Meet the 9 Indian-Origin CEOs Leading Global Companies – From Google and Adobe to Chanel: Check Their Education, Age, And Inspiring Journey

Arvind Krishna was born on November 23, 1962, in West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh, to parents with a military background. He earned a B.Tech degree from IIT Kanpur and later completed a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois. Krishna joined IBM in 1990 and rose through the ranks to bcome CEO in 2020 and Chairman in 2021. He currently resides in the New York metropolitan area.  

Leena Nair was born on June 11, 1969, in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. She holds a B.E. in Electronics from Walchand College of Engineering and an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur, where she was a gold medalist. After serving as Chief Human Resources Officer at Unilever, she was appointed CEO of Chanel in January 2022. Nair currently lives in Paris.  

Nikesh Arora was born on February 9, 1968, in Ghaziabad, and is the son of an Indian Air Force officer. He completed his schooling at The Air Force School (Subroto Park), earned a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT-BHU, and later pursued an MBA from Boston College and Northeastern University. Since June 2018, he has been serving as Chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks, based in California.  

Ravi Kumar S was born in the Mumbai region of India. He holds a B.E. degree from Shivaji University and an MBA from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. After working as President of Infosys from 2016 to 2022, he took over as CEO of Cognizant in January 2023. He currently lives in the New Jersey area.  

George Kurian was born in 1967 in Kottayam, Kerala. He completed his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at Princeton University and went on to earn a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Stanford University. Kurian joined NetApp in 2011 and became its CEO in June 2015. He now leads the company from Silicon Valley.  

Ajay Banga was born on November 10, 1959, in Khadki, Pune, into a military family—his father, Lt. Gen. Harbhajan Banga, served in the Indian Army. He earned a B.A. in Economics from Delhi University and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. After serving as CEO of MasterCard, he became President of the World Bank in June 2023. Banga is currently based in Washington, D.C.  

Shantanu Narayen was born on May 27, 1963, in Hyderabad, to a father who ran a plastics business and a mother who was a literature professor. He studied Electronics Engineering at Osmania University, followed by an M.S. in Computer Science from Bowling Green State University, and earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Narayen has been the CEO and Chairman of Adobe since 2007 and lives in California. 

 

Satya Nadella was born on August 19, 1967, in Hyderabad, to Prabhavati, a Sanskrit lecturer, and Bukkapuram Nadella Yugandhar, an IAS officer. He studied at Hyderabad Public School and completed a B.E. from Manipal Institute of Technology. He later earned an M.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Nadella is the Chairman and CEO of Microsoft and currently lives in Redmond, Washington. 

 

Sundar Pichai was born on June 10, 1972, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, to Lakshmi, a stenographer, and Regunatha Pichai, an electrical engineer. He was raised in Chennai and studied Metallurgical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur. He later earned an M.S. from Stanford University and an MBA from the Wharton School. Pichai has been CEO of Google since 2015 and CEO of Alphabet since 2019, and currently resides in California. (Image Credit: File Photo)