Meet Pavan Davuluri, Microsoft's New Surface And Windows Chief

Several major companies in the global tech industry have Indians in the highest roles and positions. Pavan Davuluri, an IIT Madras alumni, is the latest Indian to take on a leadership role in a global corporation. Pavan Davuluri is the new head of Microsoft Windows and Surface.

Pavan Davuluri assumed the new role at Microsoft following the departure of Panos Panay. Notably, Panos Panay was Microsoft’s former product lead and the person responsible for the development of the Surface and Windows 11. In September 2023, Panos Panay left Microsoft.

Pavan Davuluri, who has been working with the tech giant for over 23 years now, completed his graduation from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras. Following graduation, he pursued post graduation from University of Maryland in the United States.

After completing MS, Pavan Davuluri started his career at Microsoft as a Reliability Component Manager in 2001. According to a Business Today report, he has held various crucial positions at Microsoft. Pavan Davuluri, who had also served as corporate vice president, reportedly played a vital role in the company”s work with Qualcomm and AMD to create custom Surface processors.

The Verge, which spotted this development first, has obtained an internal memo from Rajesh Jha, Microsoft’s head of experiences and devices. As per the memo, Microsoft has merged its Windows and Surface teams under one boss. Pavan Davuluri, who is leading this team, will be reporting directly to Rajesh Jha. Earlier, Pavan Davuluri headed the Surface team, and Mikhail Parakhin oversaw the Windows group.

“This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era,” mentioned Rajesh Jha in the memo, obtained by The Verge. Meanwhile, Pavan Davuluri”s new role has been announced days after Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman joined Microsoft as the CEO of its new AI team.