Executive profiles

Shantanu Narayen is president and chief executive officer of Adobe, one of the world's largest and fastest growing software companies. Narayen leads the company's day-to-day global operations; sets Adobe's long-term market strategies; and oversees all product research and development, corporate strategy and investments, and corporate and product marketing. Together with CEO Bruce Chizen, Narayen spearheaded the $3.4 billion acquisition of Macromedia, Inc. in 2005, expanding Adobe's software platform and solutions and strengthening the company's presence in key markets ranging from enterprises and vertical industries to mobile devices and multimedia publishing.

Prior to being named president and COO in January 2005, Narayen served as executive vice president of worldwide products and helped drive Adobe's successful expansion into the enterprise market. In that role, he also led Adobe's efforts to build more integrated solutions across product lines and successfully extended the company's flagship product lines to reach new markets. He previously held a mix of key product research and development positions, including senior vice president of worldwide product development and vice president and general manager of Adobe's engineering technology group.

Before joining Adobe in 1998, Narayen was co-founder of Pictra, Inc., an early pioneer of digital photo sharing over the Internet. Previously, he served as director of desktop and collaboration products at Silicon Graphics, Inc. and held various senior management positions at Apple Computer, Inc.

Narayen holds five patents and is a frequent speaker at industry and academic events. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley. Narayen holds a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University in India, a master's degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University, and a master's degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business.