At Satya Nadella’s school in Hyderabad, teachers recall a ‘different type of boy’

Hyderabad –  Indian-American Satya Nadella is the new CEO of Microsoft. With his appointment, Mr Nadella joins an elite group of Indian-origin executives such as Pepsi’s Indra Nooyi, Deutsche Bank’s Anshu Jain and Mastercard’s Ajay Banga.

The 46-year-old is only the third leader in the 300-billion dollar software company’s 38-year history. (Watch)

The new Microsoft CEO is most famous for overseeing the company’s online initiatives, where he transformed Windows Live Search into Bing and headed its cloud and enterprise business, considered the most important for the company’s future. (Satya Nadella’s email to employees on first day as Microsoft CEO)

Born and raised in Hyderabad, Mr Nadella studied at Hyderabad Public School and earned his engineering degree from the Manipal Institute of Technology.

He then left for US for his masters from the University of Wisconsin, following it up with an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Satya Nadella is a cricket enthusiast and was part of his school team in Hyderabad. Reports quoted him saying he learnt his first management skills by playing the game.

He visited the Hyderabad Public School in 2009 and 2011 and gifted the Robotics department to his alma-mater.

His friends at his school in Hyderabad describe him as a “man of inflection” who would excel at whatever he decided to take up, like spin bowling or athletics.

G Jayanand, his teacher, said he is “one of the happiest persons in the world” today. “Satya was a different type of boy, more with his books and studies,” he said.

Satya Nadella is married for 22 years to partner he has known since high school. They have three children.

Mr Nadella’s father and father-in-law are both IAS officers from the same batch.