Read Inspirational Story of Famous NRIs From Chennai
Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is located on the Coromandel Coast along the Bay of Bengal and is the capital city of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the fourth largest city in India, which boasts of rich ancient history and culture and has also witnessed the colonial past. The city has played an important role in the traditional, historic and academic growth of India. The city has been undergoing a great economic boom mainly due to the presence of major industries such as automobiles, petrochemicals, financial services, software services, and even textiles. The city is also known as the home of some of the most famous non-resident Indians, who have made India proud through their contributions in different sectors. Some of these famous NRIs are as follows.
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Sundar Pichai
The first name in our list of famous NRIs in Chennai is Sundar Pichai. Even though Sunder Pichai is today well-known as the CEO of technology giant Google, he made his humble beginnings in the city of Chennai, where he was born on 12th July 1972. Sunder displayed an interest in technology from a very early age and also displayed a strong memory for remembering phone numbers. He completed his B. Tech. from IIT Kanpur, and then received a scholarship to study M.S. in engineering from Stanford University. He joined Google in 2004 as the head of Product Management and Development and has today become one of the most powerful and successful NRIs across the globe.
Indira Nooyi
She is the former Chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo and has been consistently ranked amongst the 100 most powerful women across the globe. Born in Chennai on 28th October 1955, Nooyi is best known for her lucrative restructuring and diversification of PepsiCo under her regime. After stepping down as CEO, she also worked as the Chairman of the board of Pepsico until early 2019. She is considered to be a great inspiration for women looking for a successful career while also maintaining a great balance between work and personal life.
Bala V. Balachandran
Bala V. Balachandran is well known as the founder and dean of the Chennai based Great Lakes Institute Of Management. He is currently working as a professor emeritus at the Kellog School of Business at Northwestern University. He started his career in 1960 by taking up a teaching position at Annamalai University in Chennai before moving to the USA in 1966. In addition to his teaching position, Dr. Balachandran serves as a senior management consultant for various companies. He has authored numerous papers on various topics in Finance and Accounting, in addition to 100 research papers and books.
Naveen first became famous as the co-founder of location-based social networking site Foursquare.com. Although he left the company in 2012, he has earned much recognition as one of the youngest and coolest NRI entrepreneurs. Naveen was born in Chennai on 27th January 1987. He completed his education in Worchester in England and worked with Sony, Nokia, and Sun Microsystems before starting his Foursquare venture with Dennis Crowly. In 2013, Selvadurai joined Expa, a startup studio that was co-founded by Garret Camp, the founder of Uber and StumbleUpon. He is currently focused on managing the New York operations of the company.
Subra Suresh
Born in Chennai on 30th May 1956, Subra Suresh is an alumnus of IIT Chennai, from where he completed his B.Tech. in 1977, before moving to USA to pursue higher education. He has served in various academic and leadership roles throughout a career spanning more than 40 years. He is regarded as an eminent scientist, engineer, and entrepreneur having years of distinguished and impactful expertise in various academic and leadership positions. In 2018, Subra was appointed as the fourth President of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Lisa Haydon
Known popularly as an Australian actress, TV presenter, and model, Lisa Haydon was in fact born in Chennai on 17th June 1986 to an Indian father and Australian mother. She spent a large part of her life in Australia and USA before moving to India in 2007 to pursue a career in modeling. Not many people are aware of the fact that Hayden is a trained Bharatnatyam dancer and has also featured as a cover girl in various popular international fashion magazines.
Nasser Hussian
The last but not the least the name in our list of famous NRIs from Chennai is Nasser Hussain. While the Indian origins of famous English skipper Nasser Hussian are quite well known, most people are unaware of the fact that he was born in Chennai into a Shia Muslim family. He belongs to a royal bloodline and is the descendant of the Nawab of Arcot State in 18th century India. He moved to England along with his family in 1975 and as his ability as a great player was revealed quite early in his childhood, he was selected to play for Essex U-11 team. At the age of 12, he became the youngest player in the U-15 squad and made his test cricket debut in 1990. He captained the English cricket team from 1999 to 2003 and is considered to be one of the most successful skippers till date.
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