Indian CEO | Jayshree Ullal | Global Indian

Global IndianstoryJayshree Ullal: The Indian-origin CEO who is on Forbes’ 2022 list of America’s richest self-made women

Jayshree Ullal: The Indian-origin CEO who is on Forbes’ 2022 list of America’s richest self-made women

Written by: Amrita Priya

(July 27, 2022) In a fireside chat with Satya Nadella, when Jayshree Ullal brought up the topic of leadership, Nadella quickly responded that he finds people like her, who have created massive organisations out of nothing, inspirational and that he learns quite a lot by watching such leadership.

Since the time Jayshree joined as the CEO and president of the then newly launched Arista Networks in 2008, she has nurtured the organisation into a global leader in networking technology. An American computer networking startup with just 50 employees and pretty low revenue, Arista Networks blossomed into a specialised market leader in the area of open-source cloud software and Ethernet switches. Under Jayshree’s leadership, the company went public and launched its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. It has scaled up to an employee strength of close to 3,000 and a revenue of $2.95 billion as recorded in 2021. Global Indian turns its spotlight on the quintessential woman in STEM.

Jayshree Ullal, CEO, Arista Networks

From London to India to the USA

Born in London to physicists Sudarajan and Nirmala Vedantham, Jayshree moved to India as a five-year-old. She studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Delhi — an all-girls school with an inclination towards math and science, in contrast to the popular choice of her classmates.

Right after completing her high school, she moved to the US, where her father was transferred. She chose San Francisco State University for her degree in electrical engineering. However, interestingly, she was among the only two girls in the class of 70. Unfazed by this gap, she continued pursuing what she loved and went on to get her master’s degree in engineering management from Santa Clara University, California.

To ensure that there are more women in the sphere of technology, in an interview with BusinessLine, she said:

“We should encourage girls to pursue science and math in their early school years and must not let them opt out.”

Jayshree Ullal with her sister when they were kids

Broadening the skill set

Starting her career in the 1980s with Advanced Micro Devices, Jayshree went on to work for organisations like Fairchild Semiconductor and Ungermann-Bass. She moved up the ladder at Crescendo Communications, where she became vice president of marketing, having broadened her skills to transform herself into an engineer with a knack for marketing.

When Tom Mendoza, former president and vice chairman of the pioneering data management company NetApp, conducted a virtual conversation with her for his webinar series, Jayshree gave solid advice for aspiring professionals and students. “In today’s world, interdisciplinary fields are more important than ever,” she mentioned.

Recommending to not just seek what one’s gift is, but also to know how one can connect the dots between one’s gift and other areas, she said:

“If you’re in engineering, you might have to learn some business. If you’re in computer science, you might want to learn something about data science and analytics. If you’re in marketing, you might want to study how lead generation is done today.”

In 1993, Cisco Systems purchased Crescendo Communications, and Jayshree became an integral part of the tech giant, overseeing more than 20 mergers and acquisitions in her journey to becoming senior vice president of the organisation. She invested 15 years of her career polishing her leadership skills at Cisco when the initial contract with the organisation was just for two years.

Setting the benchmark

Later, Jayshree Ullal took charge as the top executive of Arista Networks and added her own touch of leadership to the organisation with the notion that neither two CEOs nor two companies and their business models are alike, and hence, working with one’s own trademark leadership style, fine-tuning it with the nature of the business, is something that is going to help the organisation thrive. Arista Networks thrived, indeed becoming a game changer under Jayshree’s leadership.

According to reports, the Indian-origin CEO with an entrepreneurial bent of mind owns about 5 percent of Arista’s stock and has a net worth of close to $2 billion as of 2022. She has also joined the board of directors of Snowflake, a cloud computing company that went public in September 2020.

The value of human connections

The leader, who has constantly defied norms, strongly believes in a support system – be it family at home or colleagues at work. The mother of two has always credited the support of her husband, Vijay Ullal, her parents, sister and her spouse for her successful innings as a top business executive. “Not trying to be perfect all the time, being realistic” and “to be able to make trade-offs” are some of her winning mantras for sailing successfully in both worlds.

Indian CEO | Jayshree Ullal | Global Indian

Jayshree has always voiced the significance of identifying the special gift that we possess, creating one’s own turning points, and valuing the human connections in the journey of life.

Some of the awards and recognition that have come her way:

Ernst & Young bestowed her with the Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015.
She was recognised as one of Barron’s World’s Best CEOs in 2018.
She was recognised as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology by the California Diversity Council in 2018.
She became one of Fortune’s Top 20 Business Persons in 2019.
In the list of 100, she appears on 15th position on Forbes 2022 America’s Richest Self-Made Women

Follow Jayshree Ullal on LinkedIn

Name*

Email*

Name*

Email*

0 Comments

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Published on 27, Jul 2022

Share with

ALSO READ

Chef Krishna Chaithanya gives Indian food a contemporary touch and flair at Zila

The depth of Indian cuisine with French finesse are given a modern interpretation by Chef Krishna Chaithanya, the Chef De Cuisine at Zila in Hyderabad. “The food I make represents my entire culinary journey thus far; it is parts of everywhere I have been,” says Krishna Chaithanya, Chef De Cuisine at Zila - the progressive, upmarket restaurant in the Knowledge City area of Hyderabad. And he has been around the block – working at several legendary brands with Michelin starred chefs. Each time, the urge to move has been spurred by wanting to get creative with what he did. And the learning offered with these moves now reflect in the gourmet food with an Indian heart that he makes. An early start On paternity leave at the time of the interview, Chef Krishna’s family friends and cousins are associated with the Vellanki Foods and the Rameshwaram Café brands. Several others owned tiffin centres and messes which served simple, wholesome fare. He recalls, “I was exposed to the restaurant and food business even during school, when I would go to help out in the absence of a staffer. Though my parents wanted me to take up engineering, I chose to go

wanted me to take up engineering, I chose to go to culinary school. I joined the Culinary Academy of Hyderabad and my parents saw the change in me. I was more driven and focussed. For my first internship I chose ITC Park Sheraton, now the Crowne Plaza, in Chennai, as I wanted to explore life and food outside Hyderabad. I would explore the food and neighbouring areas like Puducherry.”

[caption id="attachment_48993" align="aligncenter" width="621"] Chef Krishna Chaithanya is the Chef de Cuisine at Zila in Hyderabad[/caption]

Chef Krishna joined the Taj Krishna Hyderabad, after completing his course, as a hotel operations management trainee. This was his base for four years and he worked at Firdaus, their Indian restaurant, and Encounters and Alfresco, the all-day diner. This was followed by a short stint at Barbecue Nation, setting up their flagship outlet, and then Taj Krishna again as for what was to be a short stint. In the midst of all this, in 2017, he was part of a team that was sent to Davos, Switzerland, as part of the Andhra Pradesh entourage for the World Economic Forum. His job was to cook Andhra food through the day – from breakfast to lunch to high tea for the delegates who visited their stall called Sunrise Café. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to then AP CM Chandrababu Naidu and several world leaders, they all sampled the food he had made.

Michelin Stars and more

Then, a call from a friend in Bangkok led Chef Krishna to the kind of creative environment he craved. Gaggan Anand, the Michelin star chef wanted to speak to him. He recalls, “It was past midnight and Chef Gaggan called; all he asked me was whether I could make idlis, dosas and upma. I said yes and he asked me to come to Bangkok as he was looking for someone with my skill set. It was barely five months after I had rejoined the Taj and this was an offer of a lifetime. There is no culture of holding back anyone at the Taj, so I decided to go to Bangkok despite misgivings from my family and girlfriend.”

Moving to Thailand and specifically, working with Gaggan Anand was, for Chef Krishna “an experience like that of a kid in a candy shop. There was so much equipment I had never seen before – where a carrot would go in at one end and come out as paper at the other. It felt like a miracle and took a week for it to sink in. I finally felt like this is what creativity should be. The usage and understanding of food at a molecular level, playing around with textures of dishes and learning the attitude of ‘why not’ were my biggest takeaways here.”

Unfortunately for Chef Krishna, after three months, due to some differences between the investors and Chef Gaggan, the restaurant closed down and he chose to go with the investors who wanted to start something new. The core team was sent to India to explore the cuisines they specialised in before the launch. While he was here, he got the opportunity to work at Karavalli, at the Taj Gateway in Bengaluru, which strengthened the foundation of his knowledge of South Indian cuisine. “I travelled to Chennai, all over Karnataka, sampled several dishes and found out how they were originally made. It was like a research trip. Then, as we entered Bangkok the lockdown began and five or six of us were cooped up in an apartment. We started experimenting with dishes and creating new ones for the restaurant. The investor, Rajesh Kewalramani, wanted us to capture the finesse of European food and add it to the depth that Indian food already had.”

The restaurant they helped set up is now called Indee, and it has recently been awarded a Michelin star. Again, Chef Krishna had to move, this time for personal reasons. On his return to India, he joined the Sheraton Grand in Pune where he was in charge of creating the menu for global cuisine at their restaurant Nuvo, which was a fine dining restaurant in the evening and after 11 pm, it turned into a high energy nightclub. He says, “Here I had the freedom to do anything with the food and while it was creatively a great step, I still missed Indian cuisine. After a year, I got the offer to move to Hyderabad with Zila and I took it up because we were expecting our first baby and it made sense to be close to family.”

At home with contemporary trends

At Zila, Chef Krishna seems to have finally found his groove. Indian food is given the finesse of presentation like European food. Its soul is essentially Indian and experimentation is within those parameters. Chef Krishna explains, “We make a kachumber which looks nothing like what it traditionally is. It is a constructed salad with stracciatella topped with cured cucumbers in sake, mirin apple cider vinegar and black salt, then arranged with sliced heirloom tomatoes topped with a smoked tomato and date chutney. Then we add a dollop of our chunky mint chutney to bring all the ingredients together. To make it sustainable we make a juice out of all the trimming of vegetables and season and foam it up and serve it on the side. This is in keeping with the global trend of sustainability, as it has zero wastage.”

With so much thought going into a salad, other dishes get similar respect. With Rogan Josh, instead of mutton, he uses lotus stem, which is also native to Kashmir. “The easiest option to replace meat with a vegetable is raw jackfruit. I wanted to move away from that and try something else. It has become one of our most ordered dishes.”

In a nutshell, Chef Krishna reiterates that at Zila, they are elevating age old recipes, giving them a modern touch without losing out on the soul of the dish. A kulcha comes stuffed with brie and bird’s eye chillies, topped with aragula leaves, and the raw mango and cranberry chunda is a marriage between an Amritsari kulcha and a French puff pastry to give it a crunch.

And while he thinks he is still a long way from having the expertise of writing his own cookbook, he believes that sustainability and conscious eating are the zeitgeist now. “People are more aware of what they eat; our customers even ask us about the source of our ingredients. We try and minimise wastage and use every part of the vegetable where possible. Complex flavours are the big thing right now; whether through Pan Asian or Indian cooking.”

While travelling, Chef Krishna likes to eat at:

Garden Vada Pav, Pune: Vada Pav
Saengchai Pochana, Bangkok: Pad kra paw gai
Ram Ke Laddu, Lajpat Nagar, Delhi: Laddu
Shivaji Military Hotel, Bengaluru: Mutton Biryani and Mutton Chops
Nair Mess, Chepauk, Chennai: Meals
You can follow Chef Krishna on Instagram: coconut_curryleaf

Indian engineer Dr Madhu Bhaskaran – Covid-proofing the workplace with sensor touch tech

(January 11, 2022) This Indian engineer and innovator is creating cutting edge tech in Australia. In the news during the ongoing Covid pandemic, Dr Madhu Bhaskaran and her husband Prof Sharath Sriram had created a sensor which detects asymptomatic Covid before you enter a workplace. Most recently, their research also led to wearable nicotine sensors. “My advice for those that want to make a difference - kill self-doubt as early as possible in your life. Once you do that, it’s smooth sailing all along.” Dr Madhu Bhakaran From an aspiring graduate student at PSG Tech in Coimbatore to the head of a research team at RMIT University Melbourne (formerly Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), it’s been a long but eventful two-decade journey for Dr Bhaskaran. “During my early years, my life was filled with self-doubt, especially on the academic front. Like any teenager, I had to battle these issues without letting it affect my career. Looking back, I’m proud to have handled it in a way where today, I’m able to create innovations for the world,” Indian engineer tells Global Indian. [caption id="attachment_18681" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Dr Madhu Bhaskaran with husband Prof Sharath Sriram[/caption] The winner of the Eureka

">Global Indian.

[caption id="attachment_18681" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Indian Engineer | Dr Madhu Bhaskaran | Global Indian Dr Madhu Bhaskaran with husband Prof Sharath Sriram[/caption]

The winner of the Eureka Award for Science in 2017, her incisive innovative work on artificial skin also won her Australia’s prestigious, 2018 APEC (Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation) Science Prize for Innovation. The Victoria fellow has also been named as one of the Top 10 Innovators under 35 for Asia (MIT Technology Review 2016).

A solution for real-time Covid detection

The Covid crisis offered a new healthcare challenge. In July 2021, the Indian engineer became the co-developer in an RMIT team headed by her husband Prof Sharath Sriram, and delivered an instant Covid sensor that can detect the presence of tiny amounts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants. The Indian engineer incidentally met Sharath during her engineering course, and together they have turned this personal partnership into a hugely innovative professional one too.

Reliable, accurate and non-invasive, the product is currently being rolled out as the “Soterius Scout sensor” and claims to deliver results within a minute to provide the all-clear for someone to enter their work environment, or alert them if they need to undertake a medical Covid test and self-isolate.

The technology will be manufactured in Australia and will initially be delivered to hospitals, with future applications in other front line worker and high-traffic settings including senior citizen care, quarantine hotels, airports and educational institutions.

Indian Engineer | Dr Madhu Bhaskaran | Global Indian

The sensor that harnesses nanotechnology-enabled biosensors were developed by Prof Sriram and Dr Bhaskaran’s team at the leading-edge Micro Nano Research Facility (RMIT). “The pandemic is not going away any time soon and we need smart solutions to help us detect the virus and contain outbreaks,” Prof Sriram says.

On the pinnacle of cutting edge tech, Indian engineer says, “It is exciting to see our platform sensor technology at the core of this smart new solution for the management of the pandemic, and other respiratory viruses in workplaces. Our innovation can be a model not just for Australia but also densely populated countries like India where quick diagnosis can cumulatively reduce disease spread and save lives.”

A couple working together can get complicated at times, but the Bhaskerans have found a way to go beyond science (just about). “We do get bored as we constantly talk about science and work. Once in a while, we unwind and travel. We love exploring new and lesser known yet exotic places," adds the innovator.

Spearheading global neurology innovation

At the core of this innovation is advanced neurology. Today, the Indian engineer’s work has also made possible, the development of electronic artificial skin that mimics the human body’s near-instant feedback response, and can react to painful sensations with the same lighting speed with which nerve signals travel to the brain. We are familiar with neurologists that use pin pricks or a gentle touch with a hammer to check if a patient is paralysed in any limb. If such skin sensors are damaged, a person loses the sense of touch. Now with Dr Bhaskaran’s research and work, there is hope that artificial skin can replace damaged sensors and augment the lost sensation.

[caption id="attachment_18684" align="alignnone" width="1440"] Indian Engineer | Dr Madhu Bhaskaran | Global Indian The Soterius Scout sensor[/caption]

Redefining skin show

Madhu and her team at the electronics and telecommunications department of RMIT harnessed three technologies to achieve pathbreaking results. “Stretchable electronics which combine oxide materials with safe silicone to deliver transparent, unbreakable and wearable electronics as thin as a sticker,” she explains. The temperature-reactive self-modifying coatings 1,000 times thinner than a human hair that transforms in response to heat and a brain-mimicking electronic memory cells that imitate the way the brain uses long-term memory to recall and retain previous information.

Solving the pain relief challenge

Explaining further, Dr Bhaskaran says, “Our skin has complex features designed to send rapid-fire warning signals when anything hurts. We’re sensing things all the time through the skin but our pain response only kicks in at a certain point, like when we touch something too hot or too sharp.”

The tech she feels has many uses. “Our artificial skin reacts instantly when pressure, heat or cold reach a painful threshold. It’s a critical step forward in the future development of the sophisticated feedback systems that we need to deliver truly smart prosthetics and intelligent robotics.”

Thank you @APEC @wiley @Elsevier for this fantastic recognition! Very special night. Credit goes to my hard working research group @sharath_sriram @SumeetWalia4 @MNRF_RMIT and @ResearchRMIT #ASPIRESciencePrize pic.twitter.com/7lbzNhaaOj

— Madhu Bhaskaran (@madhu_bhaskaran) August 14, 2018

Chennai origins

Born and brought up in Chennai, Dr Madhu did her BE in electronics and communications engineering at PSG Institute of Technology Coimbatore (2002-2004) before moving to Australia for a master’s in microelectronics and a PhD in electronics materials engineering (2009).

Today, the Indian engineer co-leads RMIT’s Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group. Groundbreaking research, for which she has spent research-filled years honing her skills.

“My advice for those that want to make a difference - kill self-doubt as early as possible in your life. Once you do that, it’s smooth sailing all along,” she avers.

Her work is transforming the way we use and interact with electronic devices and sensors. Adding to her accolades is the Research and Education (ASPIRE) Prize and the 2020 Frederick White Medal awarded by the Australian Academy of Science.

Very proud and happy to receive this recognition which celebrates the diversity I bring to Australia and recognises my contributions to research and gender equity conversations! Here's to breaking bamboo ceilings! @WomenSciAUST @ResearchRMIT @fun_materials @MetaOptics https://t.co/wbPcyfCh54 pic.twitter.com/qYa96vCuyh

— Madhu Bhaskaran (@madhu_bhaskaran) October 29, 2020

“What gives me happiness is that I have managed to do many things beyond research – mentoring PhD students and postdocs, holding leadership positions, contributing to the gender diversity space through my roles in Women Researchers’ Network at RMIT, and nationally through Women in STEMM Australia,” says the scientist whose time management skills are exemplary. Her advice to women in STEM is saying, “Yes to many things to understand what are the opportunities one can say no to in the future.”

The innovator who believes in having Plans B, C, and D to overcome failure, shares, “We deal with rejection and harsh comments on papers and grants so often and if the success rate is 20 percent, I make sure I have five things going at the same time so at least one gets through!”

Follow Dr Madhu Bhaskaran on Linkedin and Twitter

Reading Time: 7 min

Indian designer Shubhi Sachan giving sustainable living a fresh lease of life

(January 17, 2022) "People often think I love waste, the truth is I hate it so much that I want it to end at its generation point," reads the welcome note on Indian textile designer and entrepreneur Shubhi Sachan's website. The brain behind Material Library of India, she is on a mission to sift through tonnes of urban waste that's generated every year and give it a fresh lease of life by reusing and repurposing it. From making shoes with aluminium waste to trendy pillows from industrial waste, the Lexus Design Award finalist (2018) is making sustainable living sing with her impressive body of work. "A majority of the waste that ends up in landfills and dump yards can be reused and recycled. Unfortunately, not everyone is paying attention to it. So I took it upon myself to create alternative products using industrial and agricultural waste that are less destructive to the environment," says the Noida-based Shubhi, whose work is currently being exhibited at London's Design Museum. How it all began After six years of working with the fashion and textile industry, the 35-year-old's journey with sustainability began in 2015, and since then, there has been no looking back for

s/2022/01/material.jpg" alt="Indian Designer | Shubhi Sachan | Material Library of India" width="677" height="476" />

How it all began

After six years of working with the fashion and textile industry, the 35-year-old's journey with sustainability began in 2015, and since then, there has been no looking back for this consultant designer.

Born and raised in Lucknow to a government employee father and a teacher mother, Shubhi had to face a lot of rejection. The not so academically inclined girl, often found herself being compared to her older brother who aimed to be an engineer. "I was often told 'Iska kuch nai no payega'," reveals the 35-year-old Indian designer. However, this constant dismissal fuelled her to prove everyone wrong.

Passionate about art and crafts since she was a child, Shubhi was keen to test waters and try her hand at textile designing. "My mother was always supportive of my decisions but this one time my father gave me the liberty to experiment and I grabbed the opportunity with both hands," Shubhi tells Global Indian. Her dream took her to Apeejay Institute of Design in Delhi where she studied for the next four years. "This was a turning point in my journey as I blossomed into a confident designer. From someone who was often neglected in school, I’d transformed into a shining star in college and it gave me the right boost," says the designer.

Indian Designer | Shubhi Sachan | Material Library of India

New goals in sight

Her zeal to broaden her horizons landed her in Mumbai where she found her maiden job at Aditiany Inc, a design firm that works for international fashion houses. For the next five years, she worked as a surface designer with luxury brands like Givenchy, Ralph Lauren, and Alexander McQueen. "While working there, I realised the kind of waste that was being generated in the process. We had these stacks full of 1mm material pieces that couldn't be used anywhere. It was while working on the Givenchy collection, it dawned upon me that these brands were chasing perfection on the surface while ignoring so much imperfection (waste) on the backend," adds the Indian designer, who was keen to bring about change.

This quest took her to Central Saint Martins' School of Art and Design in London in 2014 to do her MA in Material Futures. "It played a crucial role in my journey as it armed me with a multi-faceted approach towards the society," says the mother of a three-year-old.

Upon her graduation from St Martins, she embarked on her journey to sustainability after realising the huge contrast between the materiality involved in the process of making products vs the presentation of the finished objects. "It was quite an unsettling feeling for me. I knew I had reached a point where talking about the problem wasn't enough. I had to come up with a solution," she adds.

Indian Designer | Shubhi Sachan | Material Library of India

To new beginnings

This idea gave birth to the Material Library of India in 2017, a hub of creativity and imagination that's focused on investigating value chains and making waste material come to life again. "It's a place for innovation where we design for repurposing and recycling," adds the TEDx speaker whose R&D consultancy is dedicated to working with industrial and agricultural waste.

Recalling Project Punah with Godrej Boyce in 2015, Shubhi says that this was her first commission on sustainability with a corporate house wherein she recycled 1,80,000 pairs of protective rubber, cotton, and other gloves and turned them into raw material used in packaging. "We prepared a meticulously detailed data sheet about the products produced and the kind of waste that came out of it. We documented 734 materials and only 12 out of them could be recycled," adds Shubhi pointing out the grim reality of waste material. Using the waste, she weaved a new fabric that could be used in apparel design or made into ropes that can be used to line chairs and tables. The textile designer calls it one of her most interesting projects as she saw "a conglomerate adopting repurposing and realising it as the need of the hour."

Next, she created an ensemble collection for Lakme Fashion Week wherein she transformed everyday waste into everyday fashion. "Making people understand the utility of waste material was the idea behind it," adds the founder of Material Library of India, who plans to open the library for people to visit.

Indian Designer | Shubhi Sachan | Material Library of India

Towards the larger picture

"We are categorising and cataloguing waste and the materials made from it. We want people to come and see the problem for themselves. We want to open the floor for discussion for people to understand the scale of the problem," adds Shubhi.

In 2019, she joined forces with Mallika Reddy to develop Cancelled Plans, a streetwear brand made purely out of metal, paper, cloth, vinyl sheets, and plastic waste. "The idea was to come up with a way to treat waste as raw material. It's the perfect example that brands can be conceived from waste and make sense to the economic world," the Indian designer explains.

Some of her fabric products made from plastic waste are displayed at the ongoing exhibition at London. "We have used a variety of plastic to create a 100 percent waste fabric for the exhibition," reveals Shubhi whose work has earlier been exhibited in Germany, Italy, and India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDz0H97ROFM

It's been six years since she began working on sustainability, but the design consultant has had her share of challenges. "Not many are open to the idea of accepting that waste can be repurposed, and that's the reason not many are investing in the research," says Shubhi, who adds the biggest challenge is the mindset – many believe that "it should be cheaper as it's made from waste."

When not providing consultancy services to corporate houses, Shubhi loves to paint using natural colours. “During the pandemic, I started collecting seeds of plants like guava and tamarind, and launched my seed library," adds Shubhi, who likes to use her free time productively.

Live consciously is her advice to youngsters. "Don't look for a quick fix to the problem, instead look at the larger picture. Conceive a design or product in a way that it can be repurposed at a later stage," she signs off.

Follow Shubhi Sachan on Linkedin

Reading Time: 6 min

Indian-origin Google CEO Sundar Pichai receives Padma Bhushan

(December 4, 2022) “India is a part of me and I carry it with me wherever I go,” Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said after receiving the Padma Bhushan award from the Indian envoy to the US. The Indian-origin CEO is among the 17 others who have been bestowed with India’s third-highest civilian award. "I am deeply grateful to the Indian government and the people of India for this immense honour. It is incredibly meaningful to be honoured in this way by the country that shaped me," added the 50-year-old while accepting the award from Taranjit Singh Sandhu. [caption id="attachment_32421" align="aligncenter" width="979"] Sundar Pichai received Padma Bhushan award[/caption] The CEO of tech giant Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc hardly needs any introduction. In the last 18 years with the Google, Sundar has contributed immensely to the trade and industry sector, thus making his mark. Interestingly, the email service provided by Google, Gmail, was launched on the very day Pichai joined the company – April 1, 2004. Unaware of this new product, he admitted his ignorance in the job interview of the organisation. Luckily for Pichai, that moment of uncertainty got viewed as one of the qualities that

Google, Gmail, was launched on the very day Pichai joined the company – April 1, 2004. Unaware of this new product, he admitted his ignorance in the job interview of the organisation. Luckily for Pichai, that moment of uncertainty got viewed as one of the qualities that Laszlo Bock, Google’s former senior VP of people operations was looking for in a candidate. Bock remembers Sundar Pichai as the candidate with "intellectual humility”. Today, Pichai’s meteoric rise from humble beginnings to a top CEO is a success story that people cherish globally.

[caption id="attachment_26171" align="aligncenter" width="991"] Google CEO Sundar Pichai Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO[/caption]

The first non-white CEO of Google also serves on Alphabet’s Board of Directors. He has been focused on developing products and services with the vision to be of value in all big and little moments of people’s lives.

Talking at Google’s flagship I/O Developers Conference 2022, Pichai informed:

“Throughout the pandemic, Google has focused on delivering accurate information to help people stay healthy. Over the last year, people used Google Search and Maps to find where they could get a COVID vaccine nearly two billion times!”

His zeal for leadership with purpose got recognised in India in the form of Padma Bhushan award 2022. Global Indian turns its spotlight on the journey of the man who inspires millions.

The academic flight

Ironically, the CEO of American multinational technology company has not studied computer science, rather metallurgical engineering from IIT Kharagpur. Coincidentally, he has also studied inside the campus of IIT Chennai. His school, Vana Vani happened to be located inside the sprawling Chennai campus.

[caption id="attachment_26157" align="aligncenter" width="984"] Google CEO Sundar Pichai In India Sundar Pichai interacting with IIT Kharagpur students in one of his India visits.[/caption]

Born in 1972, he was raised in a middle-class household by an electrical engineer father who worked at General Electric Company (GEC) and a stenographer mother. Interested in the world of engineering, he was keen to explore the field, and he did so when he enrolled in the IIT Kharagpur. The passion for material sciences and engineering later took to Stanford University for a master's degree and then to Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for an MBA. But making that first trip to the US wasn't that easy for someone who came from a humble background. His father had to spend a year’s salary to buy a plane ticket for him to go to the US for his studies. That was Sundar's first flight journey. The sincere student did not let his parents down and got recognised in his foreign academic institutions as one of the best in the batch.

Foundation of the effervescent leader

Before his association with Google, Pichai worked at Allied Materials and McKinsey & Co. Though both the organisations specialised in metallurgy, the stints groomed him well. He picked up the nuances of product strategy, execution, and team building that eventually set the foundation for his pivotal beginnings at Google. Pichai nurtured his career by aligning it to Google’s success.

“We try to work on things that billions of people will use every day”

No wonder Google is part of everyday conversations and happens to be a significant part of the vocabulary of kids and adults alike across the world!

[caption id="attachment_26172" align="aligncenter" width="817"] Google CEO Sundar Pichai With Team Sundar Pichai with Nigerian Google team during his visit to Africa[/caption]

It has established itself as the organisation that cares with breakthroughs like use of machine learning (ML) to make web images more accessible to people who have vision problems. It generates real-time captions for online videos to help those who struggle with hearing.

Rise and rise of Google under Pichai’s leadership

Sundar Pichai joined Google as its vice-president of product management. He was entrusted with the responsibility of development of Google Toolbar and Google Chrome. These went on to become the world’s most popular internet browser. Undoubtedly, with these quantum leaps, Sundar Pichai climbed the hierarchical ladder. He launched Chrome OS and Chromebook in 2011 and went on to launch Android operating system in 2013. By 2014, the super talented Indian-origin professional was leading all products and engineering divisions at Google, overseeing vital platforms like Search, Gmail, Chrome, Play, Android, Maps, and Google Workspace.

[caption id="attachment_26158" align="aligncenter" width="884"] Google CEO Sundar Pichai With Modi From Left to right : Larry Page (Google's co-founder), Sundar Pichai (Google's CEO), Narendra Modi (India's PM), Eric Schmidt (Google's former CEO), and Ram Shriram (American businessman)[/caption]

When Google reorganised into Alphabet in August 2015, Sundar Pichai got selected as its CEO. In December 2019, he became the CEO of both Google and Alphabet, replacing founder Larry Page. In 2021, under Pichai’s leadership, Alphabet crossed $2 trillion in market value due to sales and profit growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Building impact with powerful breakthroughs

Bringing the world together through different platforms, and giving unique experiences to people has always been the core of what Sundar Pichai and his team thrive upon.

While talking about war drift Ukrainians at Google I/O Developers Conference 2022, he remarked:

“In countries around the world, Google Translate has been a crucial tool for newcomers and residents trying to communicate with one another. We’re proud of how it’s helping Ukrainians find a bit of hope and connection (in countries where they have taken refuge) until they are able to return home again.”

While many other technology giants embrace the metaverse as the next frontier of growth, Sundar Pichai sees Google’s future in its oldest offering - the Internet search. He foresees people asking computers more questions with voice and multimodal experiences.

From overseeing new investments like acquisition of YouTube and launching of Google Cloud, Pichai leads the organisation by advancing AI, digital technology, machine learning and quantum computing.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-juLXoFxM&list=PLjq6DwYksrzyHa9RtflCUniCMTFG4twFD

"AI can make humans more productive than we ever imagined," he remarked in the conference stressing that it can play a foundational role in every aspect of people’s lives, right from healthcare, education, manufacturing to how people consume information. Emphasizing on the significance of ML he said, “When machines would be programmed to simulate human mind, mimic human activity and solve problems, it will have a bigger impact than most of the breakthroughs in recent history."

Matters close to heart…

Keeping India close to his heart, Pichai has led Google to invest in the foundational infrastructure of the country by developing technology specific to its needs. Google Pay app is one such example. “India will be a global player in the digital economy,” he concluded in an interview.

In a statement, the California-headquartered company has mentioned that it will invest ₹109 crore to support healthcare facilities and a further ₹3.6 crore to upskill frontline workers in India. The tech giant has entered into a tie-up with NGOs like GiveIndia, ARMMAN, PATH and Apollo Medskills to fulfill these commitments.

In the last five years, Google has granted funds to the tune of $57 million to India. Out of this $18 million was part of Covid 19 response.  In April 2020, Pichai made personal contribution of ₹5 crore to GiveIndia so that the country can fight the first wave of pandemic.

Love and life

Keeping his private life pretty private, Pichai stays with his wife Anjali who happens to be his heartthrob and classmate from IIT Kharagpur, son Kiran and daughter Kavya in California. The cricket buff is a Sachin Tendulkar fan. The love for the game comes from childhood aspiration to be a cricketer. As a high school student, he was the captain of the school cricket team, displaying his leadership skills on the field.

[caption id="attachment_26161" align="aligncenter" width="849"] Google CEO Sundar Pichai Sundar Pichai trying his hands at cricket[/caption]

Pichai’s love for sports does not end at cricket. He is also an ardent fan of FC Barcelona – the football club and seldom misses to watch it’s match when its competing on field.

The top CEO recently admitted in one of the interviews of the Wall Street Journal that he is not very good at meditation. Instead, he prefers NSDR (non-sleep deep rest), listening to podcasts or taking his dog for a walk.

Do you know how Sundar Pichai connects people?

Google’s flood forecasting technology sent flood alerts to 23 million people in India and Bangladesh in 2021 helping in timely evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.
Around the world, Google Maps has mapped around 1.6 billion buildings and over 60 million kilometers of roads to date with the vision to keep everyone within the reach, and make the world a well-connected chain of individuals.
The number of buildings on Google Maps in Africa has increased by 5X. Google has made a dataset of these buildings publicly available so that international organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank can use it to better understand population density and to provide support and emergency assistance.
Google Translate broke down language barriers by recently adding 24 languages which together are spoken by 300 million people, bringing them closer to communities across the globe.
Google has been building augmented reality into many products like Google Lens to provide more interactive experiences and prevent technology from coming in the way of the real-world environment.
Follow Sundar Pichai on Twitter and Instagram

Reading Time: 8 min

Fueling dreams: Meet Leena Gade, the trailblazing race engineer redefining motorsport

(November 21, 2023) India has been witnessing a huge rise in the number of professional racers in the last few years. However, very few people know that about ten years back, an Indian-origin British race engineer, Leena Gade won the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours, when she ran an Audi R18 driven by Andre Lotteree, Benoit Treluyer, and Marcel Fassler to victory. While many thought that the team had just got lucky in the tournament, Leena did it again in 2012 and again for a third time with the same trio in 2014. Usually dubbed as ‘the First Lady of endurance racing’, Leena was named the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) ‘Man of the Year’ in 2012. Proving that that gender is no barrier to success, the race engineer stands as a formidable force, undeniably leading the path for aspiring female racers. "I just wanted to be involved in the sport. I thought it was fascinating," the Global Indian had said in an interview, adding, "It was tough in the beginning, however with time I learnt a lot about how you speak on the radio, how you don’t lose your head. You just kind of keep calm. The driver might

f="http://www.globalindian.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global Indian had said in an interview, adding, "It was tough in the beginning, however with time I learnt a lot about how you speak on the radio, how you don’t lose your head. You just kind of keep calm. The driver might be freaking out in the car and you just have to say ‘Yeah all good’. Because you can’t let the atmosphere just go crazy, otherwise our team would fall apart."

In the fast lane

Leena was born in the UK to parents of Indian descent. Surprisingly, as a kid, she never really thought about being a race engineer. It was during the late 1980s that she and her younger sister Teena stumbled upon Formula 1, which sparked their fascination with the sport and planted the seeds of their dreams to become motorsport engineers. “I didn’t really have any aspirations as a kid to be a race engineer. Even when we were watching Formula 1, if that title was ever used, it wasn’t something that was like ‘That’s what I wanna be!’. The commentators had experience in years and years of racing and they would motivate you to get interested in the sport," shared the race engineer, adding, "At the time we were watching, the internet was absolutely not a thing. We had to go off and buy a magazine to read about what was going on and find out about the different types of series. My interest in it was just to be an engineer in motorsport."

Engineer | Leena Gade | Global Indian

After finishing her school, Leena joined the University of Manchester to study engineering. She went on to earn her Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering in 1998. Interestingly, she joined the university as one of just five female students in a class of 100, and by the time she graduated, she was the sole remaining female student.

"I and my sister used to fix our toys whenever we broke them, pull apart most electronic items in the house to see how they worked, played with chemistry kits and just generally took an interest in how stuff functioned. So engineering was quite a natural choice for me. In fact, there was never a question about another career. So, when I got into the college I never thought of quitting just because there weren't many female students. It also doesn’t make a difference if you are male or female, it’s about your attitude and you either want to do it or not," the race engineer said.

Chasing the finish line

Soon after finishing her master's, Leena joined Jaguar Cars as a vehicle refinement engineer and worked there for about six and a half years. But, still fascinated by race cars, she would work part-time as an engineer on racing teams in the Formula BMW, A1 Grand Prix, and GT racing classes. To reach her current position, the race engineer has demonstrated remarkable patience and discipline. She's handled everything from cleaning cars and tires to brewing tea, all while keeping her eye firmly on her ultimate goal.

"I never saw any task as a chore, it was something I had to do and every time I did it I made sure I learned something. If you think you know it all, I can guarantee you that it will come back to bite you in the face," she said during an interview, adding, "You have to get as much experience as you can, because motorsport is a huge and very competitive thing, with room for people from all walks of life and with different interests."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Leena Gade (@leena_gade)

Her initial encounter with the 24 Hours of Le Mans occurred in 2006, during her tenure with the Chamberlain Synergy Le Mans Prototype team. Just a year later, in 2007, she made her move to the Audi Sport Team Joest. "When I first started, I did a bit of mechanicing. And then that led to working on data engineering. Analysing the data, being able to describe to a driver where they were fast and slow versus somebody else, or how to drive a car so that they can be quicker, was where I started. Slowly that led to being an assistant engineer. You are sort of like the backup to the race engineer. I worked closely with a very good race engineer and it was only after two and half years of doing that, that I was asked if I wanted to actually run a car at a test," she remarked.

Ahead of the pack

The historic race that etched her name forever in history was full of twists and drama. In fact, till the last stage, it was quite obvious that the Audi team wouldn't win. Talking about that last lap of André Lotterer, the race director recalled, "On the live feed you could see the Peugeot garage giggling because I think they thought they’d done it, but all of a sudden we changed tyres and left the pits with a gap of five, six or seven seconds on fresh rubber. They glanced back on the live feed to the Peugeot garage and you could see their faces – and then the gap started to increase. Then the Peugeot guys started crying." And that's how Leena became the first ever woman race engineer to win the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kkfj2EvzCw

Currently, a Senior Principal of McLaren Racing and Race Engineer for the NEOM McLaren Extreme E team, Leena is working towards promoting their profession to future generations and raising awareness about the importance of female representation in the sport. "If you want to do it, you have to make it happen on your own. I never treated any task as beneath me or as a chore, it was something I had to do and each time I made sure I came away learning something. If you believe you know it all, I can guarantee you will fall flat on your face. Experience as much as you can, because the motorsport business is a wide-ranging and competitive one with places for people of all backgrounds and interests," advised the race engineer.

Follow Leena Gade on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter

Reading Time: 6 mins