Neal Mohan is the newest Indian-origin business executive to take over the top position in a global company like YouTube around the world. Mohan takes over from Susan Wojcicki as the fourth CEO of the online video sharing and social media platform. According to reports, Mohan was born in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and graduated with a degree in electric engineering from Stanford University. Before becoming the CEO, he joined YouTube as the Chief Product Officer in 2015 and has been instrumental in building YouTube Music, YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, and YouTube Shorts. Previously, Mohan was associated with Google. Photo Courtesy: AFP

Sundar Pichai is now a global name and the face of Google. All the more, after he took over as the CEO of Google in 2015 before becoming the CEO of Alphabet Inc in 2019, after joining the tech giant in 2004. He was reportedly also a contender for Microsoft’s CEO in 2014 but that eventually went to Satya Nadella, as we know. Pichai, who is from Madurai in Tamil Nadu, has done his metallurgical engineering from IIT Kharagpur. After he moved to the US, he also did his M.S in materials science and engineering at Stanford University before getting an MBA from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Photo: AFP

Even before Nadella and Pichai were notably recognised as Indian-origin heads of global companies, Shantanu Narayen became the CEO of Adobe in December 2007 after joining them in 1998. At the time, Narayen was already the president and chief operating officer of the American multinational software company. Like Nadella, even Narayen was born in Hyderabad and earned his bachelor’s in electronics and communication engineering from Osmania University. With the aim of pursuing his higher education, he got his masters in computer science from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and then went on to get his MBA from Haas School of Business, University of California in Berkeley. Photo Courtesy: AFP

Before Pichai took over as the CEO of Google, Satya Nadella became the CEO and executive chairman of Microsoft in 2014, even as the former was considered as a contender for the role. Nadella was born in Hyderabad, in what is today known as Telangana. After completing his schooling in Hyderabad, Nadella got his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology in Karnataka. After which he went on to do get his M.S in computer science from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee before getting an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Nadella has been with Microsoft since 1992. 

It is not only Indian men but also women who hold the top positions at influential companies around the world. While the likes of Indra Nooyi have been the CEO of PepsiCo in the past, Leena Nair was appointed as the global CEO of French luxury fashion house Chanel in December 2021. Incidentally, she happens to be the mentee of Nooyi. Nair grew up in Kolhapur in Maharashtra and after doing her schooling there, she did her bachelor’s in electronics and telecommunication (E&TC) Engineering from Walchand College of Engineering in Sangli and graduated from Xavier School of Management in Jamshedpur as a gold medalist too. Photo Courtesy: Leena Nair's Twitter account