His name may not ring a bell, but chances are you know some
of the products Google's new CEO, Sundar Pichai, has worked on, including the
Chrome browser and Android mobile operating system.
Pichai, 43, was named chief executive officer of the
Internet titan Monday, as Google unveiled a new corporate structure creating an
umbrella company dubbed Alphabet.
Pichai will oversee the biggest company under that umbrella,
which will still be called Google and will continue to include some of Google's
best-known products, including its search engine, ads, maps, apps, YouTube and
Android system.
Alphabet will be run by Google chief Larry Page, who
showered praise upon Pichai, the current senior vice president of products.
"I feel very fortunate to have someone as talented as
he is to run the slightly slimmed down Google and this frees up time for me to
continue to scale our aspirations," Page said in a blog post.
He said he was impressed with Pichai's "progress and
dedication to the company" and promised to continue to groom him, who has
been at Google since 2004.
"I have been spending quite a bit of time with Sundar,
helping him and the company in any way I can, and I will of course continue to
do that."
In his current role, Pichai oversees product management,
engineering and research for Google's products and platforms, according to
Google's filing at the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Before that, he was SVP of Google Android, Chrome and Apps,
working on consumer products "used by millions of people," the filing
said.
Pichai was part of the team that launched the Chrome browser
in 2008 and, prior to that, worked on various search products, including Google
Toolbar, Desktop Search, Gadgets, and Google Gears and Gadgets, according to
Business Insider magazine.
Before joining Google, Pichai worked as an engineer at
manufacturer Applied Materials, followed by a stint in management consulting at
McKinsey & Company, according to Business Insider.
US media described him as soft-spoken, little-known, and a
long-time right-hand man to mentor Page.
Originally from Tamil Nadu province in southeast India,
Pichai received a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of
Technology Kharagpur.
He also has a Master of Science from Stanford University and
a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University
of Pennsylvania.
Page said Pichai is the man to steer the Google ship in the
coming years, as it continues to innovate and expand its product base.
"Google itself is also making all sorts of new
products, and I know Sundar will always be focused on innovation-continuing to
stretch boundaries," he said.
"I know he deeply cares that we can continue to make
big strides on our core mission to organize the world's information."
saw the guy in IO 2015...WOW!
ReplyDeleteYeah, he's kinda cool.
ReplyDelete