BackIBM’s Arvind Krishna latest among Indians heading global companies
Krishna joins the likes of Microsoft's Nadella, Google's Pichai
PremiumNew Delhi: International Business Machines Corp. on Thursday appointed Arvind Krishna as the company’s chief executive officer, replacing veteran Virginia Rometty.
Krishna, 57, who currently heads IBM’s cloud and cognitive software unit, was the mastermind behind the company’s acquisition of Red Hat, which was completed last year. A graduate of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and armed with a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Krishna joins a long list of Indian-origin CEOs at the helm of global companies.
Here is a list of Indian-origin CEOs managing global businesses:
-- Sundararajan Pichai, CEO Google, and parent Alphabet Inc.
Born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, Pichai was appointed CEO of Google LLC in August, 2015. Having done his B. Tech in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, he had won a scholarship to study on material science and on semicondoctors in physics from Stanford University, where he eventually earned his M.S.
He completed his MBA from the Wharton School of University of Pennysylvania and worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. He joined Google in 2004 and led the product management and innovation efforts for key products including Google Chrome OS and Google Drive.
-- Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft.
Nadella, 52, was appointed the head of Microsoft in February 2014, having held the position of executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise Group. Born in Hyderabad, Nadella holds a degree in electrical engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He did his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
He is credited with putting a stagnating Microsoft on a new growth curve after the software giant missed several inflection points in the ever-evolving technology landscape. That steering of the Bill Gates-founded company has made Microsoft one of the most valuable companies in the world, putting its market capitalization at over $1 trillion.
-- Shantanu Narayen, CEO Adobe Systems.
Having started his career at Apple Inc, Narayen joined Adobe in 1998 as senior vice-president of worldwide product research and then was promoted to the position of executive vice president and finally made the CEO in November 2007. He completed his bachelors from University College of Engineering, Osmania University, Hyderabad, and holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley and also an MS from Bowling Green State University.
-- Ajaypal Singh Banga, CEO and President MasterCard.
Born in 1960 in Pune, Banga, a Padma Shri Award recipient, has been serving as the CEO and President of MasterCard since April, 2010. In 2015, President Barack Obama had appointed him to serve as a Member of the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
He graduated from St. Stephens College, Delhi University with BA in Economics and holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
-- Rajeev Suri, CEO Nokia.
Born in October, 1967, Suri became CEO at Nokia in 2014. He has held various positions in Nokia since 1995. Since October 2009, Suri has served as CEO of NSN, the former joint venture between Nokia and Siemens that is now fully owned by Nokia. During his tenure as CEO, that business went through a radical transformation to become one of the leaders in the telecommunications infrastructure industry, according to information on Nokia website.
Suri is a citizen of Singapore and is based in Espoo, Finland. He has a bachelors’ degree in engineering (Electronics and Communications) from Manipal Institute of Technology.
-- Vasant Kalathur Narasimhan
Born in 1976, Narasimhan is an Indian American doctor by profession and is currently the CEO of Novartis International AG – a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies by both market capitalization and sales. He did his Bachelor’s from the University of Chicago, in biological sciences and then his MD from Harvard Medical School and finally his master’s in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
He joined Novartis in 2005. Fortune, in 2015, listed him at 7th position in their ’40 under 40’ list.
-- Dinesh C. Paliwal, CEO Harman International Industries.
Paliwal was born in 1957 in Agra, and attended the University of Roorkee. He was awarded a full scholarship to pursue advanced degrees in Engineering and Management at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
Harman International Industries, a provider of audio and infotainment systems for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, was acquired by Samsung in 2017.
Jayshree V. Ullal, President and CEO of Arista Networks.
Ullal is an American billionaire businesswoman, President and CEO of Arista Networks, a cloud networking company. Born in London, and raised in New Delhi, Ullal attended San Francisco State University where she graduated with a B.S. in engineering (electrical), following which she went to Santa Clara University where she received a master's degree in engineering management.
In October 2008, Ullal was made the CEO Arista Networks. She was named as "one of the top five most influential people in the networking industry today" for her work at Arista Networks by Forbes magazine.
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