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Meet Indian-origin CEOs of American firms

Last updated on: April 13, 2010 20:26 IST

Image: Indra Nooyi.
Photographs: Paresh Gandhi. Rediff Business Desk

Indian-origin chief executives have made their mark in the American corporate world. Here's a look at 10 'Indian' captains of American companies.

Indra Nooyi

One of the world's most powerful CEOs, the Chennai-born Indra Nooyi tops the list of Indian-origin CEOs in the US.

Indra Nooyi is chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, which has the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that each generate more than $1 billion in annual retail sales.

With nearly $60 billion in revenue, PepsiCo employs 285,000 people worldwide.

Forbes ranked Nooyi third on the 2008 and 2009 lists of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women, while Fortune placed her on the top spot of its annual list of Most Powerful Women in business for 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

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Meet Indian-origin CEOs of American firms

Image: Vikram Pandit.
Photographs: Paresh Gandhi.
Vikram Pandit

Nagpur-born Vikram Pandit heads the Wall Street giant Citigroup. Before being named CEO on December 11, 2007, Pandit was Chairman and CEO of Citi's Institutional Clients Group, which includes markets & banking and Citi Alternative Investments.
 
Formerly the Chairman and CEO of Citi Alternative Investments, Pandit was a founding member and chairman of the members committee of Old Lane, LP which was acquired by Citi in 2007.
 
Pandit was earlier president and chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley's institutional securities and investment banking business and was a member of the firm's management committee.

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Meet Indian-origin CEOs of American firms

Image: Shantanu Narayen.

Shantanu Narayen

Shantanu Narayen is president and chief executive officer of Adobe, one of the world's largest and most diversified software companies.

Narayen, who belongs to Hyderabad, is known for his leadership, technology insight and operational expertise.

In 2009, Narayen led the $1.8 billion acquisition of Omniture, Inc., expanding Adobe's ability to help customers measure and optimize the value of online experiences, content and applications.

Before joining Adobe in 1998, Narayen was co-founder of Pictra, Inc., an early pioneer of digital photo sharing over the Internet.

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Meet Indian-origin CEOs of American firms

Image: Francisco D'Souza.

Francisco D'Souza

Francisco D'Souza has over 20 years of experience in the information technology industry in both operational and advisory roles.

Prior to his current position, Francisco, who hails from Goa, was chief operating officer, with responsibility for Cognizant's global delivery, marketing and sales, business development, and client services organizations.

Previously, he led the company's North American and European operations.  He joined Cognizant when it was founded in 1994.

Francisco spent four years at various divisions of The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, holding key positions in marketing, strategic planning, and new business development in Germany, the United States and India.

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Meet Indian-origin CEOs of American firms

Image: Ajay Banga.
Photographs: Paresh Gandhi.

Ajay Banga

Pune-born Ajay Banga will take over as president and chief executive officer of MasterCard Worldwide from July 1.

Currently, president and chief operating officer, he is responsible for the company's relationships with customers globally including the delivery of products, services and marketing, and technology and operations.

Banga is also a member of the executive committee.  Prior to joining MasterCard, Banga spent 13 years at Citigroup from 1996, and held a variety of senior management roles in the United States and Europe, Middle East, Africa regions before becoming chairman and chief executive officer of Citi's international global consumer group in 2005.

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Meet Indian-origin CEOs of American firms

Image: Abhijit Talwalkar.
Abhijit Talwalkar

Abhijit Talwalkar is president and chief executive officer of LSI. In May 2005, he was appointed to this position, succeeding Wilfred J. Corrigan, LSI's founder. He is a member of LSI's Board of Directors.

Talwalkar joined the company from Intel Corporation, where he served as vice president and co-general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group, comprised of Intel's Business Client, Server, Storage and Communications businesses.

Previously, he served as vice president and general manager for Intel's Enterprise Platform Group. In this position, he focused on developing, marketing and supporting Intel's business strategies for enterprise computing.

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Meet Indian-origin CEOs of American firms

Image: Jai P Nagarkatti.

Jai P Nagarkatti

Jai P Nagarkatti is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Sigma-Aldrich since January 1, 2006. Nagarkatt, who hails from Hyderabad has been the chairman of the board of directors since May 5, 2009.

He served as president and chief operating officer from August 2004 to December 31, 2005. Previously he served as the President of the Company's Scientific Research business unit from December 2002 to August 2004. He has been a director of the Company since November 2005.

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Meet Indian-origin CEOs of American firms

Image: Dinesh C Paliwal.
Photographs: Reuters.
Dinesh C Paliwal

Dinesh C Paliwal is the chairman and chief executive officer of Harman International Industries.

Paliwal, who hails from Agra, has served as president, chief executive officer and vice chairman since joining the company in July 2007.

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Meet Indian-origin CEOs of American firms

Image: Surya Mohapatra.

Surya Mohapatra

Surya N Mohapatra, who hails from Orissa, is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Quest Diagnostics.

Prior to joining the company in February 1999 as senior vice president and chief operating officer, he was senior vice president of Picker International, a worldwide leader in advanced medical imaging technologies.

Mohapatra also is a director of ITT Corporation. Mohapatra served as a director of Vasogen, Inc. from 2002 to 2006. He has been a director of Quest Diagnostics since October 2002.