What is the typical path from IIT or IIM to US executive leadership?

Step 1: an elite technical undergraduate degree

India's Institutes of Technology were among the elite institutions set up after independence in 1947. Newsweek reports acceptance rates of roughly 0.5% to 2%, more selective than the Ivy League¹. IIT graduates are heavily represented among Indian American business leaders. Forbes records IIT degrees for Romesh Wadhwani (IIT Bombay)⁴, Vinod Khosla⁵, Bharat Desai (IIT Bombay)⁶, Rakesh Gangwal⁷ and Jay Chaudhry (IIT BHU)⁸. Sundar Pichai studied metallurgical engineering at IIT Kharagpur¹. Newsweek notes that from the 1960s India was producing thousands of English-speaking engineers every year. That gave graduates a ready path into American graduate schools and companies at a time when US industry needed technical talent¹.

An IIT degree is common on this path, but it is not required. Satya Nadella did not clear the IIT entrance exam and studied at the Manipal Institute of Technology¹. Neha Narkhede studied engineering at the University of Pune¹¹. The common factor is a rigorous technical degree, more than a particular institution. Our article on why so many big tech CEOs are of Indian origin looks at the wider system.

What HeyAlbert data shows

Step 2: a US graduate degree

The second step is almost always a US master's degree, PhD or MBA. It gives the student US credentials, a professional network and, often, a route to a work visa. Wadhwani earned a master's and a PhD at Carnegie Mellon⁴. Khosla took a master's at Carnegie Mellon and an MBA at Stanford⁵. Desai earned an MBA at Michigan's Ross School⁶, Gangwal an MBA at Wharton⁷, and Nadella a master's at the University of Wisconsin⁹. Indra Nooyi came to the US for an MBA at the Yale School of Management¹⁰.

That pipeline is still running. More than 363,000 Indian students were enrolled at US colleges and universities in 2024-25, more than from any other country, most of them in STEM programs². Among H-1B workers approved in fiscal 2025, 58% held a master's degree as their highest degree³. See our research on H-1B visas and wealth and Indian American education levels.

Step 3: the long climb inside one company

Many of the best-known executives then spent decades at a single employer. Newsweek's profile of Raj Gupta is the archetype. He graduated from IIT Bombay, arrived at Cornell in 1969 with $8, and joined the chemicals firm Rohm and Haas in 1971. Over four decades there he held 13 jobs on three continents and served 17 bosses. He became chairman and CEO in 1999 and led the company until Dow bought it for $15 billion in 2009¹. Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992 and became CEO in 2014. Pichai joined Google in 2004 and rose through product management¹.

Newsweek's reporting, drawing on ghSMART's research, adds a soft-skill element. Gupta credited his rise partly to learning to speak more directly after early feedback that he lacked conviction¹.

The alternative: technical career to founder

A second branch leads from the same education to entrepreneurship. Khosla cofounded Sun Microsystems in 1982 and later spent 18 years at Kleiner Perkins before founding Khosla Ventures⁵. Wadhwani founded Aspect Development and later SymphonyAI⁴. Chaudhry founded four security companies before Zscaler⁸. Desai cofounded Syntel in 1980, after meeting Neerja Sethi while both worked for Tata Consultancy Services⁶. Our analyses of the largest exits by Indian American founders and of unicorn founders follow this branch.

Where IIM fits

The Indian Institutes of Management are India's leading business schools, and many of their graduates build careers in consulting, banking and multinational companies. Among the US executives profiled here, though, the more common management credential is a US MBA earned after an Indian engineering degree. The IIM route is more visible in consulting and finance than in Silicon Valley. Our research on Indian Americans in management consulting and on professional and alumni networks covers it.

How representative is this path?

The executives named here are exceptional cases, not the typical outcome. The broader pattern still holds for the community: 50% of Indian immigrants aged 25 and over held a graduate or professional degree in 2024², and 77% of Indian Americans aged 25 and over have at least a bachelor's degree¹². For most professionals the path leads to senior technical and management roles well below the CEO level, roles that still carry substantial equity compensation.