Moosa Raza is the Chairman of the South Indian Educational Trust (S.I.E.T.), which runs six educational institutions, he is also Chairman of the Executive Committee of Coastal Energen Pvt. Ltd. Raza has written a widely read book, Of Nawabs and Nightingales. He was born on 27 February 1937 in Minambur, Tamilnadu, India. He studied at local village school and at the age of eight, he went to Chennai and pursued his education there. He studied at Madrasa-e-Azam and then completed his intermediate at Government Arts College which is now called as Quaid E Millath College. He got his graduation from Madras Presidency College with Bachelors degree in Arts in English language and literature. He got first class in that and has won seven gold medals for his academic excellence in History, English, Physics and Economics. Then he pursued his Masters degree from the same university. He was a great orator at that time and won several college and inter-college competitions.

He was appointed as the assistant professor of English in the Presidency College by Vice Chancellor in 1958. He was selected in the IAS examination in the year 1960. He was posted as the Collector and District Magistrate of Banaskantha district in Gujarat state in 1964. He was asked to head the district of Bulsar for 4 years. Then as a Municipal Commissioner he undertook flood relief operations in 1968. He was appointed as the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister of Gujarat in 1975. He was appointed as the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir in 1998 during its hard time. He became the youngest IAS officer to head the National Textiles Corporation. He retired from government service in 1995 after serving as the Secretary to the Government of India both in Cabinet Secretariat and Ministry of Steel.