Anjali Pichai is married to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google. On December 3, 2019, it was announced that in addition to his current role, Pichai would also become the chief executive of Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
Sundar Pichai is more well-known than his wife in the United States. He joined Google in 2004 and stepped into the role of CEO in October 2015. But Anjali also has a successful career. She currently works as a Business Operations Manager at Intuit and has a chemical engineering degree.
They have been together since college and have two children.
Here’s what you need to know about Anjali Pichai.
1. Anjali Pichai Grew Up in Northern India & Studied Chemical Engineering in College
Anjali Pichai was born on January 11, 1971. On her Facebook page, she lists the city of Kota, located in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, as her hometown.
For college, she chose the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur. The school is located approximately 900 miles southeast of Kota, near the border with Bangladesh.
Pichai studied chemical engineering. She graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor’s of Technology.
2. Sundar Pichai Proposed to Anjali During Their Senior Year of College But Reportedly Had a Long Engagement
Anjali Pichai met her future husband while they were both undergraduate students at the Indian Institute of Technology. They were both engineering students and took classes together.
According to BollywoodShaadis, a popular wedding & lifestyle website in India, Sundar and Anjali started off as just friends. The profile does not indicate who made the first move and when exactly they began dating.
Sundar Pichai shared in a speech at his alma mater in January 2017 that he used to walk over to the girl’s dorm to visit Anjali. He explained that he would have to ask someone at the front desk to let her know that he had arrived. A woman would walk into the common area and announce loudly, “Anjali, Sundar is here.”
Sundar Pichai proposed to Anjali during their senior year of college. But they had a long-distance engagement for a significant amount of time. Sundar moved to the United States for a master’s degree at Stanford.
BollywoodShaadis reports that at one point during their engagement, the couple went six months unable to speak to each other due to the high cost of international phone calls. (No email or cell phones yet).
Anjali eventually followed Sundar to the U.S. Sundar reportedly asked Anjali’s parents for permission to marry their daughter and the two tied the knot.
3. Anjali Pichai is a Businesswoman & Reportedly is the Reason Why Sundar Stayed at Google
GettyCEO of Google Sundar Pichai, Anjali Pichai, CBO of Google Philipp Schindler, and Wendi Deng Murdoch attend the 2017 Breakthrough Prize at NASA Ames Research Center on December 4, 2016 in Mountain View, California.
Anjali Pichai is a successful businesswoman. According to her Linkedin profile, she previously worked as a business analyst at Accenture from 1999 through 2002.
She currently works at the software company Intuit as a Business Operations Manager.
Anjali Pichai can apparently take some of the credit for her husband’s rise to the CEO position at Google. According to the IBTimes, she convinced Sundar to stay with the company as he fielded offers from various tech companies. He had previously been approached for top jobs at Yahoo and Twitter. In 2014, Sundar was also considered the frontrunner to become the next CEO of Microsoft.
4. Anjali & Sundar Pichai Have Two Children & a Dog Named Jeffree
Anjali Pichai and husband Sundar are the proud parents of two children. Their daughter’s name is Kavya and their son is Kiran.
Anjali has not updated her public Facebook page in a few years. But she posted several photos of the children when they were younger. She shared the above photo in 2010, as the kids made a gingerbread house.
The family also has a dog named Jeffree. Sundar doesn’t share photos of his wife or children on his Instagram page, but there are a handful showcasing the dog!
5. Anjali &b Sundar Pichai Built a Massive Contemporary Home They Assisted in Designing
The Pichai family reportedly lives a fairly modest lifestyle. Except for when it comes to their house. They live in Los Altos, California, which is the northern part of Silicon Valley. The median home value in the area is $3.5 million according to Zillow.
According to the Los Altos Crier, the couple teamed up with architect Robert Swatt to design their own contemporary home. The house sits on more than three acres of land and includes nearly 10,000 square feet. Features incorporated into the design included an infinity pool, a garage more than 800 sqare feet, a gym, wine cellar and separate apartments for the nannies.
The Pichai’s bought the property in 2014 for a reported $6 million. Anjali told the Los Altos Hills Planning Commission when the design was approved, “We have lived in Los Altos Hills for a while now and came across this beautiful piece of land that we decided to undertake this project on.”