From Sundar Pichai To Parag Agrawal, A Look At Indian-Origin CEOs Heading Global Tech Companies

NEW DELHI: Parag Agrawal, the new CEO of Twitter, joins the elite list of Indian-origin CEOs heading technology firms in the US and countries across the word.

Twitter on Monday appointed Parag Agrawal as its CEO succeeding Jack Dorsey, who resigned from Twitter for the second time after having co-founded it in 2006.

Agrawal, an IIT Bombay graduate, takes up one of the most challenging roles in the social media space that is under immense pressure from various political forces around the world to control the discourse and disinformation and also from investors who were reportedly dissatisfied Dorsey’s approach in not being able to create monetisable products.

Agrawal, the youngest CEO in the S&P 500, expressed his gratitude towards his senior and predecessor Jack Dorsey for his mentorship and friendship.

Soon after his appointment, Agrawal wrote a letter to all Twitter employees:

Our purpose has never been more important. Our people and culture are unlike anything in the world. There is no limit to what we can do together. We recently updated out strategy to hit ambitious goals, and I believe that strategy to be bold and right. But out critical challenge is how we work to execute against it and deliver results – that’s how we’ll make Twitter the best it can be for our customers, shareholders, and for each one of you. I want you to #LoveWhereYouWork and also love how we work together for the greatest possible impact

From Satya Nadella who heads Microsoft to Arvind Krishna at the helm at IBM, to Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, we look at Indians who hold the top post at global tech companies.

1. Parag Agrawal – Twitter

The 37-year-old is an alumnus of IIT Mumbai and Stanford University. He was the CTO before he was appointed the CEO.  He joined Twitter in 2011as an ads engineer. Prior to joining Twitter, he did research internships at AT&T, Microsoft and Yahoo.

2. Satya Nadella – Microsoft

Hyderabad-born Satya Nadella replaces Steve Ballmer as CEO of Microsoft in 2014. In 2021, he was appointed the chairman of the company. Nadella lives in Bellevue, Washington. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Mangalore University, 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.

3. Sundar Pichai – Alphabet

49-year-old Sundar Pichai was appointed as the CEO of Google in 2015 after joining the company in 2004. Pichai was born and did his schooling in Chennai, India. He studied Metallurgical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur).

4. Shantanu Narayen – Adobe

Shantanu Narayen took up the CEO’s post from being the Chief Operating Officer of Adobe in 2007. Narayen hails from Hyderabad and joined Adobe in 1998. Shantanu holds five patents. He has a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University, 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 at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

5. Arvind Krishna – IBM

IITian Arvind Krishna was appointed the CEO of IBM in April 2020. He has spent over 30 years at the tech company. He has an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and a PhD. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

6. Sanjay Mehrotra – Micron Technology

Sanjay Mehrotra is the co-founder of SanDisk and is the president and CEO. Mehrotra earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley and is a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program (SEP).

7. George Kurien – NetApp

George Kurian is chief executive officer at NetApp and a member of the Board of Directors. George joined the company in 2011. He was named CEO in June 2015. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from Stanford University.

8. Nikesh Arora – Palo Alto Networks

Alumnus of Banaras Hindu University, Nikesh Arora was named CEO of Palo Alto Networks in 2018 after having worked at Google and SoftBank.

9. Anjali Sud – Vimeo

Anjali Sud became the CEO of Vimeo in 2017 three years after joining the company. She holds degrees from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School.

10. Raghu Raghuram – VMware

Raghu Raghuram joined VMware in 2003 and currently serves as the company’s CEO. Prior to VMware, Raghuram held product management and marketing roles at AOL, Bang Networks and Netscape. Raghuram holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

11. Jayshree Ullal – Arista Networks

Jayshree Ullal has been the CEO of Arista Networks since 2008. Prior to that, she worked with AMD and Cisco. She holds a Bachelor’s degree at San Francisco State University and Master’s from Santa Clara University.

12. Revathi Advaithi – Flex

Revathi Advaithi is an alumunus of BITS Pilani and was appointed the CEO of Flex, an American multinational electronics manufacturer, in the year 2019. She holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.