Twitter’s new CEO joins India-born US tech captains
Twitter Inc became the latest Silicon Valley titan to appoint an Indian-born chief executive officer, joining the likes of Microsoft and Google in recognising the Asian country as one of the world's richest pools of tech talent.
The appointment of former chief technology officer Parag Agrawal to the top spot at Twitter amplifies the role played by immigrants in the world's largest technology companies. He joins Satya Nadella of Microsoft Corp, Shantanu Narayen of Adobe Inc, Arvind Krishna of International Business Machines Corp and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet Inc among the highest-profile leaders of US firms from Indian origin. Between them, that group of executives pilots companies with a combined market value nearing $5 trillion. Outside of tech, Indra Nooyi led PepsiCo Inc for 12 years and Ajay Banga is now executive chairman of Mastercard Inc after a decade as CEO.
Like his Valley compatriots, Agrawal comes from a technical background and worked his way up within the company. At age 37, he's the youngest CEO of any S&P 500 firm. Agrawal got his engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, which has spawned generations of prominent politicians and corporate leaders, including Pichai and Krishna. He secured a foothold in Silicon Valley after moving onto Stanford University for his doctorate in computer science.
"Being an Indian is a big advantage now, people expect us to be good engineers and good managers," said Vivek Wadhwa, a distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School and the author of a book profiling Nadella's rise at Microsoft. "From what I know, Parag Agrawal shares Satya's values and has a similar management style."
Twitter co-founder and outgoing CEO Jack Dorsey endorsed Agrawal's technical capabilities as "transformational" in his note upon stepping down. But it'll be the new leader's skill in navigating thorny issues like free speech, race relations and relationships with governments that will soon be tested.
In a rare interview a year ago, Agrawal described Twitter's method of dealing with misinformation as "an increasingly nuanced approach with a range of interventions." Echoing Dorsey's long-held emphasis on trying to keep Twitter a neutral platform, he added that "we attempt to not adjudicate truth, we focus on potential for harm."
In his country of birth, where Twitter has nearly 20 million users, Twitter has come under attack from the government on several fronts. The administration there has criticised its reluctance to take down messages of support for farmer protests and its handling of tweets by leaders on both sides of the political divide.