 Born in Bharatpur State (now in Rajasthan) where his
father, Sardar Lachhman Singh was seconded by the British
Govt. Swarn's early life was in Punjab including a 2-year
stint in a village school near Sargodha (now in Pakistan).
He then moved to Lahore;Sohan lal Teachers Training School
(English medium co-ed) followed by class 5 in Government
Central Model School. Post-Independence, Swarn studied in
Govt. High School, Ferozepur, matriculating from SSSS
Khalsa School, Amritsar. First year college was in Khalsa
College followed by second year F.Sc. in University
College, Hoshiarpur. Swarn got admission in IIT, Kharagpur
but instead opted for Mining Engineering at Indian School
of Mines and Applied Geology, Dhanbad (then Bihar) in
1954.Post B.Sc. (Hons), he went to USA in 1958 for higher
studies and work experience including a stint in Austria
in 1961. His experiences because of the turban are
mentioned in detail - refer
www.sikhglobalvillage.com
- Swarn (A Sikh) in USA in 1950s.
After his master's in engineering from the Pennsylvania
State University, USA in 1960and work experience with
Hanna Coal Company, Ohio & W. Virginia and for 10 weeks
with Montan geschaft in Austria, Swarn returned to India.
He worked with Bird & Company's, Bolani Iron Ore Mines,
Orissa for 5 months.He joined in 1962, Imperial Chemical
Industries, a British multinational, and the largest
foreign Company in India at that time. He worked for
three decades with ICI India in Mumbai and Calcutta in
Technical Services, Sales, Marketing, Purchasing,
Distribution, Exports before being appointed a
Divisional General Manager of Explosives Division and
later President and CEO of Imkemex India Ltd, the
International Trading subsidiary of ICI India. As a part
of an MBO, Swarn bought-out Imkemex in 1993, thereby
delinking from ICI.
Swarn was Chairman of Chemicals and Allied Products
Export Promotion Council, an Industry-Government body,
and Chairman of Export-Import Council of Eastern India.
Swarn visited overseas as a part of various Indian
Business Delegations and has been a Management
Consultant to European multinationals. His other
interest is Golf.
Imkemex's business is now being run from Mumbai by his
son Gurtaj. (Schooling in La Martineer, Calcutta; Mayo
College, Ajmer, Cathedral School and Sydenham College,
Bombay).
Their daughter, Dr. Maninder (Mini) did her higher
secondary from LaMartinier School, Calcutta followed by
undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr, Pa, USA. Moving to
San Francisco, she got her Doctorate in Neuroscience
from UCSF. She now lives in Austin, Tx where she is the
Founding Vice Dean at Dell Medical School.
Wife Livleen had been teaching in unique schools in
Calcutta (Ms Higgins School) and Mumbai (Bombay
International School and American School of Bombay).
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