The best brains of India, who forayed their destiny into Silicon Valley

India is not only rich in its culture and heritage but it possess best brains of the world. In 1970s and 1980s, many talented Indians entered into Silicon Valley and now they dominate the immigrant entrepreneurship. They’ve pushed boundaries of innovation and secured echelons of positions in the West. Let’s dive in details about some power players from India:

1. Sunder Pichai, CEO, Google

Pichai is the man overseeing Android, Chrome and apps at Google. Born in Tamil Nadu, India, he did his B.Tech in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur, and further studied at Stanford University and University of Pennsylvania. He was also one of the top contenders for the post of CEO at Microsoft, which ultimately went to Satya Nadella. He is considered an engineering genius for his innovative ideas.

1. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft

The CEO of Microsoft is one of the most powerful Indian-born tech executives in the world. Nadella born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh  said that he “always wanted to build things” and went on to attain a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology. He then travelled to U.S to pursue a M.S. degree in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin –Milwaukee and later an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He loves reading poetry in his leisure time and compares poetry with coding.

1. Thomas Kurian, President, Oracle product development

Named as the 18th highest-paid man in the U.S. in 2010 by CNN, Kurian joined Oracle in 1996. Prior to that, he worked as a consultant in London, Brussels, and San Francisco with international management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Kurian has a BS in electrical engineering from Princeton University, where he graduated summa cum laude. He also has an MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

1. Sanjay Kumar Jha, CEO, Global Foundries

Born in Bihar, India he is the CEO of Global Foundries and former chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola Mobility. Before joining Motorola, Sanjay Jha was COO of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. Jha led and oversaw the development of five generations of modem and cell site chipsets, both digital baseband and RF (radio frequency), and system software.

1. Nikesh Arora, CEO, Soft Bank Internet and Media

Nikesh Arora is a convincing, real and a natural leader. Arora is the President of $70 billion Japanese telecom and Internet giant Softbank. He has been named the successor of Softbank by its legendary Founder Masayoshi Son. Born to an Indian Air Force Officer, he has held multiple senior operating leadership roles at prestigious companies.

1. Francisco D’Souza, CEO, Cognizant

The boyish-looking, Francisco D’Souza is the man steering Cognizant today. In 2007, at the age of 38, he took over from Lakshmi Narayan and is among the youngest CEO in the software service sector. He grew up in three continents. In his tenure, the company revenues propelled from $1.4 billion to $7 billion today.

1. Dinesh Paliwal, CEO, Harman International

Paliwal had a 22 year storied career at ABB Group. When he accepted the top job at the Harman’s, the company was sailing through some  dire situations and it’s position was dwindling. He said invest in your pipeline; pipeline of people, pipeline of product innovation. If you don't have these two you have no future. He took the company where it is today with his turnaround mantra.

1. Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO, SanDisk Corporation

Open up any digital camera and you’ll see the ubiquitous SanDisk memory card. From a three-person startup to a $18 billion company, Mehrotra is one of its founders. He has more than 30 years of experience in the non-volatile semiconductor memory industry, including engineering and holds 71 patents.

1. George Kurian, CEO, NetApp

The super talented twin of Thomas Kurian, has a remarkable success story just like his brother. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from Princeton University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University. The Bengaluru man, worked as Vice President and General Manager of the Application Networking and Switching Technology Group at Cisco Systems.

1. Shantanu Narayan, CEO, Adobe

Growing up in Hyderabad, India, Narayen gained a degree in electronic engineering from Osmania University. A MBA from the University of California, Berkeley and Masters in Computer Science from Bowling Green State University, Ohio. In 1998, he started his 16 year career with Adobe. President Barack Obama recognized Narayen in 2011 by appointing him as a member of the new Management Advisory Board, which was established by an Executive Order in 2010 to advice on how to implement the best technology practices within the government.

1. Vinod Dham, Founder, Pentium Chip

Known as the father of famous Intel Pentium processor, Vinod Dham originally hailed from Pune, India. He specialized in solid state electronics – the technology under laying the storage found in every smartphone and tablet computer as well as many laptops – working on flash memory at NCR Corporation before joining Intel. He left Intel in 1995, moving onto a series of startups and then becoming a venture capitalist focused on early stage start ups in India.

1. Vinod Khosla, Founder, Sun Microsystems

Born in 1955 in Delhi, India, Khosla was inspired to build a career in technology by reading about the founding of Intel. He has a degree in electrical engineering from IIT, Delhi. Biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and masters from Standford Graduate School of Business. He co-founded Sun Microsystems along with Scott McNealy and Andy Bechtolsheim. Khosla left the company in 2004 to start his own venture capitalist firm, Khosla Ventures. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined Khosla Ventures in 2010, advising on environment-focused investments. There are so many reasons to feel proud on these influential leaders. The tech-giants inspire young Indians to pursue their dreams. Be it anything! “If they can do it, so can You!”