India has produced some of the brightest minds in the world from business tycoons, and tech titans to the highest-paid officials in some of the world’s biggest companies are Indians. As India excels in every aspect, Indians are spearheading the top organisations of the world and putting the country on the world map. Here’s a list of Indian CEOs who are heading top companies of the world:
Sundar Pichai- CEO of Alphabet Inc.
Every time the subject of CEOs of multinational firms of Indian descent is brought up, Sundar Pichai’s name stands out as being in a league of its own. He graduated from IIT Kharagpur and became the CEO of Google in 2015. In December 2019, he was named CEO of Alphabet Inc, Google’s parent company. Pichai’s technical knowledge and foresight into industry developments have helped Google maintain its supremacy in the digital sphere. The net worth of Pichai is estimated at $1310 million, as per a TOI report.
Satya Nadella- CEO of Microsoft
Satya Nadella, another well-known figure in Silicon Valley, received his undergraduate degree from Manipal University of Technology before continuing his education at the Universities of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Chicago. When Satya Nadella was appointed Executive Chairman and CEO of Microsoft in 2014, he was added to the list of notable CEOs of Indian descent and at present has a net worth of $1 billion as per Lifestyle Asia.
Leena Nair- CEO of Chanel
Leena Nair, who became the first female and youngest CEO of Chanel in January 2022, is one of the most recent CEOs of Indian descent to make a significant impact. Leena Nair, a graduate from the Walchand College of Engineering and the XLRI-Xavier School of Management, served as Unilever’s previous chief human resource officer.
Shantanu Narayen- CEO of Adobe Inc.
Shantanu Narayen, a Hyderabad native, attended Osmania University before continuing his education at the University of California and Bowling Green State University. Prior to being named CEO in December 2007, Shantanu Narayen was president and chief operating officer of Adobe Inc.
Arvind Krishna- CEO of IBM
Arvind Krishna, an IIT Kanpur alumnus, continued his education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In April 2020, he was named CEO of IBM, and in January 2021, he was named Chairman as well.
Sanjay Mehrotra- CEO of Micron Technology
Sanjay Mehrotra, a native of Kanpur, graduated from BITS Pilani and received his higher education at UC Berkeley. In 2017, Sanjay Mehrotra was appointed CEO of Micron Technologies. He co-founded Sandisk as well, and in 2016 he was its CEO.
Nikesh Arora- CEO of Palo Alto Networks
Nikesh Arora attended Boston College and Northeastern University after graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology, BHU. In June 2018, Palo Alto Networks named Nikesh Arora as its CEO and chairman.
Jayshree Ullal- CEO of Arista Networks
Ullal was born in India and raised in London. She went to Santa Clara University and San Francisco State University. She has held this role since October 2008 and is currently the CEO and President of Arista Networks.
Laxman Narasimhan– CEO of Starbucks
Until 2012, Narasimhan spent 19 years working for McKinsey, ascending to the positions of director and site manager for the company’s New Delhi branch. He joined PepsiCo in 2012 and eventually advanced to chief commercial officer. Narasimhan took over as CEO of Reckitt Benckiser from Rakesh Kapoor in September 2019 after developing a turnaround strategy aimed at reviving the business. Starbucks officially announced that Narasimhan would succeed Howard Schultz as CEO on September 1, 2022.
