Ratan Tata successor - Cyrus Pallonji Mistry is unanimous choice

The wait is finally over. Cyrus Pallonji Mistry is all set to succeed Ratan Tata at the top job in Tata Sons. The selection committee has unanimously recommended Mistry's name. Cyrus Mistry was a director of Tata Sons and Tata Elxsi (India) and graduated from the Imperial College, London with a BE in civil engineering. He also holds a masters degree in management from the London Business School, and is a fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Cyrus Mistry, 43, was named deputy chairman of Tata Sons yesterday and will succeed Ratan Tata when he retires in December 2012. Cyrus Mistry's father Pallonji Mistry is the biggest shareholder in Tata Sons with a stake of 18%. Pallonji Mistry has been a director of Tata Sons since 2006. Forbes & Co. is part of the multi-billion dollar Shapoorji Pallonji Group. Cyrus Mistry’s elder brother Shapoor Mistry is Chairman of Forbes & Co. Pallonji Mistry's daughter and Cyrus Mistry's sister is married to Ratan Tata's half-brother Noel Tata, who was also in contention for Tata group Chairman's post. In August 2010, the Tata group named a five-person panel, which included Cyrus Mistry himself, to look for a successor to Ratan Tata. The panel met 18 times, and when Cyrus Mistry became a candidate for the top position in the Tata group conglomerate, he excluded himself from deliberations. Cyrus Mistry will be the sixth chairman of the 143-year-old group, and just the second non-Tata chief. The Tata group was founded as a textile business in 1868 by Ratan Tata's great-grandfather, Jamsetji Tata. Tata Sons holds the bulk of shares in key companies, and trusts endowed by the Tata family own 66% of Tata Sons.