Parag Agrawal joins growing list of Indian-origin CEOs leading US firms

With
his elevation as the chief executive of Twitter, Parag Agrawal joins a rising record of Indian-origin CEOs on the helm of a number of the greatest US know-how corporations.

At age 37, he’s the youngest CEO of any S&P 500 agency. The appointment additionally amplifies the function performed by immigrants in Silicon Valley.

“After nearly 16 years of getting a task at our firm…from co-founder to CEO to Chair to Exec Chair to interim-CEO to CEO…I made a decision it is lastly time for me to depart. Why?” Dorsey stated in a word asserting his resignation.

“The primary (cause) is Parag turning into CEO. The board ran a rigorous course of contemplating all choices and unanimously appointed Parag,” Dorsey stated. He is been my selection for a while given how deeply he understands the corporate and its wants… He leads with coronary heart and soul, and is somebody I be taught from every day. My belief in him as our CEO is bone deep,”

Agrawal’s ascension at Twitter follows that of Sundar Pichai at Alphabet Inc., Satya Nadella at Microsoft Corp., Arvind Krishna at IBM, Shantanu Narayen at Adobe, and Ajay Banga at Mastercard.

IBM’s Arvind Krishna

In January final yr, India-born know-how govt Arvind Krishna was named CEO of Worldwide Enterprise Machines Corp. after a “world-class succession course of”.

He succeeded Virginia Rometty, who had described him because the “proper CEO for the subsequent period at IBM” and “well-positioned” to guide the corporate into the cloud and cognitive period.

Krishna, 59, had joined IBM in 1990 after graduating from the Indian Institute of Expertise, Kanpur, and finishing a doctoral diploma in electrical engineering from College of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai

In August 2015, Sundar Pichai was named CEO of the newly organised Google, turning into solely the third chief govt of the corporate after former CEO Eric Schmidt and cofounder Larry Web page. In December 2019, he grew to become the CEO of Google’s guardian firm Alphabet.

Pichai wished Dorsey “the perfect forward” and congratulated Agrawal and Twitter’s new Chairman Bret Taylor, saying he’s “excited for Twitter’s future!”

Microsoft’s Satya Nadella

In February 2014, Microsoft veteran Satya Nadella was named CEO of the Redmond, Washington-based firm. With him on the helm, the Home windows maker has turn out to be the highest-valued agency on the earth, rivalling solely Apple Inc, in market capitalisation.

MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, PepsiCo’s former CEO Indra Nooyi and Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen are among the many different Indian-origin executives who’ve climbed up the company ladder and helmed multinational giants.

Decade-Lengthy Stint

An alumnus of IIT Bombay and Stanford College, Mumbai-born Agrawal joined Twitter 10 years in the past when the corporate had fewer than 1,000 workers. He was appointed the CTO in 2017 and yesterday, the CEO.

“Whereas it was a decade in the past, these days really feel like yesterday to me. I’ve walked in your footwear, I’ve seen the ups and downs, the challenges and obstacles, the wins and the errors,” he stated in a word to Twitter’s workers after his appointment was made public. “However then and now, above all else, I see Twitter’s unimaginable impression, our continued progress, and the thrilling alternatives forward of us.”

Additionally Learn:
The challenges that await Twitter’s new CEO Parag Agrawal

“The world is watching us proper now, much more than they’ve earlier than,” he additional stated. “Plenty of persons are going to have a lot of completely different views and opinions about as we speak… It’s as a result of they care about Twitter and our future, and it is a sign that the work we do right here issues.”

The Indian Benefit

Like his Valley compatriots, Agrawal comes from a technical background and labored his manner up inside the firm. Agrawal bought his engineering diploma from the Indian Institute of Expertise, Bombay. He secured a foothold in Silicon Valley after transferring onto Stanford College for his doctorate in pc science. His mom is a retired college instructor. His father was employed within the atomic power sector and held senior positions there.

“Being an Indian is a giant benefit now, folks anticipate us to be good engineers and good managers,” Vivek Wadhwa, a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Legislation College and the writer of a ebook profiling Nadella’s rise at Microsoft, instructed Bloomberg. “From what I do know, Parag Agrawal shares Satya’s values and has the same administration fashion.”

In a uncommon interview a yr in the past, Agrawal described Twitter’s technique of coping with misinformation as “an more and more nuanced method with a spread of interventions”. Echoing Dorsey’s long-held emphasis on making an attempt to maintain Twitter a impartial platform, he added that “we try to not adjudicate fact, we concentrate on potential for hurt”.

Elevating Agrawal will assist, in response to Wadhwa. “Jack’s vanity turned many governments off,” he stated. “In case you word how Microsoft has not been the goal of the left or proper within the U.S., it’s due to Satya and his potential to take heed to criticism and keep a stability. I anticipate that Agrawal will do the identical.”

With company inputs.