Parag Agarwal, a Bombay IITian, has replaced Jack Dorsey as the Twitter chief executive officer. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Monday decided to step down from a company he was deeply associated with, and handed over the baton to Indian-origin Parag Agrawal, the current CTO, with immediate effect.
“I've decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. My trust in Parag as Twitter's CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I'm deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It's his time to lead,” said Dorsey.
So, who is Parag Agarwal?
Like another India-born big tech CEO – Sundar Pichai, Parag is also an IITian. Parag joined the tech company in 2011 and became the CTO of the company in 2017 and he is well-liked by Jack Dorsey, one likely factor that helped him clinch the top post at Twitter. In the email sent to all Twitter employees, Dorsey wrote, “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. Parag has been behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around. He's curious, probing, rational, creative, demanding, self-aware, and humble. He leads with heart and soul and is someone I learn from daily. My trust in him as our CEO is bone-deep.”
According to the press note shared by the tech company, “Parag Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011 and has served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) since October 2017. As CTO, he has been responsible for the Company's technical strategy, leading work to improve development velocity while advancing the state of Machine Learning across the company. Prior to being appointed CTO, Parag had risen to be Twitter's first Distinguished Engineer due to his work across revenue and consumer engineering, including his impact on the re-acceleration of audience growth in 2016 and 2017.”
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The note also provided brief information about Parag’s educational background. “Parag 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,” the note further read.
Reportedly, before joining Twitter, Parag did research internships at AT&T, Microsoft, and Yahoo.
Parag Agrawal has refreshed the list of prominent CEOs of US Inc. and the schools in India (and the US) that shaped their lives. Agrawal has joined the ranks of other Indian-origin CEOs in Silicon Valley, like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella.