Shantanu Narayen
Shantanu Narayen is an Indian-American business executive who has been the chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Adobe Inc. since December 2007. Before this, he was the company's president and chief operating officer since 2005.
Narayen is a member of The Business Council.
Early life and education
Narayen grew up in Hyderabad, India in a Telugu Hindu family. He is the second son of a mother who taught American literature and a father who ran a plastics company. Narayen attended Hyderabad Public School.Narayen earned a bachelor's degree in electronics and communication engineering from University [College of Engineering, Osmania University] in Hyderabad. He moved to the United States to complete his education, and received a master's degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University in 1986. Narayen later received an MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.
Career
Early career
In 1986, Narayen joined a Silicon Valley startup called Measurex Automation Systems, which made computer control systems for automotive and electronics customers. Narayen then moved to Apple, where he was in senior management positions from 1989 to 1995.After Apple, Narayen was director of desktop and collaboration products for Silicon Graphics. In 1996, he co-founded Pictra Inc., a company that pioneered the concept of digital photo sharing over the Internet.
Adobe
Narayen joined Adobe in 1998 as senior vice president of worldwide product development, a position he held through 2001. From 2001 to 2005, Narayen was executive vice president of worldwide products. In 2005, he was appointed president and chief operating officer.CEO
In November 2007, Adobe announced that Bruce Chizen would step down as CEO effective December 1, 2007, to be replaced by Narayen.As CEO, Narayen led the transformation of the company, moving its creative and digital document software franchises – which include flagship programs such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Acrobat/PDF – from the desktop to the cloud. In addition, during his tenure as CEO, Adobe has entered the digital experiences category, an expansion which began with the company’s acquisition of Omniture in 2009.
In 2018, Adobe exceeded $100 billion in market cap and joined the Fortune 500 for the first time. That same year, it also ranked No. 13 on Forbes’ Most Innovative Companies list.
In 2011, Barack Obama appointed Narayen as a member of his Management Advisory Board. He is the lead independent director on the board of directors for Pfizer, and vice chairman of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.
In 2023, Narayen's total compensation from Adobe was $44.9 million, up 42% from the previous year and representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 229-to-1.