IOI
Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter, has resigned as the company’s CEO. Parag Agarwal, who has been the micro blogging platform’s CTO since 2011, has now taken over the post. Parag joins a long line of Indian-origin IT professionals who hold top positions at global tech firms. We take a look at these 17 Indian-origin tech leaders that lead some of the world’s top IT companies.
1. Parag Agrawal, CEO, Twitter
Parag Agrawal has been appointed as Twitter’s new CEO. Prior to this, he served as Twitter’s chief technical officer from 2011. Prior to this, he worked in the research departments of Microsoft, AT&T, and Yahoo. Agrawal graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay with a bachelor’s degree in engineering.
2. Sundar Pichai, CEO, Alphabet
India-born In 2019, Sundar Pichai was chosen CEO of Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google. In August 2014, Pichai was named Google’s CEO. He has led the company’s core businesses, including Android, Chrome, Maps, and more, during the course of his 15-year tenure. Pichai earned his BTech from IIT Kharagpur, his MS from Stanford University, and his MBA from Wharton University.
3. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft
Hyderabad-born In February 2014, Satya Nadella was chosen CEO of Microsoft. He took over from Steve Ballmer. Nadella graduated from Manipal Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Nadella began his Microsoft career in 1992 as a developer for the Windows NT operating system.
4. Shantanu Narayen, CEO, Adobe
Hyderabad-born Narayen joined Adobe as a senior vice president of global product research in 1998, rising through the ranks to COO in 2005 and CEO in 2007. Shantanu worked at Apple and Silicon Graphics before joining Adobe. He graduated from Osmania University with a bachelor’s degree in science, an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree from Bowling Green State University.
5. Arvind Krishna, CEO, IBM
Arvind Krishna, an electrical engineer from IIT Kanpur, was named CEO of IBM in April of last year (2020). He has worked at IBM for for 30 years and has held a number of prominent roles inside the firm. Krishna graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur with a bachelor’s degree and went on to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his PhD.
6. Nikesh Arora, CEO, Palo Alto Networks
In 2018, Nikesh Arora became the CEO of Palo Alto Networks. He formerly held significant positions at Google and SoftBank. Arora has a bachelor’s degree from Banaras Hindu University’s Institute of Technology, an MBA from Northeastern University, and a master’s degree in science from Boston College.
7. Anjali Sud, CEO, Vimeo
Vimeo’s CEO, Anjali Sud, it is an open video platform. She has been in charge since 2017. Sud had worked for Amazon and Time Warner before joining Vimeo. She graduated from Harvard Business School with a master’s degree in business administration.
8. Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO, Micron Technology
Sanjay Mehrotra is the CEO of Micron Technology, a semiconductor solutions firm. He formerly worked for Sandisk and served on the Western Digital Board of Directors. Before co-founding SanDisk, Mehrotra worked at Integrated Device Technology and Intel. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees were earned at the University of California, Berkeley.
9. Revathi Advaithi, CEO, Flex
Revathi Advaithi is the CEO of Flex Ltd, a global electronics contract manufacturer based in Singapore. In 2019, Advaithi was chosen CEO of Flex. She formerly worked for Eaton’s electrical sector company as president and COO. She earned her bachelor’s degree in technology and science from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani and her MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management.
10. Jayashree Ullal, president and CEO, Arista Network
In 2008, Jayshree Ullal was named president and CEO of Arista Networks. She was the driving force behind Arista’s IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. Prior to joining Arista, Ullal had positions at Cisco and AMD. San Francisco State University awarded her a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, and Santa Clara University awarded her a master’s degree in engineering management.
11. George Kurian, CEO and president, NetApp
In 2015, George Kurian was named CEO and President of NetApp, a storage and data management firm. Kurian previously worked at Cisco Systems, Akamai Technologies, and McKinsey & Company before joining NetApp. He was born in Kerala’s Kottayam district and studied engineering at IIT-Madras before leaving six months later to enrol at Princeton University. George earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University.
12. Aneel Bhusri, co-founder and CEO, Workday
In 2005, Aneel Bhusri and Dave Duffield, the creator of PeopleSoft, co-founded Workday. Bhusri had worked at PeopleSoft before creating Workday. Aneel graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree and went on to Stanford University for his MBA.
13. Samir Kapuria, president, NortonLifeLock
NortonLifeLock’s president is Samir Kapuria. He joined Symantec in 2004 and was the company’s head of Cyber Security Services, which included the company’s worldwide security operations centres. Kapuria graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a bachelor’s degree in finance.
14. Aman Bhutani, CEO, GoDaddy
In 2019, Aman Bhutani became the CEO of GoDaddy. Prior to this, he worked at Expedia as the chief technology officer and SVP of international engineering. Bhutani graduated from Delhi University with a bachelor’s degree and Lancaster University with an MBA.
15. Anirudh Devgan, president, Cadence Design
In 2018, Anirudh Devgan was named president of Cadence Design. He’s also worked at IBM and Magma Design Automation. Devgan earned his bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, followed by master’s and doctoral degrees from Carnegie Mellon University.
16. Siva Sivaram, president, Western Digital
Western Digital’s president is Siva Sivaram. Prior to joining Western Digital, he worked at Intel, Matrix Semiconductors, and Sandisk in senior capacities. From 2008 until 2012, he was the founder and CEO of Twin Peaks Technologies. Sivaram graduated from Triuchi’s National Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute awarded him his master’s and doctoral degrees.
17. Raghu Raghuram, CEO, VMware
Raghuram has held a number of senior positions at VMware throughout his time there. In 2003, while VMware was only a 5-year-old startup, he joined as director of product management. In 2005, he was promoted to vice president of datacenter and desktop platform products, and in 2010, he was promoted to general manager of VMware’s cloud infrastructure and management division. Raghuram formerly worked at AOL, Bang Networks, and Netscape in product management and marketing roles. has a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.
The fact that India is emerging as a world leader in technology is not a surprise by any means. The country is home to many of the brightest and most skilled minds in technology. India is also home to the world’s second largest population. This number, along with the fact that India has the world’s largest English speaking population, makes it a perfect place to develop and run an international tech company. It was a pleasure to present this article to you. We hope you enjoyed it. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about the information presented in this blog.
