A new milestone was achieved with 16 Indian male directors securing positions on S&P 500 company boards this year, joining firms like Walmart Inc., Southwest Airlines Co., and Western Digital Corp., as reported by ISS-Corporate and Equilar. White men and women recorded the highest gains in board seats.
This development follows an extended trend. The share of Indian men among directors at Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies has tripled since 2018, outpacing increases for women, Black, and Hispanic directors, according to James Drury Partners’ data.
Indian Executives’ Boardroom Gains
These advancements align with firms prioritizing directors possessing chief executive officer or operational expertise, qualifications many Indian business leaders have cultivated over decades in the United States, as noted by recruiters and the executives themselves.
Data from James Drury indicates that 77% of the 184 Indian men serving on Fortune 500 and S&P 500 boards hold operational, or profit-and-loss, experience, with roughly two-thirds having previously occupied CEO roles.
This pattern is reflected in this year’s appointments, where two-thirds of new directors are current or former chief executives, including leaders from Stryker Corp. and Linde Plc, as well as the recently retired CEO of Albertsons Cos.
Indian men currently head approximately a dozen major corporations such as Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Procter & Gamble Co., highlighting their increasing influence at the pinnacle of American business.
Indian Women’s Limited Boardroom Gains
Indian women, similar to women in general, have experienced limited advancement in recent times, primarily due to fewer having held CEO roles. Among the exceptions are former PepsiCo Inc. CEO Indra K. Nooyi and former Gap Inc. CEO Sonia Syngal, who were appointed to Honeywell International Inc. and Tractor Supply Inc. boards this year.
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Anand Eswaran, chief executive officer of Veeam Software Corp., was appointed to the board of F5 Inc., a technology firm, in April. At 53, Eswaran, who relocated to the US from India over thirty years ago, asserts that successive waves of Indian executives leverage the achievements of prior cohorts who entered following 1960s immigration reforms.
Eswaran noted that aspiring leaders needed to compete with millions of compatriots for admission to premier institutions. Progressing from initial roles to operational positions followed demonstrated capabilities. The emergence of Indian-American CEOs in major firms during the late 1990s catalyzed expanding prospects, he explained.
“Those are massive filters,” Eswaran said. “You get people who are sort of comfortable with risk and probably pretty hard to rattle.”
Trailblazers and Mentorship in Indian Leadership
An early trailblazer, Raj Gupta, assumed the role of CEO at Rohm and Haas Co., a Fortune 500 entity, in 1999. At that juncture, he ranked as the third Indian-origin chief executive within the Fortune 500. His professional journey spans participation on 15 public boards—such as HP Inc. and DuPont de Nemours Inc.—and seven private entities.
Gupta’s initial board engagement occurred at a Philadelphia-based specialty-gas enterprise while he was among the candidates to become CEO of Rohm and Haas. His boss at the time said it would be valuable experience for his eventual promotion. Now 80, Gupta said his board service years are done and he’s currently teaching future business leaders at Wharton and Harvard.
Gupta attributes his evolution from staff member to executive to the guidance of early mentors, who counseled him to voice ideas more assertively in group settings rather than reserving insights for one-on-one discussions.
“The mindset was, if I continue to perform well relative to my peers, I’ll be recognized and I’ll be promoted,” he said. “But I think the recognition of understanding was that your softer skills, influencer skills, listening ability, after you reach a certain level, are more important.”
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Career Trajectories of Indian Business Leaders
The career trajectory of many of today’s Indian business leaders is similar to that of Rakesh Sachdev. He started in the US as a senior engineer at auto supplier Cummins Inc. in 1981 before rising to become chief financial officer and later president of Asia Pacific at Arvin Meritor Inc.
During the financial crisis in 2008 he left the auto industry for biotech company Sigma-Aldrich Corp. where he rose from CFO to CEO in 2010 and later sold the company before taking another CEO role. He’s currently the chair of paint maker Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., which plans to merge with Dutch paint company Akzo Nobel NV later this year. He says he will be the chair of the new company.
Sachdev, 70, said he’s helped recruit Indian executives to boards and increasingly sees them included on slates of potential directors for boards on which he serves.
Broader Asian Representation Challenges
Focus on the success of Indian men shouldn’t overlook the less positive reality for the broader population of Asian men and women, said Norman Chen, CEO of the Asian American Foundation, which advocates for Asian and Pacific Islanders in the US. Other members of the Asian community are under-represented on boards, which some researchers have described as a “bamboo ceiling” for East Asian executives, he said. His group is working on programs to help all Asian directors find more opportunities, he said.
The path taken by many Indian business leaders is becoming harder to replicate as the Trump administration tightens immigration restrictions, including on the H-1B visa program widely used by Indian workers in technical and medical fields. The administration has imposed a $100,000 payment requirement on employers seeking to bring certain H-1B workers into the US, a measure facing a court challenge, and has proposed a separate plan with similar fees. Indian-born workers accounted for about 71% of approved H-1B petitions in fiscal 2024, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Visa Challenges and Cultural Advantages
Tightened immigration policies under the Trump administration are making it harder for Indian professionals to follow the path of many current Indian-American CEOs. New restrictions include a $100,000 fee for certain H-1B visas, which are widely used by Indian workers in technical and medical fields. This measure, currently facing legal challenges, adds to proposed plans with similar financial barriers.
