Sundar Pichai facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sundar Pichai
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![]() Pichai in 2023
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Born |
Pichai Sundararajan
June 10, 1972 Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
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Citizenship | United States |
Education | IIT Kharagpur (BTech) Stanford University (MS) University of Pennsylvania (MBA) |
Occupation | Businessman |
Title | CEO of Alphabet and Google |
Board member of |
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Spouse(s) | Anjali Pichai |
Children | 2 |
Awards | Padma Bhushan (2022) |
Signature | |
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Pichai Sundararajan (born June 10, 1972), known as Sundar Pichai (pronounced: /ˈsʊndɜːr pɪˈtʃeɪ/), is an Indian-American business leader. He is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Alphabet Inc. and its main company, Google. A CEO is the highest-ranking person in a company.
Pichai started his career as an engineer who worked with materials. After working at a company called McKinsey & Co., he joined Google in 2004. At Google, he helped create and improve many important products. These included Google Chrome, a popular internet browser, and ChromeOS, an operating system. He also played a big part in developing Google Drive, which is used for storing files online. Later, he helped with other well-known apps like Gmail and Google Maps.
On August 10, 2015, Sundar Pichai was chosen to be the new CEO of Google. Before this, he was the chief product officer. He officially became CEO on October 24, 2015. This happened when Alphabet Inc. was formed. Alphabet Inc. is a new company that owns Google and other related businesses. In 2017, he also joined the board of directors for Alphabet.
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Early Life and Education
Sundar Pichai was born on June 10, 1972, in Madurai, a city in Tamil Nadu, India. He grew up in a Tamil Hindu family. His mother, Lakshmi, worked as a stenographer, which means she typed notes quickly. His father, Regunatha Pichai, was an electrical engineer for a British company called GEC.
Pichai went to school in Chennai, India. He studied at Jawahar Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School and Vana Vani school. He earned a special degree called a B.Tech in metallurgical engineering from IIT Kharagpur. This degree focuses on how metals are made and used.
He then continued his studies in the United States. He earned a MS degree from Stanford University. He also received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. An MBA is a degree that teaches you how to manage businesses. He was recognized as a top student at both universities.
Sundar Pichai's Career Journey
Before joining Google, Sundar Pichai worked in engineering and product management at a company called Applied Materials. He also worked in management consulting at McKinsey & Company.
In 2004, Pichai joined Google. He was in charge of creating and improving many of Google's software products. These included the internet browser Google Chrome and the operating system ChromeOS. He was also very important in the development of Google Drive. He later helped oversee other popular applications like Gmail and Google Maps.
On November 19, 2009, Pichai showed off ChromeOS to the public. The first Chromebook computers were released for testing in 2011 and became available to everyone in 2012. In May 2010, he announced that Google was making a new video technology called VP8 available for free use. He also introduced a new video format called WebM.
In March 2013, Pichai took over the management of Android. Android is the world's most popular operating system for smartphones. On August 10, 2015, he was chosen to be the next CEO of Google. He officially started this role on October 24, 2015. This was when Alphabet Inc. was created as the new main company for Google.
In December 2019, Sundar Pichai also became the CEO of Alphabet Inc.. This means he leads both Google and its parent company.
Awards and Recognition
Sundar Pichai has been recognized for his leadership and influence.
- He was included in Time magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in both 2016 and 2020.
- In 2024, he was also named to the Time 100 AI list, which highlights leaders in artificial intelligence.
- The Asia Society gave him the 2021 Asia Game Changer Award.
In 2022, the Government of India honored Pichai with the Padma Bhushan. This is one of India's highest awards for civilians, given for achievements in trade and industry.
Personal Life
Sundar Pichai is married to Anjali Pichai, whose maiden name was Haryani. They have two children. Anjali is from Kota, India. They met and became close friends while they were studying together at IIT Kharagpur.
For fun, Pichai enjoys watching and playing cricket and football. He lives with his family in Los Altos Hills, California, in the United States.
See also
In Spanish: Sundar Pichai para niños