12 Indian-Origin CEOs Who Are Heading Some Of The World's Biggest Companies

CIOReviewIndia Team | Friday, 07 August 2020, 12:50 IST

  • No Image

12 Indian-Origin CEOs Who Are Heading Some Of The World's Biggest CompaniesWith the likes of Srinivasa Ramanujan and C.V. Raman and alike personalities, India had already gathered a place in the topmost positions of the world-frame in mathematicians and scientists division. In the creative division also India prevailed. Adding essence to this, Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra, and Laxmi Mittal occupy the business bracket.

Indians are placed in the top positions – CEOs in world-renowned firms. 

“Today’s world has a much larger responsibility to become a catalyst for transformational change. A change which transforms a company known for arranging funds and giving loans, to become a platform for customers as well as lenders to feel safe and insured while doing business” by Nikhil Bandi, SVP & CIO, Vistaar Financial Services."

Here is a list of 12 Indian-origin CEOs Who Are Heading Some Of The World's Biggest Companies:

  1. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft – Being an Indian-American business executive, Satya Narayana Nadella went to the Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, and completed Electrical Engineering for the Manipal Institute of Technology. After that, he went to the United States for studying Master’s in Science in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

    Upon receiving the Master’s degree, Nadella went to study Master’s of Business Administration at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He took over the CEO role from Steve Ballmer in 2014.

    Before that, he built and looked after the Microsoft’s computing platforms. Satya Nadella is also a member of the boards and committees of Starbuck (Board of Directors), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the University of Chicago (Board of Trustees). Reading Indian and U.S. poetry is what Satya Nadella does in free time.
     
  2. Shantanu Narayen, CEO, Adobe Inc – Like Satya Nadella, Shantanu Narayen has a Hyderabad background. He studied in Hyderabad Public School, pursued Electronics and Communication Engineering at the University College of Engineering, Osmania University, Hyderabad, and completed executive MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. Later, Shantanu earned a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the Bowling Green State University, Ohio.

    In early days, Shantanu Narayen was an Indian representative in Asian Regatta in sailing category. Narayen is a former director of desktop and collaboration products for Silicon Graphics. The former U.S. President, Barack Obama designated Narayen as a member of the Management Advisory Board.

    Shantanu Narayan is a recipient of the Padma Shri award in 2019.
     
  3. Ajaypal Singh Banga, CEO & President, Mastercard – Ajaypal Banga is from an Indian Army family. Harbhajan Singh Banga, his father, served in the Indian Army and retired as Lieutenant-General. Ajaypal studied in Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet. In St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, he completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics.

    And later pursued PGP in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In various FinTech and leadership conferences, Banga is invited to public speaking. Ajaypal Banga was invited on Jim Cramer hosted Mad Money.
  1. Jayshree Ullal, CEO, Arista Networks – London born Jayshree Ullal was brought up in New Delhi. She studied B.S. in Engineering (Electrical) and later pursued a Master’s education in Engineering Management from Santa Clara University.

    Jayshree ranked 18 on Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year list in 2019.
  1. Rajeev Suri, CEO, Nokia – Rajeev Suri served as the Nokia CEO from May 2014 to July 2020.

    He studied Electronics and Communication Engineering at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Karnataka, and visited various places like the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
  1. Vasant Narasimhan, CEO, Novartis – Vasanth completed a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Chicago and continued education in M.D at Harvard Medical School. Then he joined John F Kennedy School of Government for studying a Master’s degree in Public Policy.

    Narasimhan is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine. He is also a member of the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School.
  1. Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO, Micron – Sanjay studied in Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Delhi and joined BITS Pilani and got an opportunity to study in the University of California, Berkeley through transfer. He earned Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Engineering from Berkeley, graduated in 2009 from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Executive Education Program.

    Sanjay has 70+ patents to his name, with publications in the field of non-volatile memory design and flash memory systems. In 2019, Sanjay Mehrotra received Flash Memory Summit Lifetime Achievement Award because of co-founding ScanDisk.
  1. Dinesh C. Paliwal, President & CEO, Harman International – Indian born Dinesh completed M.S. in Engineering in Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, M.S. in Applied Science and Engineering and MBA in Finance in Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

    Last year, 2019, Dinesh received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Miami University for his ongoing efforts and contributions to the make advances in the University’s leadership in business, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurial endeavors.
  1. Arvind Krishna, CEO, IBM – Arvind is from the Indian Army family from the state of Uttarakhand. His father worked in the Indian Army and his mother served the welfare of Army widows. Arvind studied in St Joseph’s Academy, Dehradun and the Stanes School, Coonoor in Tamil Nadu. He completed a Bachelor’s from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in the Electrical Engineering branch.

    After moving into the United States, Arvind collected Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, receiving distinguished alumni awards from IIT Kanpur and the University of Illinois.Arvind guided IBM in a $34 million Red Hat acquisition.
  1. George Kurian, CEO, NetApp – George was born in Kottayam, Kerala and in his higher education, he studied in IIT-Madras for six months. He joined Princeton University and completed an MBA from the Stanford University, California.

    Before joining NetApp, George worked as the General Manager of the Application Networking and Switching Technology Group in Cisco.
  1. Nikesh Arora, CEO, Palo Alto Networks – Nikesh is the son of an Indian Air Force officer. He completed schooling from The Air Force School (Subroto Park) and joined the Indian Institute of Technology, BHU, Varanasi to complete a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering.

    Nikesh has a degree from Boston College and an MBA from Northeastern University and also bagged CFA designation in 1999. Nikesh Arora has working experience in T-Motion PLC, Google, and SoftBank Corp.
  1. Laxman Narasimhan, CEO, Reckitt Benckiser – Laxman completed Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering, Savitribai Phule Pune University, M.A. in German and International Studies from The Lauder Institute (University of Pennsylvania) and MBA in Finance from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania).

    Laxman is a trustee of the Brookings Institution, Washington DC, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, NYC.
🍪 Do you like cookies?

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Read more...