Twitter's New CEO Parag Agrawal Joins Club Of India-Born US Tech Captains
NDTV
Parag Agrawal joins Satya Nadella of Microsoft Corp, Shantanu Narayen of Adobe Inc, Arvind Krishna of International Business Machines Corp and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet Inc among the highest-profile leaders of US firms from Indian origin.
Twitter Inc on Monday became the latest Silicon Valley titan to appoint an Indian-born chief executive officer, joining the likes of Microsoft and Google in recognizing the Asian country as one of the world's richest pools of tech talent.
The appointment of former Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal to the top spot at Twitter amplifies the role played by immigrants in the world's largest technology companies. He joins Satya Nadella of Microsoft Corp, Shantanu Narayen of Adobe Inc, Arvind Krishna of International Business Machines Corp. and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet Inc among the highest-profile leaders of US firms from Indian origin. Between them, that group of executives pilots companies with a combined market value nearing $5 trillion. Outside of tech, Indra Nooyi led PepsiCo Inc. for 12 years and Ajay Banga is executive chairman of Mastercard Inc after a decade as CEO.
Like his Valley compatriots, Mr Agrawal comes from a technical background and worked his way up within the company. At age 37, he's the youngest CEO of any S&P 500 firm. Mr Agrawal got his engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, which as the country's premier tech college has spawned generations of prominent politicians and corporate leaders, including Mr Pichai and Mr Krishna. He secured a foothold in Silicon Valley after moving onto Stanford University for his doctorate in computer science.
Twitter co-founder and outgoing CEO Jack Dorsey endorsed Mr Agrawal's technical capabilities as "transformational" in his note upon stepping down. But it'll be the new leader's skill in navigating thorny issues like free speech, race relations and relationships with governments that will soon be tested.
