Indian American Neal Mohan named CEO of YouTube

Lucknow born digital advertising expert joins a growing club of Indian-American executives leading world’s top tech giants

Yet another Indian American is joining the growing club of executives of Indian descent leading tech giants. Digital advertising expert Neal Mohan will be the new CEO of Google’s video division YouTube.

He will replace Susan Wojcicki who stepped down from her role on Feb 16, after nine years as head of the social media platform.

Read: Indian American Ravi Kumar becomes Cognizant CEO (January 16, 2023)

In a blog post, Wojcicki said she is stepping down from her role at the tech giant that started in her garage nearly 25 years ago, to spend time “focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about.” She also plans to take on an advisory role at Alphabet.

“Thank you, @SusanWojcicki. It’s been amazing to work with you over the years. You’ve built YouTube into an extraordinary home for creators and viewers,” Mohan tweeted. “I’m excited to continue this awesome and important mission. Looking forward to what lies ahead.”

YouTube is owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google which is headed by Indian American Sunder Pichai, bringing the two arms of the global giant under the leadership of Indian Americans.

Lucknow, India-born Mohan joins a growing list of Indian-origin CEOs at the helm of US-based global giants, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, IBM’s Arvind Krishna, FedEx’s Raj Subramaniam and Starbucks’ Laxman Narasimhan.

Read: Devika Bulchandani appointed Global President & CEO of Ogilvy (September 12, 2022)

Recognized for his expertise in digital advertising, Mohan, a Stanford graduate, was appointed chief product officer at YouTube in 2015. He is also credited with playing a key role in the development of several of Google’s advertising products, including AdWords, AdSense, and DoubleClick.

Currently a Chief Product Officer at YouTube and Senior Vice President at Google, he joined the company in 2008. He focused on building YouTube Shorts, Music and subscription offerings in the role.

Previously, Mohan was Senior Vice President of Display and Video Ads at Google. In this role, he was responsible for the company’s advertising offerings on YouTube, the Google Display Network, AdSense, AdMob, and the DoubleClick family of programmatic ad platform products.

He focused on growing the overall digital media industry by building innovative solutions for millions of Google’s advertising and media partners around the world.

Read: Laxman Narasimhan named as next Starbucks CEO (September 2, 2022)

“The best analogy that comes to mind for me is really just thinking about YouTube as a stage,” he told the magazine Fast Company last year. Viewers need “the best views possible of the creators that they’re most excited about.”

According to Fast Company, Mohan both testified before Congress and attended a White House summit last September, “where he unveiled a new content moderation policy at YouTube, targeting violent extremist content on the site.”

He serves on the Boards of Directors for 23andMe and the New America Foundation’s California Advisory Council. He has also served as a member of the Management Board for the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Mohan has been a member of the Board of Directors for the Internet Advertising Bureau and the Mobile Marketing Association. He is a regular speaker at media and technology industry events and has been named one of Ad Age’s 10 Most Influential Players in Marketing and AdWeek’s 12 Stars of Ad Tech.

Read: Who is Neal Mohan, the Indian-American set to head YouTube? (February 18, 2023)

Mohan holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was an Arjay Miller Scholar, an award given to the top 10% of the class who have received the highest grade point averages (GPA).

Mohan is married to Hema Sareen Mohan, a native New Yorker, who has worked for more than 20 years in the nonprofit and public sectors in the California State Senate and County of Santa Clara for a decade.

Read: Raj Subramaniam to become President and CEO of FedEx (March 29, 2022)

Read: Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen named vice chairman of USISP (January 30, 2018)

Read: Satya Nadella named world’s top CEO by Brand Guardianship Index 2022 (January 28, 2022)