Meet 6 Indian-origin CEOs who dazzled in the global tech landscape

1. Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google: In 2015, a Chennai-born product chief at Global did the nation proud when he was appointed as the CEO of the software behemoth. An alumnus of IIT Chennai, Pichai holds an MS from the prestigious Stanford University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. 

He joined Google in 2004, and was at the time leading the product management and innovation of Google Chrome and Google Drive.

2. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft: In February 2014, Satya Narayana Nadella took over the helm of the biggest enterprise tech company, Microsoft, from Steve Ballmer.

Prior to being appointed as the CEO, Nadella was the EVP of Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise business. A Manipal alumnus, Nadella completed an MS in computer science from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

He started his career with Sun Microsystems before joining Microsoft in 1992.

3. Rajeev Suri, President & CEO, Nokia Corporation: A Singaporean citizen of Indian descent, Rajeev Suri took over the top spot in 2014 after Microsoft Mobile acquired Nokia’s phone business.

Suri has been the prime mover behind Nokia’s transformation – from overseeing the acquisition of Alcatel Lucent, to its successful foray into enterprise markets. In a tech leadership career spanning close to three decades, Suri has been a prominent industry voice in topics like the fourth industrial revolution, IoT, 5G, AI, and cloud computing.

4. Sanjay Mehrotra, President & CEO, Micron Technology and co-founder of SanDisk: Sanjay Mehrotra co-founded SanDisk in 1988 and was its President and CEO from 2011 to 2016. 

With three decades of experience in the semiconductor storage industry, Mehrotra has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry apart from SanDisk – like Micron, Integrated Device Technology, SEEQ Technology, Intel, and Atmel Corporation, during the course of which he also accrued 70 patents. Mehrotra replaced Mark Durcan as CEO of Micron on May 8, 2017.

5. Shantanu Narayen, Chairman, President & CEO, Adobe: One of the longest serving CEOs from the pick, Shantanu Narayen has been at the helm of Adobe since 2005.

An electronics and communication engineering graduate from Osmania University, Narayen earned an MS in computer science from Ohio and an MBA from the University of California, Berkley. 

He started his career at Apple, following which he joined Silicon Graphics, and later co-founded Pictra Inc. In 2011, Narayen was appointed by Barack Obama as a member of his management advisory board.

6. Francisco D’Souza, CEO, Cognizant: Among the youngest CEOs in the software services sector, D’Souza is Cognizant’s CEO and a member of the company’s board of directors.

D’Souza joined Cognizant as a co-founder in 1994 and went on to become its CEO in the year 2007. During his tenure as CEO, Cognizant’s employee base has grown from 55,000 to over 230,000.