Shantanu Narayen

Shantanu Narayen is chair and chief executive officer of Adobe, one of the largest and most diversified software companies in the world. Adobe’s mission is to change the world through digital experiences, serving a large customer base from students to business communicators to the world’s largest enterprises.

As CEO, Shantanu has transformed the company into an industry innovator by pioneering a cloudbased subscription model for its creative suite, establishing the global standard for digital documents and creating and leading the explosive digital experience category. Today, he’s driving the company’s strategy to unleash creativity for all, accelerate document productivity and power digital business.

Under Shantanu’s leadership, Adobe has achieved record revenue and industry recognition for its inclusive, innovative and exceptional workplace, including being continuously named a Great Place to Work and a Most Admired Company by Fortune.

Shantanu joined Adobe in 1998 as vice president and general manager of its engineering technology group. He became president and COO in 2005, CEO in 2007 and chairman of the board in 2017.

Shantanu is vice chairman of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum and sits on the board of Pfizer. He previously served as a director of Dell and is a past member of the U.S. President’s Management Advisory Board.

Shantanu has been recognised by several publications as one of the world’s leading executives, including Barron’s World’s Best CEOs and Fortune Businessperson of the Year lists and named a Top CEO by Glassdoor based on employee feedback. He is a recipient of India’s civilian honour Padma Shri and the Economic Times Global Indian of the Year award.

Before joining Adobe, Shantanu held product development roles at Apple and Silicon Graphics before cofounding an early photo-sharing startup, Pictra. 

Shantanu holds five patents. He has a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University, a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Shantanu once represented India in sailing at an Asian regatta.