Un-breaking the Silicon Valley glass ceiling

MUMBAI, INDIA: That India has generated a talent pool of computer engineers in the Silicon Valley is old story. What is fascinating the world these days is the number of global CXOs the country has churned-out.

However, the recent appointments of Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai as the CEOs of two of world’s most sought after companies—Microsoft and Google, has brought India suddenly into the limelight.

In a traditional sense, one cannot call it breaking the glass ceiling. That is because these CXOs had migrated to the US as starry-eyed young grads, worked hard and led innovation teams, in their teens or early twenties.

Credit should also go to the board of directors who identified the talent and provided our tech geeks with the necessary boost and confidence to lead the global conglomerates.

We list the CEOs (in alphabetical order of the companies they represent), who have done us proud.

Shantanu Nareayen, President and CEO, Adobe

After working for Apple and Silicon Graphics, India-born Nareayen handles Adobe’s day-to-day global operations, product research and development, marketing and corporate development. He has also served as a Member of US President's Advisory Management Board.

He led the $1.8 billion acquisition of Omniture and serves as one of the board of directors for Dell and Pfizer.

Nareayen studied Electronics Engineering from Osmania University in Hyderabad, before moving to the United States to acquire a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Bowling Green State University and Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business.

Francisco D'Souza, CEO, Cognizant

Indian-born D'Souza was appointed CEO in January 2007 and is ranked among the youngest CEOs in the software services sector.

With more than 20 years of experience in the information technology industry, he oversees operations and business development, working closely with clients who use offshore resources to execute large software development and maintenance projects.

Before joining Cognizant, D'Souza also worked at Pilot Software and Dun & Bradstreet.

Pankaj Patel, EVP and Chief Development Officer, Cisco Systems

Patel is responsible for leading the development and execution of Cisco's $36.3 billion technology portfolio across a global team of more than 28,000 employees.

In previous roles at Cisco, Patel served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the company's service provider business, and was also responsible for the Cisco IGX product line and software development for all Cisco ATM switches. Patel joined Cisco through the company's acquisition of Stratacom in 1996.

Previously, he has worked at Redback Networks, Apollo Computer/HP and Digital Equipment.

Patel holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, and a Master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2003, he was awarded a patent in the area of multi-service architecture.

Sanjay Jha, CEO, GlobalFoundries

Appointed in January 2014, Jha has a successful track record of senior executive experience in the technology industry, most recently as Chairman and CEO of Motorola Mobility, which was spun out as an independent public company from Motorola.

Prior to Motorola, he held multiple senior engineering and executive positions during his 14 years with Qualcomm, Brooktree, and GEC Hirst Research Centre in London.

Jha was awarded a DSc from Strathclyde University, Scotland in 2011. He holds a PhD in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Strathclyde University, Scotland and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from University of Liverpool, England.

Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google

Pichai, 43, has created a stir in the market after being named Google CEO. He now joins the list of the `most searched person’ on Google search as well!

He was SVP of Google Android, Chrome and Apps, and was part of the team that launched the Chrome browser in 2008. He has also worked on search products including Google Toolbar, Desktop Search, Gadgets, and Google Gears and Gadgets.

As the new CEO, he will continue to manage search engine, ads, maps, apps, YouTube and Android.

Amit Singhal, Senior VP and Software Engineer, Google

While Pichai is Google’s blue-eyed boy, Singhal is the company’s backdoor gem.

His team controls how search results appear on the search engine.

He rewrote the algorithm of the Google search engine in 2001, which earned him the Google Fellow title–reserved for its best engineers.

Singhal, a Computer Science graduate from IIT Roorkee, was raised in Uttar Pradesh. He completed his MS from the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft

Nadella, the third CEO of Microsoft, succeed Steve Ballmer.

In his short stint as CEO, Nadella has not only launched new products but formed new partnerships that are enabling the company to not only launch products faster, but also expand into newer markets at a rapid pace. He was the VP in the company's business and online services divisions and headed Microsoft's cloud computing division, before being appointed the CEO.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering in electronics and communication from the Manipal Institute of Technology. After moving to the US, Nadella earned an MS in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO, SanDisk

Mehrotra is co-Founder, President and CEO, SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions. He served as SanDisk’s President and COO in 2006.

Under his leadership, the company expanded its focus to include solid state drive (SSD) for the enterprise, as well as new growth strategies for the mobile and client computing segments.

Mehrotra received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program (SEP).

CIOL congratulates all the achievers, but also salutes those who have served the IT companies in various senior management roles in the past.