Indian Origin CEOs Who Are Ruling The World

According to recent studies, Indian-origin CEOs are currently leading some of the world's most successful companies in a variety of sectors.

From technology to healthcare, these leaders have achieved remarkable success and are now considered among the most influential CEOs in the world.

There is a whole range of companies, starting from IBM, Cognizant, and Adobe to tech giants like Google and Microsoft, mobile mammoths like Nokia, and content kings like OnlyFans, where the CEOs are of Indian origin and are upping the game, no doubt.

So, without further ado, let's take a closer look at the top Indian CEOs ruling the world in 2023.

Sundar Pichai
Satya Nadella
Vivek Sankaran
Arvind Krishna
Vasant Narasimhan
Sanjay Mehrotra
Laxman Narasimhan
Revathi Advaithi
Neal Mohan
Shantanu Narayen
Niraj Shah
George Kurian
Leena Nair
Ravi Kumar S
Nikesh Arora
Anjali Sud
Devika Bulchandani
Jayshree Ullal
Rangarajan Raghuram
Punit Renjen
Ivan Menezes
Amrapali 'Ami' Gan
Sanjay Jha
Rajeev Suri
Francisco D’Souza
Dinesh Paliwal
Ashok Vemuri
Ajaypal Singh Banga
Parag Agarwal

Sundar Pichai

Pichai Sundararajan, also known as Sundar Pichai, was born in Tamil Nadu, India. He earned a degree from IIT Kharagpur in metallurgical engineering and is a distinguished alumnus of that institution.

He holds an M.S. from Stanford University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he was named a Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar.

Pichai began his career as a materials engineer and joined Google as a management executive in 2004 and became the CEO of Google in the year 2015. Pichai was also named as the CEO of Google parent, Alphabet in December 2019, when he replaced Larry Page.

Satya Nadella

Hyderabad-born Satya Nadella has a BE from the Manipal Institute of Technology, an MS from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Before joining Microsoft in 1992, he worked at Sun Microsystems as a member of its technology staff.

He became the CEO of Microsoft in 2014 succeeding Steve Ballmer. He also succeeded John W. Thompson and was named Chairman of Microsoft in 2021.

Vivek Sankaran

Vivek Sankaran is a well-known business executive in the United States. He is currently the President and CEO of Albertsons Companies, one of the largest food and drug retailers in the U.S., with more than 2,200 stores across 33 states.

Before joining Albertsons in 2019, Sankaran was the CEO of PepsiCo Foods North America, where he led the company's Frito-Lay and Quaker Foods businesses in the U.S. and Canada. He has also held senior leadership roles at other major companies, including Procter & Gamble and McKinsey & Company.

Under his leadership, Albertsons has continued to expand its digital capabilities, introduce new products and services, and improve its supply chain and logistics operations.

Arvind Krishna

The Indian CEO of IBM, who became the Chairman on January 1, 2021, Arvind Krishna was born in Dehradun, India.

He completed his schooling at St Joseph's Academy, Dehradun, and the Stanes School, Coonoor, Tamil Nadu. He then received a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1985 and eventually got a PhD in Electrical Engineering.

Krishna began his career at IBM as an engineer in IBM Research and was promoted to CEO in 2020. He is currently serving IBM as its CEO and Chairman.

Vasant Narasimhan

Narasimhan was born in the United States in 1976 but spent much of his childhood in India. He attended the Syosset High School in New York before earning a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from the University of Chicago.

He went on to complete his MD from Harvard Medical School, as well as a master's degree in public policy from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

After completing his education, Narasimhan worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company before joining Novartis in 2005. In 2014, he was appointed as the Global Head of Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer for Novartis.

In 2018, Narasimhan was named CEO of Novartis, succeeding Joseph Jimenez.

Sanjay Mehrotra

Kanpur-born Sanjay Mehrotra started his college at BITS Pilani and then transferred to the University of California, Berkeley from where he obtained a Bachelor's and a Master's in Electrical Engineering and in Computer Science.

He is the current CEO of Micron Technology, who assumed office when Mark Durcan retired in February 2017.

Previously, he co-founded SanDisk, where he served as the president and CEO until its acquisition by Western Digital in 2016.

Laxman Narasimhan

Laxman holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering, University of Pune, an MA degree in German and International Studies from The Lauder Institute, and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

He joined Starbucks under the title "interim CEO" in October 2022, and following the transition will succeed interim CEO Howard Schultz. Narasimhan officially assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer of Starbucks in March 2023.

Revathi Advaithi

The CEO of Flex and an advocate of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), Revathi Advaithi is an Indian-American business executive, who was born in India.

Advaithi started her career as a shop floor supervisor in Eaton. In 2002, she joined Honeywell and returned to Eaton again, where she worked for 10 long years after becoming the COO. She eventually left Eaton and joined Flex as the company's CEO in 2019. Revathi is an alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BS) and Thunderbird School of Global Management (MBA).

She is an independent director for the board of directors of Uber and Catalyst.org along with her present role. Besides, she also is a member of the MIT Presidential CEO Advisory Board. Revathi was also featured in Fortune's list of the Most Powerful Women in 2019 and 2020.

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Neal Mohan

Neal Mohan is an accomplished Indian-American executive with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

He began his career at Accenture, where he worked for approximately 1.5 years, before moving on to Microsoft as a manager in the company's corporate strategy department.

In 2008, Mohan joined Google after the tech giant's acquisition of DoubleClick. Over the years, he rose through the ranks and became YouTube's chief product officer in 2015, overseeing the platform's product and user experience.

Mohan's impressive educational background and extensive tech industry experience played a significant role in his success. Notably, Neal Mohan, the Indian American business executive, became the CEO of YouTube in February 2023.

Shantanu Narayen

Born in Hyderabad, India, Shantanu Narayan started his career at Apple. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Osmania University, an MBA from the University of California, Berkley, and an MS from Bowling Green State University.

Narayen joined Adobe in 1998 and got promoted to CEO in December 2007, at the age of 45.

Narayen also represented India in sailing at an Asian Regatta and got his name among the world's best CEOs by Barron's Magazine in the year 2016.

Niraj Shah

Shah earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from Cornell University and a master's degree in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

After completing his education, Shah started his career as a consultant at the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he worked for several years.

In 2002, he co-founded the online furniture retailer CSN Stores (which later became Wayfair) with his friend and business partner, Steve Conine.

George Kurian

After serving as the executive vice president of product operations for two years at NetApp, George Kurian became the CEO and President of the company in June 2015.

Born in Kottayam district, Kerala, he pursued engineering at IIT-Madras, but left six months later to join Princeton University; he also holds an MBA degree from Stanford.

Leena Nair

Born on June 11, 1969, in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, Leena Nair was an Electronics Engineering student at Walchand College of Engineering. After completing her graduation, Leena went to XLRI Jamshedpur from where she came out as a gold medallist.

Nair joined Anglo-Dutch company Unilever and was notably appointed as the Chief Human Resource Officer of the firm in 2016. She was recognized as the youngest, first female, and the first Asian ever to achieve the feat. Leena served many leadership positions in the same company before being appointed as the CHRO. Leena Nair was once again announced as the CEO of the French fashion brand, Chanel.

Ravi Kumar S

Ravi Kumar S. took on the role of CEO at Cognizant in January 2023. His tenure as CEO followed a distinguished career where he served as the President of Infosys from January 2016 to October 2022, contributing to his deep understanding of the IT industry.

Kumar's educational background is equally impressive, with an engineering degree from Shivaji University in Maharashtra and an MBA from Xavier Institute of Management in Orissa. His journey in the technology sector underscores the increasing presence of Indian-origin CEOs in global tech companies.

Nikesh Arora

Nikesh Arora took the role of CEO and Chairman at Palo Alto Networks in June 2018. Prior to this, he worked with Google and SoftBank.

Born to an Indian Air Force Officer, Arora holds a Btech degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT BHU, Varanasi.

Furthermore, Arora also holds a degree from Boston College and an MBA from Northeastern University. Nikesh Arora has retained the CFA that he earned in 1999.

Anjali Sud

Born in the USA, Detroit, Anjali Sud is an American businesswoman of Indian origin and is popularly known for being the CEO of Vimeo. Sud opted to study at the private school, Phillips Andover Academy at the age of 14.

She eventually received a B.Sc. degree in Finance and Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and later topped it off with an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Sud was appointed as a Vimeo CEO in July 2017. She previously served as a General Manager and the Head of Marketing of the company. Sud is also counted as a Board member of Dolby Laboratories. Furthermore, Sud is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. She was also listed by Fortune in 2018 under its 40 Under 40 rising business leaders.

Anjali Sud stepped down from her position as Vimeo CEO and joined Tubi in September 2023, taking on the role of CEO at Fox Corp.'s free streaming service.

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Devika Bulchandani

Devika Bulchandani was born and raised in India, and she completed her schooling there. She then moved to the United States to pursue higher education, and she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Bulchandani began her career in the advertising industry in 1995, working at several leading agencies such as Ammirati Puris Lintas, J. Walter Thompson, and McCann Erickson. She joined Ogilvy in 1999 as an Account Director and worked her way up the ranks, eventually becoming the Chief Operating Officer of Ogilvy New York in 2017.

In March 2021, Bulchandani was appointed as the CEO of Ogilvy North America, making her the first woman of color to lead the agency.

Jayshree Ullal

Jayashree Ullal, the President, and CEO of Arista Networks was raised in New Delhi and attended San Francisco State University from where she graduated with a B.S. in Engineering.

She then went on to obtain a Master's degree in Engineering Management from Santa Clara University.

Rangarajan Raghuram

Rangarajan Raghuram currently serves as the CEO of VMware, who assumed his office on June 1, 2021.

Raghuram joined the company back in 2003 and has held multiple key leadership positions, thus being responsible for influencing the company's strategies and bringing forth a technological revolution that VMware has seen.

Punit Renjen

Renjen was born and raised in India, where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Bombay. He later moved to the United States to pursue an MBA from Willamette University's Atkinson Graduate School of Management in Oregon.

After completing his MBA, Renjen joined Deloitte's U.S. consulting practice in 1989. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a partner in the firm's consulting practice in 1999.

In 2015, Renjen was appointed as the Global CEO of Deloitte, becoming the first person of Indian origin to lead one of the "Big Four" accounting firms.

On December 31, 2022, Punit retired as Deloitte Global CEO after having served in the role since June 2015. He now serves as Deloitte Global CEO Emeritus.

Ivan Menezes

Ivan Menezes was born in Pune, India, in 1959. Menezes attended high school in Hong Kong and went on to study at the University of Pune in India, where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree.

He then moved to the United States to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Menezes started his career with Nestle in 1986, working in various roles across Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Menezes joined Diageo in 1997 as a strategy director and was subsequently appointed president and CEO of Diageo North America in 2004.

He was later promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer in 2012, before becoming CEO in 2013.

Ivan served as the CEO of Diageo from 2013 until his passing in June 2023. Later, in June 2023, Debra Crew was appointed as Diageo's Chief Executive Officer.

Amrapali 'Ami' Gan

Amrapali Gan has been named the new CEO of the London-based internet content subscription service company, OnlyFans on December 21, 2021, with the founder of the company Tim Stokely stepping down from the role. The NRI Indian CEO has already assumed office on the same date.

Amrapali Gan, or 'Ami' Gan, as she is nicknamed, has completed her early and higher education in California, US.

Gan has completed her Associate of Arts degree in Merchandise Marketing from FIDM. She then pursued a Bachelor of Arts in PR and Organisational Communications from California State University.

Furthermore, she also went on to earn her Certificate of Entrepreneurship from Harvard Business School Online. Ami had worked as a consultant with Arcade Agency for around 4 years before being appointed as the CEO of OnlyFans.

In July 2023, Ami Gan resigned as the CEO of OnlyFans after a two-year tenure, with Chief Strategy and Operations Officer Keily Blair stepping in as the new CEO. Ami Gan has started her own new venture, Hoxton Projects.

Sanjay Jha

He is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of GlobalFoundries and the former chairman and CEO of Motorola Mobility. Before that, he was the chief operating officer of Qualcomm.

Jha was born in Bhagalpur, Bihar, and holds a BS from the University of Liverpool and a PhD from the University of Strathclyde.

Rajeev Suri

Rajeev Suri is an Indian–Singaporean business executive and the former CEO of Nokia from New Delhi, India. Suri joined Nokia in 1995 and held various key positions before being the President and CEO in April 2014, which was after Nokia had repurchased full control of the NSN and sold its phone division to Microsoft Mobile.

Suri holds a B-Tech from the Manipal Institute of Technology. After he left his office at Nokia, Suri in 2020 giving way to its new CEO, Pekka Lundmark, Suri joined Inmarsat, where he joined as a CEO effective from March 1, 2021, onwards.

Francisco D’Souza

Francisco D’Souza is among the youngest CEOs in the software services sector and a member of the company’s board of directors. D’Souza joined Cognizant as a co-founder in 1994 and went on to become its CEO in 2007.

The son of an Indian, D’Souza was born in Kenya and is distinguished as the former CEO and Vice Chairman of Cognizant. He holds a BBA from the University of East Asia, Macau, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

Brian Humphries succeeded Francisco D'Souza as Cognizant's CEO in April 2019, and later in January 2023, Ravi Kumar S was appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant.

Dinesh Paliwal

Born in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Paliwal holds a BE and an MS degree from IIT Roorkee. He also obtained an MBA from Miami University.

Paliwal is known as the former President and CEO of Harman International, an independent subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, who stepped down from both of the positions and is currently appointed among the Board of Directors of the company.

Before joining Harman, he spent 22 years with ABB Group, where he held the dual role of President of ABB Group with responsibility for the company’s global P&L, and Chairman/CEO - ABB North America.

Ashok Vemuri

New Delhi-born Ashok Vemuri is one among the Board of Directors for Financial Policy and Public Responsibilities at Kroger and was the former Chief Executive Officer of IGATE and Conduent.

Xerox, the 110-year-old document technology company that over the years came to symbolize everything associated with photocopying, named former iGate-appointed CEO Ashok Vemuri as the new CEO of its back-office outsourcing company, Conduent.

Vemuri was also appointed as the Executive Vice President and CEO of Xerox Business Services LLC.

Ajaypal Singh Banga

Beginning his business career with Nestlé in 1981, Pune-born Ajaypal Singh Banga was appointed as the President and CEO of Mastercard back in July 2010 and retained his office till December 31, 2020, after which he stepped down giving way to Michael Miebach.

He completed his primary education at the Hyderabad Public School in Begumpet and he went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University followed by a PGP in Management from the IIM Ahmedabad.

Banga was nominated by the Biden administration in February 2023 and elected as the President of the World Bank on May 3, 2023.

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Parag Agarwal

Born in Ajmer, Rajasthan on May 21, 1984, Parag Agrawal was schooled at Atomic Energy Central School No.4., where he studied with the renowned singer Shreya Ghoshal. Agrawal sat for the Joint Entrance Exam, where he was placed 77th, thereby seizing a chance to be admitted at the IIT Bombay.

He completed his B.Tech. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the same institute in 2005. Parag then decided to pursue a PhD in computer science from Stanford University, US.

He was the CEO of Twitter, Inc. from November 2021 to October 2022. Agrawal was promoted to the post of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in October 2017, when he replaced Adam Massinger. This was the last designation that he served before being named as the Chief Executive Officer of the company on November 29, 2021.

Conclusion

CEOs are integral to a company. He/she, when appointed as the CEO of a particular company, manages and monitors the day-to-day operations of the firm, and also stands responsible for strategic planning and decision-making. The CEO is the person who determines the direction of a business and is thus, a respectable as well as a valuable asset of the company.

Therefore, it feels exceptionally good to be an Indian when you get to hear that the CEOs of such big companies that are shaping the modern world are Indian in origin. Hope you find this list of Indian-origin CEOs at the top companies globally useful and informative!

FAQs

Who is the highest paid CEO of India?

Mukesh Ambani, the CEO of Reliance Industries is the highest paid CEO of India.

Who are the top 10 CEO in world?

Top 10 CEO in world are:

• Elon Musk
• Satya Nadella
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Andy Jassy
• Tim Cook
• Jeff Bezos
• Jack Dorsey
• Arvind Krishna
• Warren Buffett
• Jamie Dimon

Who are the Indian Origin CEOs leading the world?

Some of the top Indian origin CEOs leading the world are:

• Sundar Pichai
• Satya Nadella
• Parag Agrawal
• Leena Nair
• Amrapali 'Ami' Gan
• Shantanu Narayen
• Sanjay Mehrotra
• Sanjay Jha
• Rajeev Suri
• George Kurian
• Revathi Advaithi
• Francisco D’Souza
• Dinesh Paliwal
• Ashok Vemuri
• Nikesh Arora
• Anjali Sud
• Ajaypal Singh Banga
• Arvind Krishna
• Jayshree Ullal
• Rangarajan Raghuram

Who are the top CEOs in India?

Some of the Top CEOs in India are:

• Mukesh Ambani
• Arvind Krishna
• Gopal Vittal
• S N Subrahmanyam
• C P Gurnani
• Pawan Munjal
• Kalanithi Maran
• Indra Nooyi
• Salil Parikh
• Savitri Jindal