By Suman Guha Mozumder
ast week, when Google
announced the name
of Sundar Pichai as its
CEO, the first Indian-
American to head the
world’s largest internet
search engine company, which
last week became a wholly-
owned subsidiary of the newly-
created Alphabet following
strategic restructuring of the
$400 billion tech giant, a cele-
bratory mood gripped tech-
workers in SiliconValley.
For many Indian-Americans,
who have a large presence in
SiliconValley, the mood was
almost akin to a Diwali except
that nobody was actually light-
ing up earthen lamps in their
homes. “The Indian-American
community was kind of feeling
giddy with the stupendous suc-
cess of one of their own and for
most of them it was simply
incredible,” said venture capital-
ist Vish Mishra of Clearstone
Venture Partners, and a former
president of The Indus
Entrepreneurs. For those in the
SiliconValley, who
knew Pichai as
Chhupa Rustam
from his IIT
Kharagpur days for
ability to spring a
surprise when it is
least expected, the
man has arrived.
“It just uplifted
their mood,” he said
adding that the excitement was
infectious and gripped people
in other communities as well
and in other cities of North
America as also in India.
“Obviously, people were
extremely upbeat over his
appointment and for right rea-
sons. After all, this was really
huge and all of us celebrated the
announcement,” said Avik Pal,
president, IIT Foundation, Bay
area Chapter (Alumni associa-
tion of IIT Kharagpur).
The joy was in India as well.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
who is scheduled to visit Silicon
Valley during his official engage-
ment in the United States next
month, congratulated 43-year-
old Madurai-born Pichai. Within
hours of his promotion
announcement, Modi tweeted
him. “Congratulations @sun-
darpichai. My best wishes for
the new role at @google,” he
wrote on Twitter.
Although it was incredible for
many that a 43-year-old Indian-
American could rise to the helm
of a company like Google at a
relatively young age, those in
know of things said it was in the
making given his incredible tal-
ent, and dedication to the com-
pany he joined about 11 years
ago as a leader of product man-
agement and innovation. “He
was bound to rise through the
corporate ladder some day. The
only thing is that he rose to the
top faster than many thought he
would,” Mishra said. TheWall
Street Journal noted that the
low-key style of Sundar, whose
full name is Sundararajan
Pichai, paid off.
Pichai, who was raised in
Madras, is an IIT-Kharagpur
alumnus and holds an MS in
Engineering and Materials
Science from Stanford
University and an MBA from the
Wharton School. He came to the
U.S. on a scholarship to study at
Stanford University— the alma
mater of Google founders,
including Larry Page
In a Google blog post while
announcing restructuring the
company, Page, the outgoing
CEO, wrote that Sundar has
been saying the things he (Page)
would have said (and some-
times better!) for quite some
time now. “I’ve been tremen-
dously enjoying our work
together. He has really stepped
up since October of last year,
when he took on product and
engineering responsibility for
our Internet
businesses.
Sergey and I
have been super
excited about his
progress and
dedication to the
company.
“And it is clear
to us and our
board that it is
time for Sundar to be CEO of
Google. I feel very fortunate to
have someone as talented as he
is to run the slightly slimmed
down Google,” Page wrote.
Following his appointment as
CEO of Google Pichai becomes
only the second person of
Indian origin after Satya
Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, to
head a technology titan, and
joins the league of illustrious
professionals like Shantanu
Narayen, CEO of Adobe, Indra
Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, and Ajay
Banga, president and CEO
MasterCard.
Among them, Microsoft's
Nadella was the first to congrat-
ulate Pichai. He tweeted on
Pichai's elevation at the compa-
ny, writing in the micro-blog-
ging site: "Congrats @sun-
darpichai Well-deserved.”
Pichai's parents R.S. Pichai
News India Times
August 21, 2015
8
– that’s all you need to know
Cover Story
L
Silicon Valley’s
‘Chhupa Rustam’
As Google Names India-Born Sundar Pichai As CEO
“Indians know
that people are
different, not
inferior, and
not superior”
Sundar Pichai, center,
Google's Jonathan
Rosenberg talking to
Hillary Clinton.
