Recently, Donald Trump ordered to cancel the H-1B visa but he’s forgetting that Silicon Valley is filled with brilliant Indian minds including many Indian CEOs. Many companies have Indian CEOs who have applied their brilliant Indian mind to make the company achieve innumerable things. When it comes to doing business, Indians know how to lead the field.
Let’s have a look at the Indian CEOs of various multinational companies:
16 Indian CEOs of Multinational Companies
Sundar Pichai- CEO of Google LLC and Alphabet Inc.
An IIT Kharagpur alumnus, Pichai Sundararajan aka Sundar Pichai is the chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google LLC. He recently agreed to fund Rs. 75,000 crores to help accelerate India’s digital economy. He’s a metallurgical engineer born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. He initially joined Google as a management executive.
Arvind Krishna- CEO of IBM Group
An IIT Kanpur alumnus, Arvind Krishna is the chief executive officer of IBM. He started off as an engineer in the IBM Research and was later promoted as the senior vice president in 2015. He completed his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Born in Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, Arvind Krishna is a son of an army officer. In 2018, he led IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat for $34 billion, which is the largest software company acquisition in history.
Satya Nadella- CEO of Microsoft
A Manipal Institute of Technology alumnus, Satya Narayan Nadella is the chief executive officer of Microsoft. He joined Microsoft in 1992 and was the executive vice president of Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise group which was responsible for building and running the company’s computing platforms. Nadella has done his post-graduation in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He later received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1996.
Shantanu Narayen- CEO of Adobe Inc.
An Osmania University alumnus, Shantanu Narayen is the chief executive officer of Adobe Inc. Narayen joined Adobe in 1998 as a senior vice president of worldwide product research. Later, he was promoted to the executive vice president of worldwide products. He has an executive MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Ajaypal Singh Banga- CEO of Mastercard
An alumnus of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, Ajaypal Singh Banga is the chief executive officer of Mastercard. Before joining Mastercard, Banga has worked with Nestle and PepsiCo. He has a PGP in Management from IIM Ahmedabad.
Indra Nooyi- CEO of PepsiCo
An alumnus of Madras Christian College of the University of Madras, Indra Nooyi is the chief executive officer of PepsiCo. Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994. She has a PGP diploma from IIM Calcutta and a master’s degree in Public and Private Management from Yale School of Management. Before working for PepsiCo, Nooyi has worked with Johnson & Johnson and Motorola. Prior to becoming CEO, Nooyi served as President and Chief Financial Officer.
Jayshree Ullal- CEO of Arista Networks
Jayshree Ullal is the chief executive officer of Arista Networks. Ullal was born in London and raised in New Delhi through her schooling years. Before working with Arista Networks, Ullal has worked with Cisco.
Rajeev Suri- CEO of Nokia
A Manipal Institute of Technology alumnus, Rajeev Suri is the chief executive officer of Nokia. Suri joined Nokia in 1995.
George Kurian- CEO of NetApp
An IIT Madras alumnus, George Kurian is the chief executive officer of NetApp. Before working at NetApp, Kurian worked with Akamai Technologies and Oracle. He also has an MBA from Stanford.
Nikesh Arora- CEO of Palo Alto Networks
An IIT BHU alumnus, Nikesh Arora is the chief executive officer of Palo Alto Networks. Before working with Palo Alto Networks, Nikesh has worked with Google and SoftBank Corp. He has an MBA from Northeastern University and holds the CFA designation.
Dinesh Paliwal- former CEO of Harman International Industries
An IIT Roorkee alumnus, Dinesh Paliwal was the chief executive officer of Harman International Industries. Paliwal stepped down on April 1 after nearly 13 years with the company as President and CEO of Harman and will remain as a Senior Advisor to the board of directors and to the new CEO, Michael Mauser, until December 2020. He has an MS in Applied Science and Engineering and an MBA in Finance from Miami University.
Sanjay Mehrotra- CEO of Micron Technology
A BITS Pilani alumnus, Sanjay Mehrotra is the chief executive officer of Micron Technology. Mehrotra co-founded SanDisk in 1988 and served as president and CEO from 2011 until 2016. Mehrotra holds more than 70 patents. He has published articles in the area of non-volatile memory design and flash memory systems.
Laxman Narasimhan- CEO of Reckitt Banckiser
An alumnus of Savitribai Phule University, Laxman Narasimhan is the chief executive officer of Reckitt Benckiser. Before working with Reckitt Benckiser, Narasimhan has worked with PepsiCo and McKinsey. He has an MA in German and International Studies from The Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Francisco D’Souza- CEO of Cognizant
Francisco D’Souza is the chief executive officer of Cognizant. Francisco joined Cognizant in 1996. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, he is the son of an IFS officer.
Sanjay K Jha- CEO of GlobalFoundries
Sanjay K Jha is the chief executive officer of GlobalFoundries. Before working with GlobalFoundries, Jha has worked with Qualcomm and Motorola.
Vas Narasimhan- CEO of Novartis
Vasant Narasimhan is the chief executive officer of Novartis. Narasimhan joined Novartis in 2005. In 2014, he became Global Head of Development, and from 2016 to 2018, he held the role of Global Head of Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer within the company.
All of these Indian CEOs have an inspiring story and we are sure that many of us would like to follow their footsteps. Check out these rescue operations of Indian Armed Forces.
