From Madurai to Mountain View, 10 things about Google CEO Sundar Pichai you want to know

One thing every Indian feels proud of is the fact that India-born Sundar Pichai is the face of Google, one of the world's largest technology companies. And now, in addition to his current role as the CEO of Google, Pichai is also taking over the leadership role at Google parent as the CEO of Alphabet. This is undoubtedly the most significant achievement for Pichai. But more importantly, it's also a responsibility that Pichai now has to perform.

In a letter to employees, Google CEO had this to say about the transition of his role:

"I want to be clear that this transition won't affect the Alphabet structure or the work we do day to day. I will continue to be very focused on Google and the deep work we’re doing to push the boundaries of computing and build a more helpful Google for everyone. At the same time, I’m excited about Alphabet and its long term focus on tackling big challenges through technology"

READ | End of Larry Page - Sergey Brin era: Google CEO Sundar Pichai promoted as Alphabet CEO

Apart from Pichai being born and brought up in India until graduation, there are so many other things about him that you may not be aware of. In this article, we take a closer look at Pichai's humble beginning, early life, education and career.

Story of Google CEO Sundar Pichai

1. Sundar Pichai's actual name is Pichai Sundararajan. Born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India on June 10, 1972, Pichai grew up in a two-room apartment in Chennai's Ashok Nagar area.

2. Pichai completed his secondary schooling from Jawahar Vidyalaya Higher Secondary Education school in Ashok Nagar, Chennai.

(Photo credit: Rajamanickam Antonimuthu / YouTube)

3. Pichai completed his higher secondary education from Vanavani Matriculation Higher Secondary School in the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

4. Pichai earned his degree from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in metallurgical engineering. He is also a distinguished alumnus from the IIT Kharagpur.

(Photo credit: Rajamanickam Antonimuthu / YouTube)

5. Pichai holds a Master's degree from Stanford University in material sciences and engineering, in addition to an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

6. Prior to joining Google, Pichai worked in engineering and product management at Applied Materials and in management consulting at McKinsey & Company.

7. In 2004, Pichai joined Google to lead the product management for client software products, including Chrome and Chrome OS. He was also primarily responsible for Google Drive back then.

8. Subsequently, Pichai went on to supervise the development of other applications such as Gmail and Google Maps in an official capacity.

9. In 2013, Pichai took over the responsibility of Android, which was being managed by Android founder Andy Rubin.

10. In 2015, Pichai was appointed as the chief executive officer of Google while Larry Page and Sergey Brin took over the leadership responsibility in management as CEO and President of Google-parent Alphabet, respectively.