Tag: Cisco

Indian American Businesswoman Pleads Guilty to Tech Worker Visa Fraud

SAN JOSE (TIP): A San Jose businesswoman of Indian origin pleaded guilty in federal court last week to three counts of visa fraud. In pleading guilty, Sridevi Aiyaswamy, 50, of San Jose, admitted that between April 2010 and June 2013 she made numerous false statements, and submitted over 25 fraudulent documents, to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for the purpose of obtaining H-1B non-immigrant classifications for skilled foreign workers.

Acting as a petitioner on behalf of foreign worker beneficiaries, Aiyaswamy falsely represented in I-129 petitions that the foreign worker beneficiaries would be working at Cisco, an information technology and networking company in San Jose, Calif. Aiyaswamy further submitted counterfeit statements of work with forged signatures as back-up documentation to the I-129 petitions. In fact, at the time she submitted these documents to USCIS, Aiyaswamy knew that the statements regarding offers of work from Cisco for these beneficiaries were false statements, and that Cisco had not made any offers of employment regarding these individuals.

A federal grand jury indicted Aiyaswamy on December 3, 2015, charging her with 34 counts of visa fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a). Pursuant to today’s pea agreement, Aiyaswamy pleaded guilty to three of the counts of visa fraud and the government agreed to request dismissal of the remaining counts.

Aiyaswamy is currently free on bond. Judge Koh scheduled her sentencing for November 15, 2017, at 9:15 a.m. The maximum statutory penalty for visa fraud is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

(Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California)

Jul 28, 2017 – 1:33 am EDT
Adi Godrej to be honored with the 2017 USIBC Global Leadership Award

WASHINGTON (TIP): The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) announced that Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company Andrew Liveris and Chairman of the Godrej Group Adi Godrej will be honored with the 2017 USIBC Global Leadership Award. Vice President Mike Pence will address its 42nd Annual Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. The Annual Leadership Summit is USIBC’s signature event, drawing top business and government leaders and serves as a forum for engaging in discussions on deepening U.S.-India commercial ties.

During the summit, USIBC will also present its “2017 Global Leadership Awards” to Andrew Liveris, Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company, and Adi Godrej, Chairman of the Godrej Group for creating inclusive business environments, integrating India in the global supply chain and advancing core values such as manufacturing, innovation and scale in tough market conditions. The Council’s annual summit will bring together stakeholders including government and private sector leaders, and top media figures to discuss the bilateral relationship and chart a way forward. With the transition in the U.S. government, the Council has taken a lead role in sustaining the momentum of the U.S.-India bilateral ties.

USIBC President Mukesh Aghi said, “The Council believes that this is a vibrant period for the two nations and the growing partnership is deeper and broader than ever before. We expect the upward trajectory to continue.”

The Council’s 42nd Anniversary summit will highlight: (1) The important role of private sector in advancing the ties between the two countries; (2) Future of U.S.-India Trade relationship; (3) Strengthening and deepening of defense partnership. Executive Chairman of Cisco and USIBC Chairman John Chambers will provide the State of the Council address, reflecting on the growth and potential of the U.S.-India bilateral ties.

A congressional panel on the U.S.-India Defense & Trade Partnership will include Senator Mark Warner, Co-Chair, U.S.-India Senate Caucus, Senator John Cornyn, Co-Chair, U.S.-India Senate Caucus, Congressman George Holding, Co-Chair, U.S.-India House Caucus and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Co-Chair, U.S.-India House Caucus. Ambassador Navtej Sarna, Indian Ambassador to the United States and Congressman Pete Sessions, Chairman, House Committee on Rules will deliver special remarks during the summit.

Jun 23, 2017 – 2:37 am EDT
Chandrababu Naidu honored with Transformative Chief Minister Award at Silicon Valley Summit

WASHINGTON (TIP): Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu was awarded the Transformative Chief Minister Award by The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) during their annual summit, an honor that has been instituted by the Council to acknowledge excellence in public service and recognize the honoree’s achievement in championing U.S.-India ties in the areas of trade, politics and culture. Recognized alongside Chief Minister Naidu, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT, Aruna Sundararajan was honored with the USIBC Transformative Leadership Award for distinguished public service and her commitment to advancing U.S.-India cooperation and Digital India.

USIBC hosted its annual summit in Silicon Valley in first week of May, calling for collaboration. The theme of this year’s summit was U.S.-India Technology Partnership. Industry and government leaders from the U.S. and India discussed the power of digital transformation to accelerate economic growth, create jobs, and encourage the start-up and entrepreneurial environment.

USIBC brought together key stakeholders, including Government of India officials, industry leaders in fintech, digital payment service providers, IT, sharing economy, Ecommerce, and venture capitalists to renew key linkages and advance the convergent interests of the two countries.

Senior policy makers and heads of global organizations held discussions on dynamic aspects of the U.S.-India commercial relationship that included panel discussions on: (1) Enabling Entrepreneurship and Corporate Responsibility; (2) Make in India; (3) Digital Payments, Internet of Things and Smart Planning; (4) Future of U.S.- India Technology Partnership featuring the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu and IT Secretary Aruna Sundararajan, alongside tech innovators Dheeraj Pandey, CEO of Nutanix, and USIBC Chairman and Cisco Executive Chairman, John Chambers. The panel was moderated by CNBC’s senior technology reporter, Ari Levy.

Approximately 200 senior level business leaders and investors attended the summit. Attending companies at the summit included Amazon, PayPal, Deloitte, Facebook, iCreate, Nuveen, Mastercard, Mobility Infrastructure Group, Varian Medical, and Visa.

May 26, 2017 – 2:24 pm EDT
CTO Zorawar Biri Singh leaves As Internal Exodus Continues at Cisco

In another high level exit at Cisco, Indian American Zorawar Biri Singh is the latest to leave the networking giant in the midst of an internal exodus or restructuring.

In addition to being CTO, Singh was the senior vice president of cloud services and platforms — a crucial role, given that Cisco, like most vendors, considers the cloud crucial to its future success.

Unlike other departing executives, such as Senior Vice President Rob Soderbery, Singh was not part of Cisco’s old guard under former CEO John Chambers.

He and Chief Digital Officer Kevin Brandy arrived in mid-2015, hired from the outside by incoming CEO Chuck Robbins.

Since the beginning of this year, a few highly visible executives have announced their departures from Cisco. The list includes Soderbery, who ran Cisco’s enterprise business; Kelly Ahuja, senior vice president of the service provider business; and Pankaj Patel, chief development officer.

In addition, the quartet of Mario Mazzola, Prem Jain, Luca Cafiero, and Soni Jiandani have also resigned. They were responsible for three successful spin-ins, including Insieme, the startup that developed Cisco’s Application-Centric Infrastructure (ACI).

In August, Cisco announced layoffs of 5,500, part of a plan to shift priorities to areas such as security, the Internet of Things (IoT), and the cloud.

Cisco confirmed to CRN that Singh, Cisco’s CTO and senior vice president of Cloud Services and Platforms, is leaving due to the company’s evolving engineering strategy.

“Earlier this week, we announced to employees an updated alignment of our engineering teams. We believe these changes will help us simplify our development efforts and accelerate delivery of value for our customers. As a result of these changes, Zorawar Biri Singh will leave Cisco at the end of October,” a Cisco spokesperson wrote to CRN in an emailed statement.

Oct 11, 2016 – 1:43 am EDT
Two Women among 25 Highest Paid Indian-American Executives

BOSTON (TIP): Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Google, and General Growth Properties CEO Sandeep Mathrani are the two highest-paid Indian-American executives in the United States, earning a whopping $100.50 million and $39.25 million respectively, according to a report released by the IndUS Business Journal.

“Two top-ranking women also grace the list of the highest-paid Indian-American executives,” said Upendra Mishra, publisher of the IndUS Business Journal. “We hope that the number of women-led businesses increases in the near future. However, it is still exciting to see that there are at least two women in this top list.”

The two women in the list are: PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, who made $22.19 million, and Sona Chawla, Chief Operating Officer of Kohl’s Corp., who made $10.69 million. The list is based on the total compensation in 2015, including base salary, bonus, incentives and stock award value. The report is compiled based on public documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, public records and news reports.

Here is the list ranked by total compensation in 2015:

Rank: 1
Sundar Pichai
Title: CEO
Company: Google

Rank: 2
Name: Sandeep Mathrani
Title: CEO
Company: General Growth

Rank: 3
Name: Hari Ravichandran Title: CEO
Company: Endurance International Group

Rank: 4
Name: Bhavesh (Bob) Patel Title: CEO
Company: LyondellBasell Industries

Rank: 5
Name: Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi
Title: Chairman and CEO Company: PepsiCo

Rank: 6
Name: Shantanu Narayen Title: CEO
Company: Adobe Systems

Rank: 7
Name: Satya Nadela
Title: CEO
Company: Microsoft Corp.

Rank: 8
Name: Ajay Banga
Title: President and CEO Company: MasterCard

Rank: 9
Name: Pankaj Patel
Title: Executive Vice President Company: Cisco Systems

Rank: 10
Name: Varun Mehta
Title: Vice President of Engineering
Company: Nimble Storage, Inc.

Rank: 11
Name: Akhil Johri
Title: Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Company: United Technologies Corp.

Rank: 12
Name: Francisco D’Souza Title: CEO
Company: Cognizant Technology Solutions

Rank: 13
Name: Rajiv De Silva
Title: President and CEO Company: Endo International Plc

Rank: 14
Name: Sanjay Mehrotra
Title: President and CEO Company: SanDisk Corp.

Rank: 15
Name: Sona Chawla
Title: Chief Operating Officer Company: Kohl’s Corp.

Rank: 16
Name: Ashish Bhutani
Title: CEO
Company: Lazard Asset Management

Rank: 17
Name: Dinesh C. Paliwal Title: Chairman and CEO Company: Harman International

Rank: 18
Name: Dinesh C. Jain
Title: Chief Operating Officer Company: Spectrum Management Holding Company

Rank: 19
Name: Abhijit Y. Talwalkar Title: President and CEO Company: LSI Corp.

Rank: 20
Name: Sudhir Steven Singh Title: CEO
Company: Concur Technologies, Inc.

Rank: 21
Name: Sunit S. Patel
Title: Executive Vice President Company: Level 3 Communications, Inc.

Rank: 22
Name: Dharmesh Mehta Title: Executive Vice President Company: Weatherford International

Rank: 23
Name: Mohan R. Maheswaran Title: CEO
Company: Semtech Corp.

Rank: 24
Name: Deepak Chopra
Title: President and CEO Company: Osi Systems, Inc.

Rank: 25
Name: Vijay C. Advani
Title: CEO
Company: Franklin Resources, Inc.

Aug 12, 2016 – 9:10 am EDT
Wal-Mart lifts retail shares as US stocks retreat

NEW YORK (TIP): Wal-Mart and some smaller retailers surged Thursday following strong quarterly results, while the broader US market retreated on worries about higher interest rates.

Wal-Mart Stores jumped 9.6 percent after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter earnings. Sports apparel and equipment chain Dick’s Sporting Goods and youth-oriented apparel chain Urban Outfitters soared 8.6 percent and 14.0 percent following earnings.

The results boosted more broadly the beaten-down retailer sector, including Best Buy , Macy’s and Nordstrom, all of which climbed more than two percent.

But it was not enough to buoy the whole market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.5 percent to 17,435.40.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.4 percent to 2,040.04, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.6 percent to 4,712.53.

Investors fixated on hawkish Fed statements, including remarks Thursday from New York Federal Reserve Bank President Bob Dudley that a June or July rate hike was “reasonable” if economic data stays solid.

“We just have a constant drumbeat from Fed officials that the market isn’t taking the threat of a rate hike seriously,” said Alan Skrainka chief investment officer at Cornerstone Wealth Management.

Agricultural giant Monsanto climbed 3.5 percent after acknowledging it received an unsolicited bid from Bayer to create a global player in pesticides, seeds and genetically modified crops.

Both Monsanto and Bayer emphasized that the talks were still only exploratory at this stage.

Internet networking company Cisco Systems vaulted 3.2 percent as it projected sales in the current fiscal fourth quarter would rise as much as three percent and said earnings could exceed analyst expectations.

Cloud computing company Salesforce.com rose 4.1 percent as it projected full-year sales of about $8.2 billion, up from $6.7 billion last year.

FMC Technologies tumbled 4.7 percent following its announcement that it agreed to merge with French oil services company Technip to form a company with annual sales around $20 billion.

Credit Suisse said the merger was an understandable move in light of investment cutbacks by oil companies, but that it “speaks to the severity and expected duration of continued weakness in deepwater spending.” Banking shares pulled back after posting huge gains Wednesday.

May 20, 2016 – 8:16 am EDT
MASTER CARD CEO AJAY BANGA AMONG 4 IN THE US GET A PADMA AWARD

NEW YORK (TIP): Three Indian Americans and a former U.S. ambassador to India were announced Jan. 25 as this year’s recipients of the coveted Padma awards.

Avinash Dixit, Robert Blackwill, Salman Amin Sal Khan and Ajaypal Singh Banga

Retired diplomat Robert Blackwill – who served as the U.S. ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003 – was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honor. Indian American economist Avinash Dixit bagged a Padma Vibhushan. American teacher Salman Amin Sal Khan, and Ajaypal Singh Banga, President and CEO of MasterCard have been selected for Padma Shri awards. The awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.

Indian American economist Avinash Dixit was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honor. Dixit, one of the world’s leading economists developed the Dixit-Stiglitz model with Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz in 1977.

Education entrepreneur Salman ‘Sal’ Khan was awarded the Padma Shri award, India’s fourth-highest civilian award. Khan founded the Khan Academy in 2009. In 2012, Time magazine named Khan in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Ajaypal Banga was awarded the Padma Shri award; Singh ascended to the role of MasterCard’s CEO and president in July 2010. He had previously served as the global credit card company’s president and chief operating officer. Banga formerly served for four years as the chairman of the U.S. India Business Council, which aims to forge new markets and business opportunities between the two countries. He stepped down in September 2015 as John Chambers, executive chairman of Cisco, was elected the USIBC’s next chairman.

Last year, President Barack Obama appointed Banga to serve as a member of the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

Jan 29, 2016 – 12:00 pm EST
USIBC names two new vice chairs to push India trade

WASHINGTON (TIP): The US-India Business Council (USIBC) has named Punit Renjen, CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (Deloitte Global),and Edward Monser, President of Emerson, as USIBC Vice Chairs to further build on US-India relationship.

The leading business advocacy organization comprised of 350 top-tier US and Indian companies advancing US-India commercial ties recently appointed former Cisco CEO John Chamber as USIBC Chairman.

Chambers, immediate past USIBC Chairman and CEO of MasterCard Ajay Banga, and Edward Monser, will embark on the USIBC Chairman’s Executive Mission to India in mid-February, and also participate in the inaugural Make in India week.

“I believe that there are tremendous opportunities this year to build on the US-India relationship,” said Monser. “With India’s push for advancement across industries, and initiatives like Make in India gaining momentum, I see several channels for collaboration, exchange of ideas, and exchange of technology between the two countries.”

“I am optimistic about the continued trajectory of US-India relations and the positive impact this will have, not only for our two countries, but indeed for the world,” said Punit Renjen.

“In growing the exchange of talent between our two countries and further opening channels for increased trade and investment, we will be able to deepen innovation, create high-quality jobs and fuel our industries’ global competitiveness for the 21st century.”

Congratulating the “two great business leaders,” USIBC President Mukesh Aghi said: “Together, with our combined experience, we can tackle some of the most difficult challenges on both sides.

“We have already seen the expansion of FDI into the media and entertainment, single brand retail, and defense sectors. Indian states are also actively reaching out to investors here in the US, showcasing the power of competitive federalism.

High on the priority list this year includes the passage of the Goods and Services Tax and land acquisition reform in India, as well as growing the manufacturing sector in order to consolidate India’s presence as a key player in the global economy.”

Chambers said the two new appointees “have done great work in promoting trade between our two countries” and “Our job for this year is to build on this momentum and shape and further the Council’s priorities.”

“We still have challenges ahead and there are areas we must discuss, however, I am positive we can do so in a way that befits our community and our leaders’ ambitions.”

IANS

Jan 18, 2016 – 1:42 pm EST
Padmasree Warrior is the New U.S. CEO of ‘NextEV’

Indian American Padmasree Warrior, one of Silicon Valley’s high-profile women executives, has been appointed as the U.S. based chief executive officer of a Chinese firm ‘NextEV’ which is building an electric car to compete with American electric car manufacturer Tesla.

Cisco’s former chief strategy officer Padmasree, will also hold the role of Chief Development Officer.

Warrior was one of former Cisco CEO John Chambers’ top lieutenants, but she left the company when Chuck Robbins took over as CEO earlier this year.

Since leaving Cisco, the rumor was she was on the hunt for a CEO position of her own, the first of her career. At one point, her name was suggested to run Twitter.

NextEV is working on smart, high-performance electric vehicles and is considered to be one of the top contenders to muscle into the territory of high-end EVs currently dominated by Tesla.

Warrior’s track record as a technology visionary is “undisputed,” and her knowledge of the global markets and business acumen are “surpassed only by her ability to lead distributed teams of engineers and developers toward a common goal,” NextEV’s founder and chairman William Li said in a statement.

“Her passion for technology and the positive impact it can have on humanity aligns well with the core values of NextEV as we build the first user-enterprise. NextEV’s global team is comprised of the best minds from the automotive, software and user experience domains,” Li said.

“We will leverage leading edge technologies to deliver world-class products to global consumers,” he added.

Warrior said she is excited to join NextEV and has always looked for opportunities to leverage technology to tackle big problems.

“Climate change and air quality are two of the most significant global challenges today. I believe that electric vehicles will play a major role in the overall solution. As the electric vehicle industry emerges, there is a tremendous opportunity to provide a user-centric transportation experience,” she said.

“By integrating advanced technologies in the mobile internet era,” she added, “NextEV will make electric vehicles an enjoyable experience in people’s daily lives. I am proud to be a part of this journey.”

Warrior has previously been named by Forbes among the world’s 100 most powerful women. She is an alumnus of the IIT Delhi and Cornell University, and has regularly received various leadership awards.

NextEV president Martin Leach said with the car industry going through its most fundamental change, electric vehicles with smart technology and connectivity are the future.

He added that Warrior’s vision and experience will help the company deliver the next generation product and user experiences in the mobile Internet era.

In addition to her appointment to the NextEV board, Warrior currently serves on the boards of American clothing giant Gap and Microsoft.

Jan 4, 2016 – 5:33 pm EST
2 Silicon Valley companies owned by Indian Americans have been penalised for violating H1B visa rules

Scopus Consulting Group and Orian Engineers, two companies based in Silicon Valley and owned by an Indian-American Kishore Kumar have been ordered to pay fines of $103,000 to the federal government. Along with this, the company is required to pay $84,000 in back wages to its employees who are carrying H-1B visas.

The two companies bring workers from India and other countries on H1B visas to employ them as software engineers for Silicon Valley firms such as eBay, Apple and Cisco Systems.

During investigations, US Department of Labor Wage and Hour investigators found that the two companies violated the H1B provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act by misrepresenting the prevailing wage level on the Labor Condition Applications required by the act, an official release said yesterday.Federal Administrative Law Judge Stephen R Henley ordered the two businesses owned by Kishore Kumar to pay 21 workers $84,000 in back wages and $103,000 in fines to the federal government.

“Some of the country’s most cutting-edge, successful organisations benefit from underpaid H-1B workers,” director for the Wage and Hour Division in San Francisco, Susana Blanco said.

“H1B workers must be paid local prevailing wages. We will not allow companies to undercut local wages and hurt US workers and businesses who pay their workers fairly,” Blanco said. — PTI

Nov 11, 2015 – 8:58 am EST
Cisco Executive Chairman John Chambers Elected Chairman of U.S.: India Business Council

WASHINGTON, D.C.(TIP): The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) Board of Directors announced that Mr. John T. Chambers, Executive Chairman of Cisco, has been elected as the Council’s next Chairman. The formal announcement of the appointment was made at the Council’s 40th Anniversary Leadership summit that kicked off the U.S.-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.

The transition will come at the end of a four-year term by Ajay Banga, President and CEO of MasterCard. Mr. Banga has been the Council’s longest-serving Chairman.

“On behalf of the USIBC Board, it’s my privilege to announce and to welcome USIBC’s incoming chairman, John Chambers. John will of course be building on USIBC’s 40-year legacy which we’re celebrating tonight. We look forward to working with John and supporting him as his tenure officially begins the first of next year,” said Ajay Banga through a video message at the Council’s 40th Anniversary Leadership Summit.

“As a longtime supporter of USIBC, I have witnessed the Council’s influence rise dramatically as a direct result of the leadership provided by current chairman, Ajay Banga, and former chairs such as Terry McGraw and Indra Nooyi,” said John Chambers. “It is an exceptional honor to be entrusted with such a legacy and I look forward to building on their successes as USIBC’s next Chairman. With Prime Minister Modi’s upcoming visit to the Silicon Valley, the important focus on building a digitally empowered nation through Digital India and the ongoing strategic and commercial dialogue, it is an exciting time to join the Council.”

“We are grateful for Ajay’s leadership and commitment to furthering U.S.-India ties over the last four years. During his tenure, he blazed an equally impressive path by adding top American and Indian companies to the Council’s membership, increasing Council revenue and adding staff capacity at the Council’s regional offices to serve members. Due to Ajay’s leadership, the Council’s board of directors now includes 14 global Presidents and CEOs. The Council and its board are delighted to welcome John Chambers as the new Chairman. His global business acumen will be instrumental as we move forward to realize the full potential of U.S.-India relations. I look forward to working closely with John and the USIBC board to build on the Council’s proud, 40-year history,” said Mukesh Aghi, President of USIBC.

Sep 25, 2015 – 5:17 am EDT
After jokes, applause at dinner, China’s Xi Jinping gets down to US business

SEATTLE (TIP): A day after wooing Seattle’s elite with pop-culture jokes and promises of reform, Chinese President Xi Jinping gets down to business on Wednesday, meeting Apple Inc’s Tim Cook and other top tech executives.

The first leg of a trip to the United States, the Seattle stop offers a chance to highlight China’s cooperation with US companies firms before he heads to Washington, where he will have to contend with the full spectrum of irritants in relations, from tension in the South China Sea to human rights.

In a speech on Tuesday night Xi joked that there was no power struggle in China over an anti-corruption drive.

“There is no House of Cards,” Xi said, drawing laughter with a reference to the US television drama about merciless political machinations that is also popular in China.

Xi also gave a nod to author Ernest Hemingway and past US presidents, and got a standing ovation from his audience of officials and business leaders. He is due to speak on Wednesday to 30 US and Chinese chief executives, including Apple’s Cook, Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, Satya Nadella from Microsoft Corp and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett.

Top executives from Honeywell, Boeing , Cisco Systems, IBM, Starbucks, as well as Chinese firms Alibaba, Lenovo and Baidu, among others, will also attend.

Xi will also tour the Everett, Washington, factory where Boeing makes aircraft such as the 777 and 787 Dreamliner, and where the plane maker is expected to announce a new Chinese finishing plant for its 737 airliner.

In Beijing on Wednesday, China’s ICBC Financial Leasing Co said it had signed an agreement with Boeing to buy 30 737-800 aircraft.

Later on Thursday, Xi will head to the Microsoft campus, where tech executives are set to hold a US-China Internet forum.

Sep 25, 2015 – 4:57 am EDT
Global Indians – 13 Global CEOs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has all along been appreciative of the struggles and achievements of NRIs. His close association with a number of NRIs all across the world is well known. There is no country in the world where Modi does not have NRI friends.

And it is not only Modi who is appreciative of the NRI movers and shakers, the common Indian whether in India or abroad, takes great pride in the achievements of persons of Indian origin. So, here we are sharing with our readers information on the NRIs who are “global CEOs”. We congratulate them and take pride in their achievements which have done the Indian nation and its 1.3 billion people proud. They have made India’s Independence Day a very special one, with the laurels they have won.

Sundar Pichai – Pichai is an Indian American computer engineer and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur alumnus. He is the new CEO of Google. The decision came after Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin decided to re-organize the company by creating a mother company called Alphabet.

The new mother company will include, besides Google, units such as Calico (which focuses on Longevity), X lab (which incubates new efforts like Wing, Google’s drone delivery effort) and units dealing with life sciences (such as the one working on smart contact lens that detects blood sugar level). Google’s investment arms, Ventures and Capital, will also be part of Alphabet.

The journey of Sundar Pichai from a student of IIT-Kharagpur to Google CEO has been truly remarkable.

Satya Nadella – Satya Narayana Nadella was born in Hyderabad on 19 August 1967. He is the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Microsoft. He was appointed as CEO on 4 February 2014, succeeding Steve Ballmer. Before becoming CEO of Microsoft, Nadella was Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group, responsible for building and running the company’s Computing Platforms, Developer Tools and Cloud Computing Services.

Nikesh Arora – Nikesh Arora is a former Google executive and President & Chief Operating Officer of SoftBank Corp.

Arora graduated from the IIT, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

He holds a degree from Boston College and an MBA from Northeastern University. He also holds the CFA designation.

Ajaypal Singh Banga – Ajay Banga is the current president and chief executive officer of MasterCard.MasterCard announced on April 12, 2010 that Ajay Banga, previously MasterCard’s president and chief operating officer, had been named by the Board of Directors to serve as the company’s president and chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2010.

Banga succeeded Robert W. Selander, who had been MasterCard’s chief executive officer since March 1997.

Presently, he is also the chairman of the US-India Business Council (USIBC) representing more than three hundred of the largest international companies investing in India.

Indra Nooyi – India-born Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi is the current Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo, the second largest food and beverage business in the world by net revenue.

She has consistently ranked among the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

In 2014, she was ranked 13 in the list of Forbes World’s 100 most powerful women.

Rakesh Sachdev – Rakesh Sachdev has been the Chief Executive Officer and President of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation since November 2010.

He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Sigma- Aldrich Corporation from November 18, 2008 to November 2010 and also served as its Chief Administrative Officer from May 2009 to November 14, 2010 and Senior Vice President from May 2005 to November 2010.

He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration in Finance from Indiana University, as well as a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois.

Francisco D’Souza – Francisco D’Souza was born on 23 August 1968. He is the CEO of Cognizant and was part of the team that founded the NASDAQ-100 company in 1994.

Francisco is Cognizant’s CEO since January 2007.

Francisco D’Souza is among the youngest Chief Executive Officers in the software services sector. In 2007, at the age of 38, he took over from Lakshmi Narayanan, who was promoted to Vice Chairman.

Rakesh Kapoor – Rakesh Kapoor was born 4 August 1958. He is Chief Executive of Reckitt Benckiser plc, a UK FTSE-listed multinational consumer goods company, a major producer of health, hygiene and home products.

Anshu Jain – Anshuman Jain was born on 7 January 1963 in Jaipur. He took over as Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank on 1 June 2012 to succeed Management Board Chairman Josef Ackermann.

He was a co-CEO of the bank between 2012 and July 2015. He is a member of Deutsche Bank’s Management Board.

Earlier, as head of the Corporate and Investment Bank, he was globally responsible for Deutsche Bank’s corporate finance, sales and trading, and transaction banking business. Jain resigned as co-CEO in July 2015 though he is expected to remain a consultant to the bank until January 2016.

Vikram Pandit – Vikram Shankar Pandit was born on 14 January 1957. He is the former chief executive of Citigroup, a position he held from December 2007 until he was forced to resign, on 16 October 2012.

Shantanu Narayen – Shantanu Narayen was born on May 27 1963. He is the CEO of Adobe Systems. Prior to this, he was the president and chief operating officer since 2005. He is also the president of the board of the Adobe Foundation.

Padmasree Warrior – Padmasree Warrior is the former Chief Technology & Strategy Officer (CTO) of Cisco Systems, and the former CTO of Motorola, Inc.

As of 2014, she is listed as the 71st most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.

Rajeev Suri – Rajeev Suri headed Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) since October 2009, has been credited for “presiding over consistently improving results leading to the successful turnaround and restructuring of the company.” Suri joined Nokia in 1995 and headed the Asia Pacific region for NSN in 2007.

According to his official profile, Suri has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from Mangalore University. He is based in Espoo, Finland.

Aug 15, 2015 – 8:43 am EDT
India-Origin Padmasree Warrior Steps Down as Cisco’s CTO

India-born Padmasree Warrior, one of Silicon Valley’s high-profile female executives, has stepped down from her post of Chief Technology Officer at global IT giant Cisco after a significant restructuring of top management under incoming CEO Chuck Robbins.

Ms Warrior, named last month by Forbes among the world’s 100 most powerful women, will move into a strategic advisor role “effective immediately” and will stay on in this new role “through the transition” until September, Cisco said.

Under the restructuring announced last week, the 10 leaders who will sit on Cisco’s new executive leadership team will include India-born Pankaj Patel, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer.

Ms Warrior, 54, had joined Cisco in 2008 and had served as chief technology officer and senior vice president of engineering during her seven years at the company.

“Padmasree has led the success of many of our strategic partnerships and will remain with us until September to help finalise some of our key partnerships for the future. I am grateful for the impact she’s had on Cisco and her commitment to helping us finalise these important alliances,” the Cisco CEO said.

In her advisory post, Ms Warrior “is charged with aligning technology development and corporate strategy to enable Cisco to anticipate, shape, and lead major market transitions,” Cisco said.

She will help “direct technology and operational innovation across the company and oversees strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, the integration of new business models, the incubation of new technologies, and the cultivation of world-class technical talent.”

Ms Warrior, an alumnus of the IIT-Delhi and Cornell University, was ranked 84th in this year’s Forbes list of 100 Most Powerful Women in the world and has regularly received various leadership awards.

She is a member of the Board of Trustees for Cornell University and serves on the Gap Inc. Board of Directors. She also sits on the Board of Directors for Thorn (formerly DNA Foundation).

Cisco said Mr Patel will continue to lead Cisco’s 25,000 development engineers and the company’s $36 billion technology portfolio.

In previous roles at Cisco, Mr Patel served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the company’s service provider business, which achieved market segment leadership in routing, video and mobility under his leadership.

He was a founding leader of Cisco’s first multi-service access business unit, developing strategy for access routers and voice-over-packet technology and delivery. He had joined Cisco through the company’s acquisition of Stratacom in 1996.

Jun 9, 2015 – 3:05 pm EDT
HP buys wireless networking company Aruba Networks – Indian American Keerti Malkote Co-founded Company

SAN FRANCISCO: Hewlett-Packard is buying wireless networking company Aruba Networks for about $2.7 billion, the 1,800-employee company was co-founded by Indian American Keerti Malkote, the company’s chief technology officer.

Aruba, based in Sunnyvale, California, makes Wi-Fi networking systems for shopping malls, corporate campuses, hotels and universities. Its business has grown as more people are using mobile devices at work, school and elsewhere. Aruba may help HP capitalize on that trend, which has cut into sales of traditional HP products such as desktop computers.

The deal also could help HP compete with tech rivals such as Cisco Systems and gain new access to Asian markets, particularly in China. Cisco currently sells about half of all commercial wireless networking gear worldwide, according to UBS analyst Amitabh Passi. He estimates HP and Aruba combined will account for 20 percent of global sales for such systems.

HP is seeking to expand its tech portfolio for business customers at a time when it is preparing to split into two companies – one focused on selling computer systems and software to businesses, and the other selling personal computers and printers. That’s part of HP CEO Meg Whitman’s plan for confronting a recent decline in sales.

Buying Aruba gives HP “a faster growing, higher margin business that fills a portfolio need without `betting the ranch’,” Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi wrote in a note Monday.

Palo Alto, California-based HP is one of the industry’s giants, with $111 billion in sales last year, but it has struggled to adapt to recent tech trends and shifting customer preferences. Whitman has focused on cutting costs and reorganizing since she took the CEO job in 2011. She recently signaled she was ready to resume making strategic acquisitions, after buying a pair of small software companies last year.

HP made a number of multi-billion-dollar acquisitions under two CEOs who preceded Whitman, and some of those deals proved costly. HP paid about $11 billion for British software maker Autonomy in 2011. A year later, it was forced to write off $8.8 billion of that purchase as a loss, while blaming accounting irregularities that it said had inflated the value of Autonomy’s business.

With the Aruba deal, HP is paying $24.67 in cash for each Aruba share. That is slightly below Aruba’s closing price of $24.81 on Friday, but marks a 37 percent premium to the roughly $18 that Aruba shares were trading for before talks with HP were reported last week.

Boards of both companies have approved the deal, which they said would be worth about $3 billion after factoring in cash and debt on Aruba’s balance sheet. Aruba had $729 million in sales last year.

Mar 4, 2015 – 10:36 am EST
U.S. CEOS AND CABINET OFFICIALS REINFORCE COMMITMENT TO INDIA TRADE AND INVESTMENT

USIBC Reaffirms $41 Billion Investment in India

WASHINGTON DC (TIP): The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), on October 9, hosted its 39th Anniversary Leadership Summit in the wake of Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s historic visit to the United States. The summit, entitled “A New Chapter: Fast Tracking Growth,” brought together industry and government leaders from both India and the U.S. to continue the work of furthering economic ties between the two nations.

Ambassador Dr. S. Jaishankar provided the opening address expressing gratitude to Modi for generating so much enthusiasm about U.S. and India during his recent visit. The summit’s closing keynotes came from State Bank of India Chairman Smt. Arundhati Bhattacharya and United States Trade Representative Michael Froman. Froman spoke at length about helping India become “a key part of global supply chains” in manufacturing and other arenas.

USIBC Chairman Ajay Banga, president and CEO of MasterCard opened the evening with an affirmation of the renewed faith and hope in the future of the U.S.-India trade relationship.

“That admiration for India is today being matched by a renewed optimism about India in the U.S. and around the world,” said Banga to a packed House in the Hall of Flags at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Banga closed his remarks by saying, “There’s never been a better nor a more vital time for the U.S. and India to work together – than right now. Let us seize a defining moment in a defining partnership.”

The evening also featured special remarks by Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall on the U.S.-India Defense Trade & Technology Initiative as well as an armchair conversation between U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Mahindra CEO, Anand Mahindra. Pritzker noted, “Our leaders hope that our bilateral trade will grow five fold.”

It will take “tough work,” Pritzker said, and a willingness to “get down to specifics, that’s how you make progress.”

Also during the Summit, USIBC presented its prestigious Global Leadership Awards to Mr. Steven A. Kandarian, CEO – MetLife Inc. and to Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman Aditya Birla Group for their company’s outstanding contributions to the U.S.-India growth story.

The events closing colloquy featured a discussion between U.S. Trade Ambassador Michael Froman and USIBC Chairman Ajay Banga. “One of the great strengths of this relationship is that you do have a very active business communities in both places” working to strengthen economic ties, Froman said.

Summarizing the event USIBC Acting President Diane Farrell concluded, “In a few years’ time my hope is that people will say, yes, these two nations are the world’s oldest and largest democracies. They are also the world’s strongest partners in trade where they celebrate democracy.

The USIBC now turns its attention to the U.S.-India Technology Summit in New Dehli. At the summit, the council will put together a “Smart Cities” conclave and USIBC ICT Mission. Joining USIBC will be senior executives from member companies including IBM, Cisco and others where they will have extensive discussions with the Ministry of Urban Development, Department of IT, DIPP, DOT, and other relevant government departments. And at the beginning of 2015 USIBC will lead a CEOs Mission to participate in Vibrant Gujarat.

About USIBC
Formed in 1975 at the request of the U.S. and Indian governments, the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) is the premier business advocacy organization advancing U.S.-India commercial ties. Today, USIBC is the largest bilateral trade association in the United States, with liaison presence in New York, Silicon Valley, and New Delhi, comprised of 310 of the top-tier U.S. and Indian companies. The Chairman of USIBC is Ajay Banga, President and CEO, MasterCard.

Press Release

Oct 10, 2014 – 11:36 am EDT
Mr. Prem Jain

Entrepreneurial excellence in the field of Information Technology

Mr. Prem Jain is currently the Senior Vice President of the Server Access Virtualization Business Unit for Cisco Systems, Inc. In 2005, Mr. Jain co-founded Nuova Systems, which was acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc. in 2008. He served as one of the Chief Development Officers for Nuova as well as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to co-founding Nuova Systems, Inc., Mr. Jain was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Router Technology Group at Cisco Systems and Vice President of New Business Ventures responsible for exploring new technologies. Mr. Jain joined Cisco in 1993 as Director of Engineering when Cisco acquired Crescendo Communications.

At Crescendo, Mr. Jain was Vice President of Systems Architecture, and was responsible for the design and development of Crescendo’s FDDI products as well as the first LAN switch, now known at the Cisco Catalyst 1200. Mr. Jain is the recipient of two patents and is a member of the IEEE organization. He holds a B.E. degree with honors from BITS Pilani, India and a Master’s degree in EECS from U.C. Davis.

In his spare time, Mr. Jain enjoys snow skiing, hiking and playing bridge. He is actively involved in volunteer work for non-profit organizations, fundraising for the homeless and helping San Francisco Bay Area schools. He is currently the President of JAINA, one of the largest Jain organizations in North America with thousands of Jains as members and takes special interest in educating the Jain youth in traditional Jain values, beliefs and culture.

Jul 4, 2014 – 10:12 am EDT
Tech template: FB staffers too mostly white & male

WASHINGTON (TIP): When it comes to the gender and ethnic diversity of its work force, Facebook’s record is on par with the rest of Silicon Valley. It’s overwhelmingly male, white and Asian. And white men dominate the management ranks. The social networking company, which has about 1.28 billion users globally and turned 10 years old this year, disclosed on Wednesday that 31% of its 6,500 workers worldwide were women. The ratio is even more imbalanced among Facebook’s tech workforce, which is 85% male.

In its US operations — where the bulk of Facebook’s employees work — about 57% of the workers are white, 34% Asian, 4% Hispanic, 2% black and 3% of another race or two or more races. As with other Silicon Valley companies, Facebook’s management is more white and male than its workforce at large. Globally, 77% of senior level employees are men. And in the US, 74% of the company’s managers are white, 19% Asian, 4% Hispanic, 2% black, and 2% of another ethnicity or two or more races.

“As these numbers show, we have more work to do — a lot more,” Facebook’s global head of diversity, Maxine Williams, wrote in the blog post announcing the data. “Diversity is something that we’re treating as everyone’s responsibility at Facebook, and the challenge of finding qualified but underrepresented candidates is one that we’re addressing as part of a strategic effort across Facebook. Since our strategic diversity team launched last year, we’re already seeing improved new hire figures and lower attrition rates for underrepresented groups.” Facebook’s disclosure follows similar reports recently released by other major Internet companies, including Google, Yahoo and LinkedIn. Older Silicon Valley companies, such as Intel, Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard, have also released their employment diversity data.

Unlike many of its fellow tech companies, Facebook declined to release its EEO-1 report, which provides a more detailed breakdown of its American workforce and must be filed annually with the US government. The Rev Jesse Jackson Sr, the president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, had urged Facebook and other major tech companies, including Google and eBay, to release their EEO-1 reports in personal pleadings this spring at their annual shareholder meetings.

Jun 27, 2014 – 7:38 am EDT
SAMSUNG LAUNCHES NOTE 3 NEO, GALAXY NOTEPRO, TAB3 NEO

BALI (TIP): Samsung launched the Note 3 Neo at the Samsung Forum in Bali on February 18. Priced at Rs. 40,900, the Neo is a cheaper version of the Note 3, which retails at around Rs. 45,000. Launching the phone, Vineet Taneja, Country Head, Mobile & IT, said the phone will have Club Samsung that features a “vast array of Indian entertainment content” with access to over 5,000 movies, 4 lakh songs and over 90 live TV channels.” “Because it is designed for India, it also comes with a user interface of nine Indian languages”, Vineet Taneja said. The Neo comes with all the software features in Note 3, such as the advanced Air Command features such as Action Memo, Scrap Booker, Screen Write, S Finder and Pen Window.

Specifications
The Neo comes with a 5.5 inch HD Super AMOLED screen, powered by a hexa core (A15 Dual 1.7GHz and A7 Quad 1.3 GHz) processor. The phone’s dimensions are 148.4mm x 77.4 x 8.6 mm and weighs 163 gm. The Neo has a leather-finish back, and comes in three colours – black, white, and the all-new mint green. It has an 8 MP back camera and a 2 MP front camera that can record full HD at 30 fps. It has an internal memory of 16 GB with an additional micro SD slot (up to 64 GB) and 2 GB RAM. The Galaxy Note 3 Neo has a 3,100 mAh battery.

Galaxy NotePRO launched
Taneja also launched the Galaxy NotePRO with a 12.2 inch WQXGA screen and having 2560×1600 resolution. It has been priced at Rs. 64,900. Explaining the rationale for a 12.2 inch device, Taneja said, “With one device, you can do a lot more. With the PRO series we are taking multi-tasking to a completely new level.” The PRO series tablets enable the user to open up to four windows, instead of the two possible now. An important feature in the NotePRO is the introduction of WebEx, in collaboration with CISCO. “You can have all the functionalities of WebEx in this very very large screen,” said Taneja. The NotePRO also has an e- Meeting feature. “This enables you to set up a meeting of up to 20 people through WiFi, he said. “The Samsung e-Meeting provides collaboration capabilities by giving users the ability to share content during a meeting without having to access a central server or network, according to a Samsung statement.

Specifications
The NotePRO is available with various connectivity options such as WiFi only, WiFi and 3G, or WiFi and LTE. It comes with 2 processors, 3 GB RAM, and has Android 4.4 KitKat. It has a huge 9,500 MAh battery, “which means more than 10 hours of video playback”, Vineet Taneja said. “It has a whole range of essential apps pre-installed,” he said.

Tab3 Neo launched
The Tab3 Neo, priced at Rs. 16, 490, comes with a 7 inch display with 600×1024 pixels and measures 193x117x9.7 mm. Designed for the youth, the tablet comes in a range of colours. It has a 1.2 GHz dual core processor and is powered by a 1 GB RAM. It has an 8 GB internal storage, expandable through a micro SD card and has a 2 MP rear camera. It runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and comes with two options – WiFi and 3G. It weighs 322 grams. The Tab3 Neo features a 3600 mAh battery and comes with Club Samsung. It comes with a Content Gift Package that includes “long-term subscription offers” from several news, social media and cloud storage providers including Bitcasa, Bloomberg Businessweek, Blurb, Cisco WebEx meetings, Dropbox, Easilydo Pro for Tablet, Evernote, Hancom Office, LinkedI, Livesport.Tv, NY Times, Oxford Advanced Learner’s A-Z and Sketchbook Pro.

Feb 21, 2014 – 7:35 am EST
Top American Technology Companies hail passage of US Immigration Bill

WASHINGTON (TIP): CEOs representing top American technology companies including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco have hailed the passage of the comprehensive immigration reform bill by US Senate, arguing that this would give a big boost to the economic growth and attract high skilled workers. “In passing this legislation on a strong bipartisan basis, the Senate broke the logjam on immigration and high-skilled worker reforms,” said John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco and co-chair of TechNet, the coalition of CEOs of US tech companies.

“America’s economic success stems from our culture of innovation and the constant infusion of new ideas from a skilled and talented workforce. Now – as the House of Representatives takes up the issue – Cisco will continue to work with our legislative leaders to ensure that the reforms help attract the best, the brightest and the most ambitious minds from around the world to our shores,” he said. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft said by passing the comprehensive immigration reform, US Senate took a significant step toward reforming the nation’s outdated immigration policies. “If enacted, these changes will strengthen our economic security, foster innovation and enable continued job growth in the US.

Equally important, the legislation makes critical investments in our workforce by strengthening STEM education in the United States, including instruction focused on computer science,” Ballmer said. “Microsoft applauds the Senate’s bipartisan collaboration and leadership in addressing this issue. As the House of Representatives moves forward, we will continue working on a bipartisan basis to enact much-needed reforms to immigration and education policies that will promote American competitiveness and opportunity,” the Microsoft CEO said. But according to USIBC the bill will really affect developing nations like India. “The Bill unfairly targets American companies trying to remain globally competitive by reducing their ability to contract with global IT service providers and restricting their access to the international expertise they need,” USIBC president Ron Somers said.

“Comprehensive changes to our outdated immigration system are important for the US economy to remain the global leader in innovation,” said Safra Catz, co-president & CFO, Oracle and a member of TechNet’s executive council. “With approval of this bill, the Senate is sending a powerful signal that America is open for business, strengthening our economy and providing new opportunities for our workers,” he said. “The passage of this monumental, bipartisan legislation is a terrific victory for our country,” said John Doerr, general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and co-chair of TechNet. “America’s economic success has always been based upon its ability to attract the best talent, no matter where they were born. We applaud the broad, bipartisan support for this measure in the Senate,” Doerr said. (Source: SiliconIndia News)

Jul 5, 2013 – 7:41 am EDT

Tag: Cisco

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