Rise and Rise of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella – India to the USA

Satya Nadella is that guy whose leadership and skills helped him lead one of the biggest companies in the world. Nadella is an Indian-born American businessman and CEO of Microsoft and is one of the most renowned personalities in the world. He became CEO in 2014 and has served this company for more than 19 years in various positions. Interestingly, he doesn’t come from any top Engineering Institutes (Like IIT) but still became one of the leading personalities globally. Today, we will study the life journey of this Microsoft legend who worked hard to be successful.

Satya Nadella – Statistics

• Full Name – Satya Narayana Nadella
• Date of Birth - 19 August 1967 (53 years)
• Place of Birth - Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
• Nationality - India
• Citizenship - United States
• Education - Manipal Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
• Position - Chairman & CEO of Microsoft
• Profession - Businessman
• Marital Status - Married
• Spouse – Anupama Nadella
• Children - 3
• Net Worth - $250 million

Satya Nadella – Early Life

Satya was born in Hyderabad (Present-day Telangana) to Bakkapuram Nadella Yugandhar and Prabhavati. He was born in a Hindu family where his parents always taught him all the religious values of life. His mother was a Sanskrit teacher and, his father was an IAS officer (Indian Administrative Officer) of the 1962 batch. He always had a keen interest in building things and, this is why he chose engineering as a career.

Satya Nadella – Education Qualifications

Nadella completed his schooling at Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet. He completed his graduation with Bachelors’s in Electrical Engineering in 1988 from Manipal Institue of Technology and later moved to America for further studies. He got admitted to the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in 1990 to study for Masters in Science in Computer Science. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Chicago.

Satya Nadella – Family and Personal Life

Satya married Anupama in 1992. Anupama was the daughter of one of his father’s IAS batch mate friends. She was also his junior in the same college where he pursued engineering, and the couple has three children, one son & two daughters. Nadella also has a keen interest in sports. He played cricket for his school team and, he is passionate about this game. Satya is an avid reader and loves reading Indian and American poetry.

Fun Fact : Nadella is the owner of the Seattle Sounders Football Club (Major League Soccer Club).

Satya Nadella – Career Timeline

• Sun Microsystems – Technical Staff
  • Satya joined Sun Microsystems before joining Microsoft in 1992.
  • He served as a member of their technical staff.
• Microsoft He led various projects that paved the path for the company in building the cloud infrastructure in the world by moving to cloud computing. Here is a list of roles Nadella played at Microsoft:
  • He worked as senior VP of R&D for the online services division.
  • He was also the VP of the Microsoft Business Divison.
  • Nadella served as Server and Tools Business president that was worth $19 billion.
  • He transformed the company to cloud infrastructure and services from client services.
  • He is responsible for bringing back Windows Server, Microsoft’s database, and Developer tools.
  • Under his guidance, the revenue of Cloud Services increased to $20.3 billion from $16.6 billion in just three years.
  • He served as the third CEO of Microsoft, only after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
  • Nadella transformed the corporate culture of Microsoft into continual learning and growth.
  • After being CEO, his first acquisition was of Mojang in 2014.
  • He also purchases Xamarin in 2014, LinkedIn 2016, GitHub in 2018.
  • After becoming CEO, the stocks of Microsoft saw a hike of three times than the original one. Its annual growth rate was 27%.

Satya Nadella – Positions Held in Microsoft

• President of the Server & Tools Divison - 2011 to 2014
• Senior VP of research and development for the Online Services Divison - 2007 to 2011
• VP of business Divison
• Corporate VP of Business Solutions and Search & Advertising Platform Gropu
• Executive VP of Cloud and Enterprise Group
• Chairman & CEO - 2014 to Present Day

Satya Nadella – Boards and Committees

Satya’s intelligence and his outstanding business skills are something that a lot of company wants. He also serves as a Board member for various multinational companies. Some of the companies in which Satya serves as a member of the board are as follows:

• Starbucks - Board of Directors
• University of Chicago - Board of Trustees
• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center - Board of Trustees

Satya Nadella - Awards and Achievements

Nadella is the recipient of various awards. Some of the awards won by him are as follows:

• Time 100 Honoree - Time Magazine, 2018
• Financial Times Person of the Year - Financial Times, 2019
• Fortune Magazine Businessperson of the Year - Fortune Magazine, 2019
• Global Indian Business Icon - CNBC-TV18’s India Business Leaders Award, 2020

SatyaNadela – Book : Hit Refresh

The book focused mainly on the main aspects of his career and journey in Microsoft. It also consists of the belief of Nadella that how technology will play a significant role in shaping the future.

Nadella announced that the revenue from the book would go to non-profit organizations through Microsoft Philanthropies.

Satya Nadella – Fans and Following

Satya isn’t an avid social media user. He is only on one social media app – Twitter. He has more than 2.6 million followers and is pretty active on that social media accounts. He constantly tweets about various important issues and makes sure to stay updated.

Satya Nadella – Controversies

Satya Nadella, unfortunately, falls into controversy because of his statement. He said while attending a ceremony on Women in Computing - Women shouldn’t be asking for raises and should trust the system. He later apologized by writing an email to Microsoft, saying that he was wrong. He also gave an apology statement on Twitter for that.

Satya Nadella - The Gem of Tech Field

Nadella is the hero for all those tech people who wants to do something big in their lives. He showed the importance of hard work and dedication, so he is one of the biggest inspirations for all of us. Nadella is the leader of one of the biggest enterprises in the world and, this was possible only because of his excellent leadership skill. He proved that no one cares about your degree or from which college you have graduated. All that they care about is your knowledge and experience.