Microsoft’s Newest CEO is Satya Nadella

Satya Nadella, former head of Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise group, has been named the third CEO of Microsoft, according to the company’s announcement this morning.

Nadella beat out over 100 potential candidates, including many notable competitors, like Tony Bates and Alan Mulally—both of whom have had impressive CEO experience.

Looks like skills and achievements triumphed experience in positions for Microsoft this time!

So, who is Nadella?

Born in Hyderabad India, Nadella got his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Mangalore University, his master’s in computer science from the University of Wisconsin and a second master’s degree in business admin from the University of Chicago.

He came out as the best contender because of his extensive experience and successes at Microsoft. He’s a 21-year veteran of Microsoft and is very familiar with managing most of its business.  The cloud innovation at Microsoft is one of the most successful and fastest growing piece of the company. With both a strong engineering background and entrepreneurial skills, his promotion is not a huge surprise.

Before Microsoft, he worked at Sun Microsystems as part of their tech team.

A Few of Nadella’s Big Wins

• “As the president of Microsoft's $19 billion Server and Tools Business, he successfully led the transformation of the business and technology from client-server software to cloud infrastructure and services,” according to First Post.
• “During his six years in MBS, Nadella was responsible for Microsoft Dynamics ERP and the creation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Office Small Business product lines,” according to Crunch Base.

• “He founded and led the Microsoft bCentral small business online service, served as general manager for Commerce Platforms Group, and was responsible for Microsoft Commerce Server & Microsoft BizTalk Server products,” according to Crunch Base.

• “Nadella was also a key member of several advanced technology incubation efforts inside Microsoft, including interactive television (ITV) and digital rights management (DRM),” Crunch Base reports.

Words of Wisdom from Nadella: ‘Always keep learning.’

“Be passionate and bold. Always keep learning. You stop doing useful things if you don’t learn. So the last part to me is the key, especially if you have had some initial success. It becomes even more critical that you have the learning “bit” always switched on,” he said in an interview with Deccan Chronicle.

His former professor, Harishchandra Hebbar of Manipal University, would attest to this advice.

“When all other students will quietly listen to what I would teach, he will ask a lot of questions - 'why does it have to be like this, why can't we do it like this?'," Harishchandra Hebbar, who taught digital electronics to Nadella at Manipal University told Reuters.

Some Critics Worry His Extensive Microsoft Experience Might be a Setback

Rick Sherlund, the Nomura Equity Research analyst, has been advocating for the company to hire a non-Microsoft executive to bring in a fresh perspective and avoid repeating history.

“We do not want to see a continuation of the existing direction for the business, so it will be important that Mr. Nadella be free to make changes,” Sherlund said in a research report last week.

Still, Microsoft shares reportedly rose following the announcement by 0.7 percent within an hour.

Will Nadella’s limited experience stifle innovation at Microsoft?

Here's a video courtesy of Microsoft, featuring Nadella's first interview as CEO: