By Erick Sabih Khan becomes the latest Indian-origin tech executive to hold a ‘Chief Officer’ position in Silicon Valley. So, let us make a list of Indian-origin tech executives to hold a ‘Chief Officer’ or notable leadership position in leading US tech firms. Because why not. Also, disclosure: I used DeepSeek to generate this list but I verified each name myself.
Notable Indian-origin US Tech Leaders
| Name | Company | Position | Tenure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sundar Pichai | Google / Alphabet | CEO | 2015–Present (Google), 2019–Present (Alphabet) |
| Satya Nadella | Microsoft | CEO | 2014–Present |
| Shantanu Narayen | Adobe | CEO | 2007–Present |
| Arvind Krishna | IBM | CEO | 2020–Present |
| Sanjay Mehrotra | Micron Technology | CEO | 2017–Present |
| Nikesh Arora | Palo Alto Networks | CEO | 2018–Present |
| Jayshree Ullal | Arista Networks | President & CEO | 2008–Present |
| George Kurian | NetApp | CEO | 2015–Present |
| Parag Agrawal | Twitter (X Corp) | CEO | 2021–2022 |
| Raghu Raghuram | VMware | CEO | 2021–2023 (acquired by Broadcom) |
| Jay Chaudhry | Zscaler | Founder & CEO | 2008–Present |
| Sanjay Jha | GlobalFoundries / Motorola Mobility | CEO | 2008–2012 (Motorola), 2014–2018 (GlobalFoundries) |
| Ajay Banga | Mastercard | CEO (now President of World Bank) | 2010–2021 |
| Dinesh Paliwal | Harman International | CEO (acquired by Samsung) | 2007–2020 |
| Sanjay Kumar | Computer Associates (CA) | CEO | 2000–2004 |
| Vivek Ranadivé | Tibco Software | Founder & CEO (acquired by Vista) | 1997–2014 |
| Sridhar Vembu | Zoho Corporation | CEO | 1996–Present |
| Padmasree Warrior | Cisco | CTO | 2007–2015 |
| Rajiv Gupta | Skyhigh Networks | CEO (acquired by McAfee) | 2012–2017 |
| Amit Singhal | SVP of Search | 2000–2016 | |
| Piyush Gupta | Citigroup | CEO (Asia Pacific) | 2015–Present |
| Guru Gowrappan | Verizon Media / Yahoo | CEO | 2018–2021 |
| Manoj Kohli | SoftBank India | Country Head | 2017–Present |
| Neal Mohan | YouTube | CEO | 2023–Present |
| Anjali Sud | Vimeo | CEO | 2017–Present |
| Niraj Shah | Wayfair | Co-founder & CEO | 2002–Present |
| Apu Gupta | Coupang (ex-Walmart Labs) | Former CEO (Walmart Labs) | 2011–2018 |
| Aneel Bhusri | Workday | Co-founder & CEO | 2005–Present |
| Thomas Kurian | Google Cloud | CEO | 2019–Present |
| Punit Renjen | Deloitte | Global CEO | 2015–2023 |
| Nikesh Arora | SoftBank Group | Former President | 2014–2016 |
| Romesh Wadhwani | Symphony Technology Group | Founder & CEO | 2002–Present |
| Vinod Khosla | Khosla Ventures | Founder (ex-Sun Microsystems) | 1982–Present |
Note that the last name – Vinod Khosla – is also the co-founder of Sun Microsystems which was one of the most influential companies in the 80’s and 90’s in Silicon Valley. Most famous for inventing Java.
What Does This List Mean for Tech India?
Let’s be honest. It means nothing for us in India.
In fact, I honestly think it gives the wrong message. There is STILL a craze among many Indian parents to pay for their sun to ‘study and work’ in the US. I have a lot of respect for those who ‘make it’ there, but I also feel for those who try to follow in others’ footsteps and get stuck.
For every Satya Nadella, there are 10 other Satyas who ‘didn’t make it’. I know people who have been working hard in the US for more than 15 years and don’t even have a green card yet.
Plus, there are more and more opportunities here in India as well. Let’s hope the tide turns.
Ultimately, each one should define what success looks like for them and strive to achieve it. Full power to those who want to move to the US so long as they want to and not because someone else did it.