Nutanix’s board of directors has appointed Rajiv Ramaswami as its president and chief executive officer (CEO), effective December 9, 2020, and as a member of the board of directors, effective December 14, 2020.
Ramaswami will succeed co-founder Dheeraj Pandey, who previously announced his plans to retire as CEO of Nutanix upon the appointment of a successor.
Ramaswami is a seasoned technology industry executive who has held senior executive roles at industry leaders including VMware, Broadcom, Cisco, and Nortel, after having begun his career at IBM. Ramaswami has an impressive, over 30 year track record of building and scaling businesses in cloud services, software, and network infrastructure. In his most recent role as chief operating officer, products and cloud services at VMware, Ramaswami co-managed VMware’s portfolio of products and services. During his tenure, Ramaswami led several important acquisitions and was playing a key role in transitioning VMware toward a subscription and SaaS model.
Commenting on the development, Sohaib Abbasi, lead independent director of Nutanix, said, “Rajiv is an accomplished leader with a track record of delivering a high-growth portfolio of products and services. Rajiv distinguished himself among the CEO candidates with his rare combination of operational discipline, business acumen, technology vision and inclusive leadership skills. The talented Nutanix team, under Rajiv’s leadership, is well-positioned to drive sustained growth, to improve efficiency and to advance leadership in the emerging hybrid cloud infrastructure category.”
Meanwhile, Rajiv Ramaswami, president and chief executive officer (CEO), Nutanix, said, “I’m thrilled to be joining Nutanix at this transformative time for the company and the industry. I have long admired Nutanix as a formidable competitor, a pioneer in hyperconverged infrastructure solutions and a leader in cloud software. Working closely with the Board, the management team, and the more than 6,000 talented Nutanix employees around the world, we will build on Nutanix’s strong foundation of continuous innovation, collaboration and customer delight. Together, we will capitalise on the significant opportunities ahead and deliver on the company’s next phase of growth and value creation.”
Further, Dheeraj Pandey, co-founder, Nutanix, said, “Rajiv is the right leader at the right time. With a future-proof business model, a loyal and expanding customer base, and a strong technology portfolio, I look forward to seeing Rajiv take the helm to lead this incredible team. This is the decade to watch for a company that so values simple, secure, and seamless. On a personal note, it has been a privilege to serve our customers and partners, working closely alongside Nutanix employees.”
Before joining Nutanix, Ramaswami served as chief operating officer of products and cloud services at VMware. Prior to this role, Ramaswami led VMware’s networking and security business, one of the fastest-growing units in the company, as executive vice president and general manager. before joining VMware, Ramaswami served as executive vice president and general manager, infrastructure and networking at Broadcom, where he established Broadcom as a leader in data center, enterprise and carrier networking. In his prior general manager roles at Cisco, he led multibillion dollar product lines in switching, data center and storage and optical networking. Earlier in his career, he held various leadership positions at Nortel, Tellabs and IBM.
Ramaswami holds a B. Tech degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, a Master’s Degree and PhD in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) fellow and holds 36 patents, primarily in optical networking.
