Nikesh Arora

Nikesh Arora was born in Ghaziabad, India. His father was an officer in the Indian Air Force, and Arora regularly changed schools as the family moved. After completing his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology at Banaras Hindu University, Arora came to the United States for graduate studies. He earned an MS in finance from Boston College and an MBA in business administration from Northeastern University.

“Growing up, we kind of moved around every few years. That brings a degree of adaptability to your life,” he told the Financial Express.

Arora is now the chairman and chief executive officer of Palo Alto Networks, the world’s leading cybersecurity company. Since joining the company in 2018, he has led its expansion into AI, with the company’s share price seeing an almost 800 percent increase as it serves enterprise organizations and governments around the world. Before Palo Alto Networks, Arora spent a decade at Google in various senior executive roles and served as president and chief operating officer of SoftBank Group.

Recognized as one of the most influential business leaders in technology, Arora has received numerous honors, including the John J. McCloy Award, the CED Distinguished Leadership Award, and The Economic Times’ Global Indian Award, and he has been recognized among CRN’s Top 100 Executives and Comparably’s Best CEOs for Women. Under his leadership, Palo Alto Networks has also been recognized in Newsweek’s 100 Most Loved Workplaces and as one of Human Rights Campaign’s Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality.

Published June 2026