Preserving the status quo is not a winning strategy. As Adobe CEO, this core belief drove Shantanu Narayen and his leadership team’s successful transformation of Adobe, moving its creative software franchise from the desktop to the cloud, while creating and leading the explosive digital marketing category. The move to bring content creation and data insights together into one end-to-end offering set the standard by which other industry players compete.
Building on this transformative strategy, under Shantanu’s leadership Adobe has achieved record revenue and wide industry recognition, making it Fortune’s Most Admired Company in the software category, one of Interbrand’s Best Global Brands, and a leader in sustainable and ethical business practices.
Although He originally wanted to be a journalist, He embarked on the more “expected” career path of engineering while growing up in Hyderabad, India. After coming to the U.S. to earn his master’s degree, He held product development roles at Apple and Silicon Graphics before co-founding an early photo-sharing startup called Pictra. A chance business encounter between Adobe and Pictra led to him joining Adobe in 1998, where He rose swiftly through the product ranks. He became president and COO in 2005, CEO in 2007, and chair of the board in 2017. He is passionate about building and empowering teams to drive product innovation and scaling Adobe’s business globally.
He was named one of the world’s best CEOs by Barron’s Magazine in 2018, 2019 and 2023. He is a member of several boards, including pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, the USISPF, and the Adobe Foundation, which funds philanthropic initiatives around the world. He served on the President’s Management Advisory Board from March 2011 to January 2017. 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 Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He holds five patents.