When Satya Nadella became the CEO of Microsoft…
Hours ago, when Indians were rejoicing about the God of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar being conferred with Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, another toast for the nation was on its way. Hyderabad-born Satya Nadella was announced the new CEO of Microsoft replacing Steve Ballmer, making him perhaps the most powerful tech executive India has given to the world.
Nadella, 46, was born to an IAS officer in Hyderabad, B N Yugandhar. After completing his schooling from Hyderabad Public School in Begumpet, he graduated from Manipal Institute of Technology, Karnataka with a Bachelor in Electronics and Communication engineering. In the next few years he moved to U.S. to pursue Master’s in Computer Science from Wisconsin University. He also holds a degree in MBA from the University of Chicago.
Considered to be one of the brightest minds at Microsoft and a visionary with calm and composed nature, Nadella held the post of Executive Vice President at Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group, which was responsible for running computing platforms, developing tools and cloud services.
It is a matter of pride for the nation. Students, faculty and the directorial board at his graduation college- MIT Manipal have been basking in glory ever since the news came up. Apart from Nadella, the man who was in the run for Microsoft’s CEO was another Indian-American, Chennai-born Sundar Pichai- another glory for the nation, indeed.
On the occasion Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, quoted “There is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella. Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision, and the ability to bring people together.”
Nadella’s naming to the post makes him the third CEO of Microsoft. Having dedicated 22 years of his career to Microsoft, Nadella’s vision for technology and the experience he possesses is one in a million or so says his colleagues. Describing his unique nature Nadella said that the thing he loves to do the most is learning- learning about new things, innovation and growth. Well, we now know where is all this knowledge and experience of his inspired from.
No sooner than Nadella was declared the CEO, social media websites flowed with the feelings of overwhelmed Indians all over the world. A matter of international fame and honour, Nadella at a relatively young age oversaw one of Microsoft’s fastest growing divisions which accounted for billions of dollars in the last fiscal year.
While Nadella’s plan for Microsoft remains unknown, in his first letter as the CEO to his employees he talked about his intentions and ideas about the firm. “This is a critical time for the industry and for Microsoft. Make no mistake, we are headed for greater places – as technology evolves and we evolve with and ahead of it. Our job is to ensure that Microsoft thrives in a mobile and cloud-first world,” he said.
We believe that Nadella’s earlier roles, experience and knowledge positions him as a strong technical leader in the world. As a youth, as an Indian, as an alumni of the same college, I wish Nadella the best and hope he brings more laurels to the nation and achieves more victories. More power to his mind!
