When Jack Dorsey announced his decision to step down as CEO of Twitter, a succession plan was already in effect. The Twitter board chose Parag Agrawal, the social media giant’s former Chief Technical Officer, to succeed Dorsey. Agrawal, 37, is one of the youngest CEOs of a global corporation. Agrawal’s rapid rise has highlighted the presence of Indians and Indian-origin executives who have risen to prominence in major software organizations. So, who else has studied or grown up in India and now leads large technological companies? There are a lot of them.
In a tweet on Monday, Irish billionaire businessman Patrick Collison highlighted the success of Indians in the IT sector, and Elon Musk, one of the brightest minds to invent and run businesses such as SpaceX and Tesla, agreed.
After naming firms owned by Indians, Collison wrote, “It is wonderful to watch the amazing success of Indians in the technology world and a good reminder of the opportunities America offers to immigrants.” Musk answered by adding that the United States benefits enormously from Indian talent.
Here are a few more Indian-born CEOs of significant technological companies.
1) Google’s Sundar Pichai
Pichai is the CEO of Alphabet, Google’s parent organization. After Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin resigned from their senior posts in December 2019, he was appointed CEO of Alphabet. Pichai was born in Tamil Nadu and raised in Chennai before attending the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur. Under Pichai’s leadership, Google has prioritized the development of AI-powered goods and services.
2) Microsoft’s Satya Nadella
Microsoft’s Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer is Satya Nadella. He graduated from Mangalore University with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. He is an enthusiastic reader of Indian poetry and a cricket lover.
3) Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen
He is the president, chairman, and CEO of Adobe, one of the world’s largest technology companies. Narayen, a Padma Shri recipient, is also the vice-chairman of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum. He graduated from Osmania University in Hyderabad with a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering, a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University, and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
4) IBM’s Arvind Krishna
He is IBM’s Chairman and CEO. Arvind received his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his undergraduate degree at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Both colleges have bestowed major alumni honors on him.
5) Palo Alto Networks’ Nikesh Arora
In June 2018, Arora was appointed chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks. Prior to that, he was president and CEO of SoftBank Group. He received his B.Tech. in electrical engineering from the Institute of Technology at Banaras Hindu University in India. He also has a master’s degree in business administration from Northeastern University and a master’s degree in finance from Boston College.
