Meet Parag Agrawal: Indian-origin executive succeeds Jack Dorsey as Twitter CEO

Indian-origin technology executive Parag Agrawal has been appointed as the new CEO of Twitter after the social media giant’s co-founder Jack Dorsey stepped down on Monday.

Agrawal said in a note posted on Twitter that he is “honoured and humbled” on his appointment and expressed gratitude to Dorsey’s “continued mentorship and your friendship.”

Here's what you need to know about the new Twitter CEO:

• Agrawal holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University and a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
• He worked as a research intern for Microsoft, Yahoo!, and AT&T Labs.
• Agrawal joined Twitter 10 years ago when there were fewer than 1,000 employees.
• He became Twitter's first Distinguished Software Engineer due to his work across revenue and consumer engineering, including his impact on the re-acceleration of audience growth in 2016 and 2017.
• He was appointed CTO in March 2018, taking over from Adam Messinger.
• As CTO he was responsible for "Twitter’s technical strategy and overseeing machine learning and AI across the consumer, revenue, and science teams".

Agrawal on Twitter wrote: "While it was a decade ago, those days feel like yesterday to me. I've walked in your shoes, I've seen the ups and downs, the challenges and obstacles, the wins and the mistakes. But then and now, above all else, I see Twitter's incredible impact, our continued progress, and the exciting opportunities ahead of us."

“Our purpose has never been more important. Our people and our culture are unlike anything in the world. There is no limit to what we can do together.

“We recently updated our strategy to hit ambitious goals, and I believe that strategy to be bold and right. But our critical challenge is how we work to execute against it and deliver results - that's how we'll make Twitter the best it can be for our customers, shareholders, and for each of you,” Agrawal noted.

The world is watching right now, even more than they have before, he said.

“Lots of people are going to have lots of different views and opinions about today's news. It is because they care about Twitter and our future, and it's a signal that the work we do here matters,” Agrawal added.

In a message posted on Twitter, Dorsey said: “After almost 16 years of having a role at our company… from co-founder to CEO to Chair to Exec Chair to interim-CEO to CEO… I decided it's finally time for me to leave. Why? “There's a lot of talk about the importance of a company being "founder-led".

“Ultimately, I believe that's severely limiting and a single point of failure. I've worked hard to ensure this company can break away from its founding and founders,” he said. Dorsey said that there are three reasons he believes now is the right time.

“The first is Parag becoming our CEO. The board ran a rigorous process considering all options and unanimously appointed Parag. He's been my choice for some time given how deeply he understands the company and its needs,” he said.

Parag has been behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around. He's curious, probing, rational, creative, demanding, self-aware and humble, Dorsey said.  “He leads with heart and soul, and is someone I learn from daily. My trust in him as our CEO is bone deep,” Dorsey added.

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.