Naveen Jindal, MBA’92, returned to The University of Texas at Dallas campus for the first time since 2011, when the Naveen Jindal School of Management was named in his honor. His most recent visit, in March, was to attend the UT Dallas annual Awards Gala, at which Jindal was presented with the University’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In attendance were his wife, Shallu, and their two children.

Jindal is one of UT Dallas’ most accomplished alumni, noted as a global leader in industry, a statesman in his home country of India, an advocate for human rights and a record-holding sportsman.

Accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award, Jindal recalled his time at UT Dallas and the many ways in which the University shaped his life’s accomplishments.

“It is an incredible privilege to be recognized by the institution that played such an important role in my life,” Jindal said at the Awards Gala. “I came to Dallas full of dreams and aspirations, and I saw and learned so much here. The seeds for many of the achievements for which I am being recognized were planted here during my days as a student.”

“It is an incredible privilege to be recognized by the institution that played such an important role in my life.” – Naveen Jindal, MBA’92

While a student at UT Dallas, Jindal discovered a passion for politics that launched his career in public service. Jindal served as vice president and president of UT Dallas’ Student Government. He spoke about his experience seeing Americans display their country’s flag and how proud he was to acquire and display an Indian flag given to him by his friend, Randy Miley, who had found and bought it in a downtown Dallas flag store. His inability to continue this practice after returning to India galvanized his political aspirations.

He served two terms in the Indian parliament, representing his home district of Kurukshetra in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s bicameral Parliament. Among his political achievements was the passage of the Food Security Act, which subsidized food distribution for almost two-thirds of the Indian population, and prevailing in a Supreme Court decision — Union of India v. Naveen Jindal and Another — which granted Indian citizens the right to display their flag every day of the year.

“We won the right for 1.4 billion Indians to display their national flag, and I owe my inspiration to all of you at UTD,” he said.

“There is no one more deserving of this Lifetime Achievement Award than Naveen,” said Dr. Kyle Edgington, PhD’13, vice president for development and alumni relations. “As a generous and remarkably talented alumnus, his story should inspire all of us at UT Dallas to strive for excellence.”

After graduating in 1992, Jindal returned to India to take on a leadership role with the O.P. Jindal Group, a multibillion-dollar family conglomerate operating businesses in the mining, power and steel manufacturing sectors. Today, Jindal is chairman of Jindal Steel & Power. He is also the founder and chancellor of the O.P. Jindal Global University, ranked as the No. 1 private university in India.

Jindal became one of UT Dallas’ premier benefactors in 2011, when he made a significant pledge to the School of Management, where he had earned his MBA. The gift created endowed faculty positions, scholarships, fellowships and the Naveen Jindal Institute for Indo-American Business Studies. At the time, Jindal’s gift was the largest ever made by a UT Dallas alumnus. The Naveen Jindal School of Management now bears his name in recognition of his impact.

At the Awards Gala, Jindal said receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award renewed his commitment to make a difference in the world. “For me, this award is not just a recognition of my past accomplishments, but a call to action for the future,” Jindal said. “There is still so much work to be done, and I believe that we all have a responsibility to use our talents and resources to make the world a better place.”

“There is no one more deserving of this Lifetime Achievement Award than Naveen.”– Dr. Kyle Edgington, PhD’13

Aziz Sancar, PhD’77, UT Dallas’ inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award winner and the University’s only Nobel Prize-winning alumnus, presented Jindal with his award.

The evening began with a performance by Indian-American YouTube star Vidya Vox, who welcomed guests with a bilingual set of original songs combining traditional Indian folk music with modern pop arrangements. Nate Mills, an information technology and systems senior at the Jindal School, also performed solo cello during the event.