Indians aren’t just lapping up plum CEO positions in tech, but they’re also heading crucial verticals within these tech companies.
IIT Madras graduate Pavan Davuluri has been appointed the head of Microsoft Windows and Surface divisions. Last year, Microsoft had split the Windows and Surface teams into separate groups, but is now bringing them together under Pavan Davuluri. Davuluri will report to Rajesh Jha, Microsoft’s head of experiences and devices.
Davuluri has followed the well-trodden path from attending a premier engineering school in India to ending up at the upper echelons of global tech companies. Davuluri had graduated from IIT Madras, and then moved to the US, completing an MS from the University of Maryland. He had joined Microsoft immediately after, working as a Reliability Component Manager at the company beginning 2001. He rose through the ranks, becoming a Design Verification Manager, a Distinguished Engineer, and the Corporate Vice President of the Windows Silicon and Systems Integration divisions. He now is the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Windows and Surface teams.
Davuluri isn’t the only Indian engineer who’s ended up at at a distinguished role at a US-based tech giant. Davuluri’s CEO, Satya Nadella, had a degree from Manipal Institute of Technology and had spent over decades at Microsoft before being appointed its CEO. Sundar Pichai, meanwhile is the CEO of Google, Adobe’s CEO is Shantanu Narayen, and IBM’s CEO is Arvind Krishna. Some products within these companies are also headed by Indians — Neal Mohan, for instance, heads YouTube within Google. And with the world’s most popular Operating System — Microsoft Windows — also headed by an Indian-origin executive, the country’s tech elite continue to make their marks across the world.