ALUMNI ACCOLADE – Ashok (Ash) Abhyankar

IIT Bombay Distinguished Alumnus, Mr. Ashok Abhyankar (B.Tech., Electrical Engineering, 1965), was recently conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award 2025 by IIT Alumni Canada in recognition of his outstanding professional accomplishments and decades of service to the community. His inspiring story traces his remarkable journey spanning six decades of innovation, leadership, and philanthropy.

All of us at IIT Bombay extend our warmest congratulations to him on this well-deserved honour.

After receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from IIT Alumni Canada, Mr. Abhyankar said:

 

Here’s a closer look at the achievements and milestones that define Mr. Abhyankar’s exceptional career:

As the first person from any IIT to come to Canada, Mr. Abhayankar was a true trailblazer. After his B.Tech. from IITB and then a master’s degree in Chemical Control Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan, he participated in IBM’s Executive Management program at Harvard University. Mr. Abhayankar and Gail, his wife of 52 years, have 2 children and 3 grandchildren.

Mr. Abhayankar began his career as an electrical engineer in 1965. Later, he worked on projects such as the development of a real-time Advanced Control System at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Centre, using 2 Apollo project software modules, for automation of continuous processes at Exxon, Rio Tinto, Weyerhaeuser, etc. That system was implemented in over 120 global operations, interfacing with Honeywell, Foxboro (now Schneider Electric), ABB, and Eaton instrumentation. Sixteen of them are still in operation 50 years later!

 

ABOVE: Mr. Abhyankar (IITB) and Bibhu (IITKGP) joyously cut the cake to commemorate 75 years of the IIT system.

Over his 60+ year career, Mr. Abhayankar spent half of it at IBM, retiring in 1993 before leading as CEO at British Columbia’s AirCare, a first public-private partnership in North America. He then held several senior leadership roles at AT&T, Fujitsu, and other mid-size organizations. During the past 25 years of his responsibilities at Conexiom, he has applied his expertise to sales, marketing, business development, finance, HR, and in cultivating global alliances and partnerships. He also supported large global manufacturing and distribution companies in their focus on lean business process improvements, digital transformation initiatives via the use of AI, ML, and IoT technologies, increasing corporate social responsibility, and in clean energy & EV infrastructure planning.

Mr. Abhayankar was honoured and humbled to have been recognized recently with two Lifetime Achievement Awards:

 

And by the Drishti group for his Community Service in Canada:

 

Mr. Abhayankar says that he is especially proud of NAED’s recognition since it was a FIRST on 3 counts:

  • It was the first-ever recognition given to the association’s service provider since awards in its 30+ year history were given to CEOs of distributors or manufacturers,
  • First ever Canadian to be recognized and,
  • First ever awarded to a leader with ethnic origin (i.e., non-white).

 

In 2002, Mr. Abhayankar founded the IIT Alumni group in British Columbia with 8 IITans. And under his leadership, the IIT Alumni BC association is now very active and has grown to have 300+ members.  Also, Mr. Abhayankar has spent a significant amount of his volunteering time over the past 12 months for his IITB alma mater:

  • Helping get a Donnée status from CRA
  • Securing donations from his class’s Alumni associates for naming a wing in the new hostel, as part of their Legacy Project, in support of IITB Project Evergreen’s INR 200 Crore infrastructure initiative.
  • In a Co-Leadership role, Mr. Abhayankar organized 5 Diamond Jubilee Reunions in 2025: Pune, Powai, and Goa in February, Los Angeles in September, and Albuquerque/Santa Fe in October.

 

IITB recognized him this summer via: https://www.iitbombay.org/page/volunteer-of-the-month-ash-abhyankar

Mr. Abhayankar, in the 83rd year of his life’s journey, is so not “tired” and is so not ready to be “REtired” yet. Currently, he continues to serve as part-time Management Consultant to Conexiom and keeps very busy contributing to communities across the globe, volunteering at least 30 hours per week to his alma maters IITB, and the IIT BC, several Hospital Foundations, Dementia & Alzheimer’s Associations, Cancer Research, IC-Impacts, Kelty Foundation for Mental Health in Youth, Catalyste+, and serves on a few not-for-profit Boards.

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Mr. Abhayankar looks forward to remaining healthy and continuing to learn from mentoring future leaders towards their contributions, success, and personal growth.