 "Who is Pavan Davuluri, the Indian-origin executive to lead Microsoft Windows and Surface teams?")
Microsoft once again internally combined the Windows and Surface teams.
It has named IIT Madras alumnus Pavan Davuluri to spearhead development on both fronts, making him the most recent Indian to assume a senior position at a major tech company.
The decision follows a brief split between the two divisions, during which Windows was absorbed into Microsoft’s recently formed artificial intelligence division.
This signifies a return to the previous organisational structure within Rajesh Jha’s Microsoft Engineering and Devices organisation.
In an internal memo accessed by The Verge, Jha said that the decision will enable the company to adopt a “holistic approach” in developing its products and experiences for the “AI era.”
About Pavan Davuluri
Pavan Davuluri is an alumnus of the esteemed Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
He attended the University of Maryland in the US to obtain a Master of Science degree after graduating, according to India TV News.
Having begun his career as a Reliability Component Manager, he has over 23 years of experience at Microsoft.
In addition to overseeing the development of Surface processors in collaboration with Qualcomm and AMD, he was also involved in the work on Bing, Edge, and Copilot.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHe has also been credited with Microsoft’s efforts to optimise Windows for Arm-based computers, as per Hindustan Times.
Davuluri had previously been in charge of the Surface group, with Mikhail Parakhin heading the Windows division. He took over the Surface and Windows departments when Parakhin and Panos Panay left.
With the most recent change, Davuluri replaces longtime product chief Panay, who departed the division last year to work for Amazon.
Davuluri will report to Rajesh Jha, according to an internal memo that The Verge accessed.
Microsoft’s changing structure
Mustafa Suleyman, a co-founder of DeepMind, was recently named CEO of a newly formed AI organisation by Microsoft.
As a result, the team of Mikhail Parakhin has been integrated into the newly formed AI division.
This coincides with Microsoft’s anticipated announcement of the next-general AI features and Arm-based Surface hardware.
Elite group of Indians leading tech giants
Davuluri is the latest in a growing line of Indians holding positions of leadership in global technology firms. These are some of the world’s most prominent Indian-origin CEOs.
Satya Nadella – Microsoft CEO
Hyderabad-born Satya Nadella has been the CEO of the company since 2014.
He did his Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering from Hyderabad and pursued a Master’s in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, as per Scoop Woop.
He began his career at Sun Microsystems before changing careers at Microsoft.
Sundar Pichai- Alphabet and Google CEO
Pichai started his career with Google in 2004 as a management executive.
He was raised in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, and attended Stanford University in California as well as the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur.
Arvind Krishna – CEO, IBM Group
In November 2023, Krishna succeeded Virginia Rometty as the CEO of the IBM Group.
He has been associated with the company for over two decades.
Krishna finished his PhD studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in electrical engineering.
Shantanu Narayen – Adobe Inc. CEO
Narayen, who was born in Hyderabad, has served as CEO and head of Adobe since 2007.
He received his Bachelor’s degree from Osmania University in Hyderabad and his MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.
He was employed at Apple before coming to Abobe.
Nikesh Arora – Palo Alto Networks, CEO
Arora, who was born in Uttar Pradesh, has led the company as its CEO since 2018.
He was previously the President of the SoftBank Group and an executive at Google.
Arora is an alumni of Boston College, Northeastern University, and the Indian Institute of Technology, BHU.
With inputs from agencies
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