Dr. Mahendra Sharma is Pro Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor (Chief Executive and Academic Officer) of the University. He is serving a second term as Vice Chancellor after successfully leading the University under the first term of 5 years. He was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academics)-Ganpat University during 2009 to 2014. He is also Executive Dean-Faculty of Management Studies and Faculty of Skill Development.

Dr.Mahendra Sharma is a Professor with the Faculty of Management Studies. He is a Ph.D in Consumer Behaviour area. Dr. Sharma possesses rich experience in the areas of Strategic Management, Rural Marketing, Sales & Distribution Management, Services Marketing, Retail Management and Consumer Behaviour. Under his leadership the Faculty of Management Studies started annual International Conference on Emerging Practices in Management; Teacher Training Workshop for Case-Writing and Research Methodology; Students activities like National events viz., Pratibha (National Summer Project Contest), Protsahan (National Management Games Event), and National level Symposiums on various Management Themes. He is Editor-in-Chief of bi-annual refereed Management Journal ‘GFJMR’ of the Department and ‘University Journal of Research’ (UJR) and is Member of Editorial Advisory Board of several Journals.

He is known for his contribution for the launch of industry focused MBA programs in the areas of Pharmaceuticals Management, Agribusiness Management, Retail Management, International Business and Media and Entertainment in 2006. It was his pioneering initiative to start a 5-year integrated MBA program in 2007 and offering functional and sectoral specialization within MBA curriculum.

Dr. Sharma established the M.Phil and Ph.D program in Management as founding Chairman. He established the Centre of Management Studies, Centre for International Alliances, Department of Social Work, Centre for Advanced Research Studies, Faculty of Skills Development, and Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University under his active leadership.

Dr. Sharma has played a vital role in the evolution of the University and its various activities. He has been credited with visionary efforts on following initiatives:

1. Evolved industry tied Models and offering industry focused programs. He played a vital role in tying with IBM, Oracle, SAP, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, NSE, Bosch Rexroth, Microfocus, NASSCOM and several organizations. In particular, programs like Post Graduate Diploma in ERP Systems with triangular arrangement with SAP, Victoria University and Ganpat University is a very unique program. B. Tech in Cloud Computing, Big Data and Mobile Applications and M.Tech in VLSI are few more initiatives.
2. Establishment of first Japan India Institute of Manufacturing (with Maruti Suzuki) as a part of collaboration between Governments of India and Japan with the first Automobile Assembly Line in a University set-up.
3. Establishment of Centre of Excellences with Bosch Rexroth and Bosch Foundation for Pneumatics, Hydraulics, Mechatronics and Electrical engineering.
4. Establishment of full Ship-in-Campus for BTech Marine Engineering and BSc Nautical Sciences.
5. He guided the implementation of ‘Choice Based Credit Semester System’, ‘Ph.D Guideline’, and ‘Examination reforms’.
6. Under his dynamic and able leadership as Chairperson of Centre for International Alliances, the University has entered into agreements with Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia; California Polytechnic University (Pomona), USA; Lincoln University, USA; ECA, Australia; and several other universities.

Till date Twenty Two (22) M.Phil. Dissertations and Thirteen (13) Ph.D. degrees has been successfully completed under his guidance. He has received Best Research Paper Award during AIMS Western Region Conference in 2005 and Best Case-Study Award during GCeMP Conference in 2013.

He is recipient of ‘Best Alumnus Award’ by Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore, listed among ‘100 Most Influential Vice Chancellor’ by World Education Congress, ‘Edupreneur of the Year Award’ by Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) in 2015, ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Education’ by World Education Congress and Private Universities Forum 2014 and several awards in Research by leading organizations.

He was Nodal Officer with Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GCET 2006, 2007 and 2008) for MBA admissions in the State. Dr. Sharma is Advisor and Member of Advisory Boards of several Institutes’ in the country. He was Chairperson for AIMS Gujarat Chapter from 2011-2018.