India born Satya Nadella is the New CEO of Microsoft

As Satya Nadella becomes the third CEO of Microsoft, he brings a relentless drive for innovation and a spirit of collaboration to his new role. He joined Microsoft 22 years ago because he saw how clearly Microsoft empowers people to do magical things and ultimately make the world a better place. Many companies, he says, “aspire to change the world. But very few have all the elements required: talent, resources and perseverance. Microsoft has proven that it has all three in abundance.”

“During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella,” said Bill Gates, Microsoft’s founder and Chairman of the Board, adding, “Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together.”

In his email to Microsoft employees on his first day as CEO Mr. Nadella said, “Today is a very humbling day for me. It reminds me of my very first day at Microsoft, 22 years ago… I saw then how clearly we empower people to do magical things with our creations and ultimately make the world a better place.”

Who is Satya Nadella?
Born in 1969 in Hyderabad, India, Satya Nadella finished his schooling at the Hyderabad Public School, and earned his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Communication from the Manipal Institute of Technology. He, like so many of the engineers at the time, then completed his engineering education abroad, with a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Finally, he rounded off his education with a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago.

Nadella started his career at Sun Microsystems, before moving to Microsoft in 1992, where he joined as a Program Manager in the Windows Developer Relations group. Nadella quickly rose up the ranks, becoming the Senior Vice President of Research & Development for the Online Services division, the Vice President of the Microsoft Business Solutions group (MBS), and notably, the President of the $19 billion Microsoft Server and Tools Business.

During his meteoric rise, the Indian-American also founded and led the ‘Microsoft bCentral’ small business online services group, was general manager for the company’s Commerce Platforms group, and is considered responsible for spearheading the development of the Microsoft Commerce Server, Microsoft BizTalk Server, Microsoft Office Small Business, and Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM products.

Nadella is also considered to have played a significant part in Microsoft’s foray into advanced technologies like digital rights management (DRM) and interactive television (ITV).

As the head of the company’s Server and Tools Business, Nadella spearheaded the ‘transformation of the business and technology from client-server software to cloud infrastructure and services,’ according to Microsoft.