Pichai Sundararajan, popularly known as Sundar Pichai, was born on June 10, 1972, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. He grew up in a modest two-room apartment in Ashok Nagar, Chennai, with his parents and younger brother. His father was an electrical engineer at GEC, while his mother was a stenographer. (Photo: AFP)
Pichai studied at Jawahar Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School and later Vana Vani School on the IIT Madras campus in Chennai. He excelled in maths and science and was known for his calm personality, focus and problem-solving ability.
(Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
Pichai went on to study Metallurgical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur. He completed his B.Tech. degree in 1993 and reportedly received a silver medal. (Photo: AFP)
He later moved to the United States and pursued an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. His education there exposed him to advanced research and the technology ecosystem. (Photo: AFP)
Pichai’s move to the US came with a major financial sacrifice for his family. His father spent more than his annual salary to buy his flight ticket. (Photo: AFP)
Pichai later earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He was recognised as a Palmer Scholar and was also named a Siebel Scholar. (Photo: AFP)
His technical and management education helped shape his career. He joined Google in 2004 and worked on products including Google Toolbar and Google Chrome. (Photo: AFP)
Pichai became Google CEO on August 10, 2015. In December 2019, he also became CEO of Alphabet Inc. After nearly a decade, he became a billionaire CEO, with an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. (Photo: AFP)
