as the Chief Executive of ActionAid, 1998- 2003.

Salil Shetty is credited with not just transforming ActionAid into a Southern-led International organisation, moving its global headquarters from London to Johannesburg in South Africa, but set off an important new trend in global development organisations to become more participatory and bottom up in their approach.

The move initiated by Salil Shetty enabled ActionAid to work towards giving all its different country programmes a more equal say in how the organisation works.

Salil Shetty was appointed as Secretary General of the human rights organization Amnesty International from July 2010.

Salil Shetty represented Amnesty International at major meetings at the UN, the World Economic Forum and led the organisation's show of solidarity in Oslo for the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo calling on the Chinese authorities to improve their human rights record.

Salil Shetty was instrumental in establishing the Secretary General's Global Council, which was established to help raise public support and financial resources to fuel Amnesty International's expansion in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Salil Shetty invited Sir Richard Branson to co-Chair the Council which had leading human rights supporters from the world of art, business and philanthropy including Paulo Coelho, Yoko Ono, Tony Fernandes, Hadeel Ibrahim, Bassim Haidar and Krishna Rao.

Salil Shetty was the Vice President of Global Programs for a short period of two years from September 2021 to August 2023.

On 2 February 2012, Salil Shetty received an honorary degree from University Catholic of Louvain on behalf of Amnesty International.

In 2014, Salil Shetty given the 'Public Servant of the Year' award by the prestigious Asian Awards in London.

In June 2018, Salil Shetty was awarded the Stardust Achievers Award for Excellence in Humanitarian Service.