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Nikita Parmar

Updated on 07th April, 2023 , 5 min read

Sundar Pichai Education: Biography, Awards and Unknown Facts

Who is Sundar Pichai?

Sundar Pichai was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, on June 10, 1972. Pichai's full name is Pichai Sundararajan. He is a prominent business leader best known as Google Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and also the CEO of Alphabet Inc., the firm's parent corporation. Pichai has received widespread acclaim for his leadership, abilities, and product vision. He is credited with popularizing the Android operating system.

Pichai showed an early interest in technology and an exceptional recall, particularly for phone digits. After graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur with a degree in metallurgy (B.Tech,1993) and a silver medal (M.S.), he was awarded a scholarship to Stanford University.  He stayed in the United States after that, temporarily working for Applied Materials (a supplier of semiconductor materials) before receiving an M.B.A. (2002) from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. He is married to Anjali Pichai, a graduate of Kasturba Medical College in Manipal and a native of Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

Biography of Sundar Pichai

The following details are of Sundar Pichai- 

Full Name 

Pichai Sundararajan

Date of Birth

June 10, 1972 (age 50)

Place of Birth 

Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India

Nationality 

Indian born American

Education 

B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur

MS from Stanford University

MBA from the University of Pennsylvania

Citizenship 

United States

Parents and Siblings Name 

Regunatha Pichai (father)

Lakshmi Pichai (mother)

Srinivasan Pichai (Younger Brother)

Current Position 

CEO of Google and Alphabet

Spouse Name 

Anjali Pichai

No. of Children 

2 children 

Kavya Pichai (Daughter) 

Kiran Pichai (Son)

Awards

Padma Bhushan

Twitter Profile 

Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) / Twitter

Family Background of Sundar Pichai

Sundar Pichai's parents names are Regunatha Pichai and Lakshmi Pichai. He graduated from Jawahar Vidyalaya (Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya) and the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. On December 19, 2003, he married Anjali Pichai. He has two children, Kiran Pichai and Kavya Pichai. Sundar is an American citizen who lives in America with his family. He formerly worked for Google Inc., Android Inc., and other companies. Sundar Pichai comes from an engineering family. Pichai's father worked as an electrical engineer for the British company General Electric Company (GEC). Sundar Pichai's mother was also a working lady. She worked as a stenographer.

The Education Journey of Sundar Pichai

  1. Pichai showed a strong interest in technology from an early age, particularly through electrical items like telephones and refrigerators. 
  2. Everyone was startled by Pichai's instinctive ability to remember a wide range of phone numbers. 
  3. He completed Class XII at IIT Madras after graduating from Vana Vani School.
  4. Sundar Pichai obtained a B.Tech in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur.
  5. He completed his coaching at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, a Central Board of Secondary Education institution in Chennai's Ashok Nagar.
  6. Stanford University awarded him an M.S. in materials science and design.
  7. He then earned an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, where he was recognized as a Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar.
  8. Pichai started his career as a materials engineer.
  9. He joined Google in 2004 and rose through the ranks to become CEO in 11 years.

1. Sundar Pichai studied what after 12th grade?

Sundar Pichai graduated from Vana Vani Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Chennai, India, in the 12th grade. He then attended the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur to study metallurgical engineering. Following graduation, Pichai worked in applied materials and semiconductor processing for a few years. He subsequently opted to pursue his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Pichai worked in management consulting for a few years after finishing his MBA before joining Google in 2004.

2. Education at IIT Kharagpur

With a passion for science and technology and a desire to contribute to the field, he was able to gain admission to the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur. In 1993, he chose to pursue a BTech in Metallurgical Engineering. He met his wife, Anjali at IIT Kharagpur.

3. Education at Stanford University

Sundar Pichai's silver award-winning scholarship, which allowed him to pursue his dream school at the prestigious Stanford University, was a watershed moment in his education. He was eager to seek a Ph.D. from Stanford on a comparable topic as soon as he finished his master's degree. Pichai went on to seek a Ph.D. degree, but eventually dropped out and began his career as a Product Manager and Engineer in the field of Applied Materials.

Sundar Pichai's Significant Success

Sundar Pichai persuaded Google's co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, to create Google's browser. Sundar was instrumental in the ultimate launch of Google Chrome in 2008. Chrome eventually surpassed competitors such as Firefox and Internet Explorer to become the world's most popular browser. Sundar Pichai rose to international prominence as a result of Google Chrome's meteoric success. After an 11-year hiatus after joining Google, he was named the company's next CEO on August 10, 2015. Alphabet Inc. was established in 2015 as Google's parent company. Sundar Pichai received 273,328 shares of Alphabet, Google's holding company, in February 2016. Finally, he was named CEO of Alphabet Inc. on December 3, 2019.

Awards and Recognition 

  1. He began working at Google in 2004, and by August 2007, he had been promoted to Vice President, Product Management. 
  2. In 2009, he released Chrome OS, an operating system based on the Linux kernel that allows you to accomplish anything online without the need for a hard drive or software installed on your computer.
  3. He is also a co-founder of the open source microblogging application Jaiku.
  4. Forbes named him one of the most powerful individuals in business in 2017.
  5. He also received several awards, including the World Economic Forum's Top 100 Global Thought Leaders Award; The Webby Awards' Digital Visionary Award; Variety's Visionary Award; Tony Robbins' Game Changer Award; Consumer Technology Association's Excellence in Innovation Award; CNBC's Tech Titan Award, and NDTV Profit's Man of the Year in Business Leadership Award.
  6. Pichai was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2022, the country's third-highest civilian honour.

Unknown Facts about Sundar Pichai

Here are some facts about Google's CEO-

  1. Sundar Pichai says that he was repeatedly and aggressively contacted by Twitter and Microsoft while working at Google, but was subsequently offered large compensation packages to stay.
  2. Pichai grew up with a mother who worked as a stenographer and a father who was an electrical engineer at GEC in India.
  3. Pichai grew up in a modest two-room apartment with his family, missing basic comforts like a refrigerator, and recalls a drought that occurred during his childhood. Pichai still can't sleep without a glass of water by his bedside.
  4. Sundar Pichai met his now-wife Anjali Pichai at IIT Kharagpur, and the couple married later.
  5. Pichai was a voracious reader who used to devour anything and everything. 
  6. He enjoys both cricket and football.

Salary of Google CEO Sundar Pichai

  1. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, is one of the highest-paid CEOs in the world.
  2. Much of his fortune stems from his role as CEO of Google, where he has earned hundreds of millions of dollars in stock options and other remuneration. 
  3. He also has a variety of other assets, such as real estate and investments.
  4. When it comes to 2020, Google's annual proxy filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that Sundar Pichai's basic compensation is $20 million (about 14.6 crore INR) as he was elevated to Alphabet CEO. 
  5. Pichai's basic pay in 2019 was previously estimated to be around 6.5 million dollars (about 51.64 crores INR). 

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