Sundar Pichai: Google's New CEO – Great Tamilian!!!

Co-founders of Google, Larry page and Sergey Brin have decided to subsume their company into

new parent firm- Alphabet on August 10. The news of the sweeping reorganization of the search

giant came along with naming Sundar Pichai as the new CEO at Google.

The move was quite surprising where the cofounders unveiled the launch of new umbrella

company -Alphabet under which Google would remain the biggest piece. The new structured

Alphabet would include Google, Calico, X lab, Google's investment arms, Ventures and Capital

whereas the subsidiary Google would take under search, maps, apps, ads, Android and YouTube

and associated technical infrastructure.Sundar Pichai, 43, a Chennai native, had joined Google

back in 2004. Although Pichai’s journey had been slow, he steadily climbed the ladder of

success in Google.

The influential business leader with the rare managerial quality, Pichai Sundararajan graduated

from IIT Kharagpur and Stanford University. He started off in Google working on their Toolbar

followed by leading the famed browser Chrome in 2008. Following this elevation, he was then

named the Senior Vice President of all the Google apps and finally was handed the operations of

Android.This major leap would mean that now two of the world’s largest tech companies will be

headed by executives of Indian-origin- Pichai at Goolge and Satya Nadella at Microsoft. Pichai

being named as the new CEO at Google would also mark a milestone for Indian-origin CEOs

and techies who have been on an evangelical kind of journey to set new benchmarks in world of

technology.

Early life and Background Born on July 12, 1972 in Chennai, India, Pichai finished his early education and schooling from

Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, Jawahar Vidyalaya and VanaVani. He holds a B.Tech degree in

Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur. He moved to U.S. in the year 1993 to pursue

higher education. He completed MS from Stanford University followed by pursuing an MBA

from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Work Life Before joining Google he had been a part of McKinsey & Company in management consulting

and Applied Materials in engineering and product management.

Early Google Days Pichai joined Google in 2004 and worked on Toolbar, Google Gears and Google Pack before the

launch of Google Chrome. Witnessing the surge in user searches and success of Toolbar, Google

came up with the idea of launching its own browser.

Launch of Chrome and Ascent of Pichai He controlled the product management and innovation efforts for client’s software products like

Google Chrome and Chrome OS. Recognizing his efforts, Pichai was soon named the Vice

President of product development launching the successful Chrome browser in the year 2008 and

then Chrome OS in 2009. With time he became popular in Google. Being named as the Senior

Vice President of Chrome and apps in 2012 was yet another milestone he achieved.

Jump To Android The year 2013 marked an important event in Sundar Pichai’s work life when he replaced Andy

Rubin as the Android Chief. Although Rubin has been behind the creation and fame of Android,

however, Larry Page found that Pichai could bring more accomplishments to it.

Samsung and Android Ties Pichai is popular as one of the most diplomat employees at Google. Everyone loves him for his

humble approach to everything. He is the one who can be credited for having maintained smooth

ties with company partners like Samsung. Android One in India, too, was one of his initiatives.

Product Chief and Finally CEO In October, 2014, he was appointed as the Product Chief by Larry Page. And finally on August

10, 2015 he was named the CEO at Google which makes him the second Indian-origin employee

to head one of the leading tech companies in the world.

Family Background Pichai’s father worked as an electrical engineer in a British firm, GEC. He credits a major part of

his success to his wife, Anjali Pichai. The couple presently dwells in San Francisco Bay Area

and is blessed with a daughter and a son.

Hobbies and Interests He has been a keen cricketer and was also the captain his high school cricket team. Under his

captainship the team won at Tamil Nadu regional cricket tournament. He also finds interest in

playing chess.