Kundapur Vaman Kamath is the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of ICICI Bank Limited, India's second largest bank. Kamath has a degree in mechanical engineering as well as one in management studies from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He started his career in 1971 at ICICI, an Indian financial institution that founded ICICI Bank and merged with it in 2002. In 1988, he moved to the Asian Development Bank and spent several years in South-east Asia before returning to ICICI as its Managing Director and CEO in 1996. Under his leadership, the ICICI Group transformed itself into a diversified, technology-driven financial services group that has leadership positions across banking, insurance and asset management in India, and an international presence. He retired as Managing Director and CEO in April 2009, and took up his present position. Kamath was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian honors, in 2008. He was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards 2008; was named 'Businessman of the Year' by Forbes Asia and The Economic Times ‘Business Leader of the Year' in 2007; Business Standard's 'Banker of the Year' and CNBC-TV18's 'Outstanding Business Leader of the Year’ in 2006; Business India's 'Businessman of the Year' in 2005; and CNBC's 'Asian Business Leader of the Year' in 2001. He has been given an honorary Ph.D. by the Banaras Hindu University. Kamath was the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry for the year 2008-09.