Adobe to WhatsApp: 18 Indian-origin CEOs leading some of the world's biggest companies

Adobe named Chakravarthy its next president and CEO on September 3, 2026, effective December 1. He will succeed fellow Indian-origin executive Shantanu Narayen, who is moving to executive chair after more than 18 years as CEO. Born in India, Anil Chakravarthy studied computer science at IIT Varanasi before earning a master's and PhD from MIT. He worked at McKinsey and held senior roles at VeriSign and Symantec before becoming CEO of Informatica. He joined Adobe in 2020 and now leads its Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations.

Born and raised in Hyderabad, Satya Nadella studied electrical engineering at Mangalore University before moving to the US for a master's in computer science and an MBA. He joined Microsoft in 1992 and rose through its cloud and enterprise businesses. Microsoft appointed him CEO in February 2014, succeeding Steve Ballmer. He later became chairman.

Sundar Pichai grew up in Chennai and studied metallurgical engineering at IIT Kharagpur before moving to the US for further studies. He joined Google in 2004 and rose through product leadership, including Chrome. He became Google's CEO in 2015 and Alphabet's CEO in 2019, succeeding Larry Page in the latter role.

Arvind Krishna was born in India and studied electrical engineering at IIT Kanpur before pursuing postgraduate studies in the US. He joined IBM in 1990 and rose through its technology businesses, eventually leading Cloud and Cognitive Software. He became IBM's CEO in April 2020, succeeding Ginni Rometty.

Born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, Leena Nair studied engineering at Walchand College and later earned an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur. She spent nearly three decades at Unilever, rising from management trainee to chief human resources officer. Chanel appointed her global CEO in January 2022, bringing her from Unilever into the luxury industry.

Born in Thiruvananthapuram, Raj Subramaniam studied chemical engineering at IIT Bombay before moving to the US. He joined FedEx in 1991 and held senior roles across operations, marketing and international markets. He became president and CEO in June 2022, succeeding FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith, who became executive chairman.

Born in Pampady, Kerala, George Kurian studied electrical engineering at Princeton University before earning an MBA from Stanford. His career included senior roles at Oracle, McKinsey, Akamai and Cisco. He joined NetApp in 2011 and rose through its product leadership ranks before becoming CEO in June 2015, succeeding Tom Georgens.

Born in India, Revathi Advaithi studied electrical engineering at BITS Pilani and built a career across industrial and electrical companies. She spent more than 20 years at Eaton, eventually becoming president and COO of its Electrical Sector. Flex appointed her CEO in February 2019, bringing her from Eaton to lead the global manufacturing company.

Vasant Narasimhan comes from an Indian-American family and studied biological sciences and medicine at Harvard. He joined Novartis in 2005 and held several leadership positions in drug development before becoming chief medical officer. Novartis appointed him CEO in February 2018, succeeding Joseph Jimenez, who retired after eight years in the role.

C. S. Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, was born in India and studied at MIT before earning a doctorate in operations research. He built much of his banking career at Barclays, becoming group chief risk officer and later leading its trading businesses. He became group CEO in November 2021, succeeding Jes Staley.

Vimal Kapur studied electronics engineering at Thapar Institute of Engineering in Patiala. He began his career at a Honeywell joint venture in India in 1989 and spent more than three decades rising through the company. After serving as president and COO, he became CEO in June 2023, succeeding Darius Adamczyk.

Born in Kanpur, Sanjay Mehrotra moved to the US at 18 to study electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley. He co-founded SanDisk in 1988 and eventually became its president and CEO. After Western Digital acquired SanDisk, Micron appointed him president and CEO in 2017, succeeding Mark Durcan.

Born in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, Nikesh Arora studied electrical engineering at IIT BHU before moving to the US. He spent a decade at Google and later became president and COO of SoftBank. Palo Alto Networks appointed him CEO and chairman in June 2018, succeeding Mark McLaughlin.

Born in London and raised in New Delhi, Jayshree Ullal studied electrical engineering in the US and built a career in networking, including more than 15 years at Cisco. She joined Arista in 2008 as president and CEO and helped take the company public in 2014.

Born in India, Sridhar Ramaswamy studied electrical engineering at IIT Madras before earning a PhD in computer science from Brown University. He spent more than 15 years at Google, where he led advertising products, before founding AI search startup Neeva. Snowflake acquired Neeva and named him CEO in February 2024, succeeding Frank Slootman.

Born in Mumbai, Shailesh Jejurikar studied economics at Mumbai University and earned his MBA from IIM Lucknow. He joined P&G in 1989 and spent his career across businesses and markets worldwide, eventually becoming COO. He became P&G's president and CEO on January 1, 2026, succeeding Jon Moeller, who became executive chairman.

Kunal Shah is an Indian entrepreneur best known for founding FreeCharge and CRED. After building CRED into a major fintech platform, he announced in 2026 that he would step away from its operating role and join Meta to lead WhatsApp globally. His role has not been labelled as "WhatsApp CEO" but "Head of WhatsApp."