From Chennai Streets to Silicon Valley Suites: The Rise of Sundar Pichai
Sundararajan Pichai was born on June
10, 1972, in Chennai. Raised in a modest two-room apartment of Ashok Nagar
neighborhood, Pichai’s early life was simple and disciplined. His father (Regunatha
Pichai) worked as an electrical engineer and his mother (Lakshmi) was a
stenographer.
Sundar’s earlier studied from Jawahar Vidyalaya and later from Vana Vani; both of which are respected schools in Chennai. His academic brilliance earned him a place at the prestigious IIT Kharagpur, where he graduated with a degree in Metallurgical Engineering and was awarded the institute’s coveted gold medal for academic excellence. Following IIT, he won a scholarship to Stanford University. There he completed his M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering. Sundar earned his MBA from the Wharton School.
Sundar Pichai’s professional journey
began with McKinsey & Company as a management consultant. In 2004, he
joined Google. In 2008, Google chose him to lead the Chrome project from its
early development to global rollout. Under Pichai’s leadership, the Chrome team
also expanded Google’s push into operating systems and hardware.
By 2013, Pichai headed the
development of Android, Google’s mobile operating system that powered billions
of devices worldwide. In August 2015, when Google was restructured to form
Alphabet Inc., Sundar Pichai was named the CEO of Google. December 2019 marked
a defining moment as Sundar Pichai rose to the summit of Silicon Valley,
inheriting the mantle of Alphabet’s CEO from its iconic founders, Larry Page
and Sergey Brin.
Soft-spoken, thoughtful, and humble, Pichai embodies the deeply rooted Indian values of perseverance, humility, and reverence for knowledge. He often speaks of the importance of opportunity - how access to education and technology can change lives, as it did his own.
“It’s the idea that matters. It doesn’t
matter where you come from or what your background is. One revolutionary idea,
one brilliant invention can unleash other to revolutionize industries in ways
you could never predict, he says. He has become a voice of reason in the global
debate on artificial intelligence, ethics in tech, and the responsibilities of
large platforms. His worldview, shaped in part by his Indian upbringing, brings
a balanced perspective to Google's global challenges.
His journey from Chennai to Silicon Valley
has become a beacon of possibility for students in India. As the CEO of
Alphabet and Google, he stands not only as a tech leader but also as an
ambassador of Indian excellence on the world stage.
Ravindra Zinjurke