In choosing Satya Nadella as CEO of Microsoft, the company has not only chosen an accomplished technologist and administrator but what’s turning out to be a favorite son of his home country, India. Nadella’s appointment is front page news in India (well, it pretty much is all across the world), and a number of publications are running background pieces and fairly gushing over him in video news pieces.
Nadella grew up in India’s technology capitol Hyderabad, and went to high school (at Hyderabad Public School) in some pretty illustrious company, which the Economic Times points out in an infographic:
(hat tip: @Vasudevg, who retweeted)
Colleagues at the Manipal University, where Nadella did his undergraduate work before coming to the United States to attain Masters degrees from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Chicago, are also proud of their former student. A post a few days before Nadella’s official appointment was announced has Manipal University “bask(ing) in Satya Nadella’s glory“, according to The Times of India (where pop-ups and intrusive advertising are alive and well, just warning you!):
Exemplifying what it meant for the university, chancellor, Dr Ramdas M Pai told TOI: “(I am) very very proud that one of our students has got the top job in the corporate world. Yes, it is a great day for Manipal University. Every single student, past and present will cherish this glorious moment. Satya’s great achievement has done Manipal Institute of Technology and Manipal University proud.”
India and its 1.24 billion people will be a strategic battleground in the coming years as the increasingly mobile-centric computing world looks to emerging markets for growth, some of that competition coming from within India itself, as a new report by the Indian Software Products Industry Roundtable is projecting that the Indian software industry could be a $100 billion business by 2025. Microsoft and Nokia have both been popular favorites in India, and while it may not have been a reason for the choice, appointing Satya Nadella as CEO can’t have hurt Microsoft’s standing in the second most populous country in the world.
