A Conversation with Shantanu Narayen

Shantanu Narayen is president and chief executive officer of Adobe, one of the world’s largest and most diversified software companies. Narayen’s leadership, technology insight and operational expertise have strengthened Adobe’s culture of innovation, expanded the company into new markets, and extended its product portfolio and global reach. In 2005, Narayen co-led the $3.4 billion acquisition of Macromedia, expanding Adobe’s software platform and solutions, and strengthening the company’s presence in key markets ranging from enterprises and vertical industries to mobile devices and multimedia publishing.

Prior to his appointment as CEO in December of 2007, Narayen was Adobe’s president and COO, responsible for the company’s day-to-day global operations, product research and development, marketing and corporate development. Previously, he held key product research and development positions within Adobe, including executive vice president of worldwide products, senior vice president of worldwide product development and vice president and general manager of the engineering technology group.

Before joining Adobe in 1998, Narayen was co-founder of Pictra, Inc., an early pioneer of digital photo sharing over the Internet. Prior to that, he served as director of desktop and collaboration products at Silicon Graphics, Inc. and held various senior management positions at Apple Computer, Inc. Narayen holds five patents and is a frequent speaker at industry and academic events. He serves on the Board of Metavante Technologies, Inc. and the Advisory Board of the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley. Narayen holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University in India, a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business.

John Battelle is an entrepreneur, journalist, professor, and author. Currently founder and chairman of Federated Media Publishing, he is also a founder and executive producer of conferences in the media, technology, communications, and entertainment industries and “band manager” with BoingBoing.net. Previously, Battelle was founder, chairman, and CEO of Standard Media International (SMI), publisher of The Industry Standard and TheStandard.com. Prior to founding The Standard, Battelle was a co-founding editor of Wired magazine and Wired Ventures. He is the author of The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture” (Portfolio, 2005).

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