YouTube CEO Neal Mohan is TIME’s CEO of the Year

February 2023

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan is TIME’s CEO of the Year

Indian-American Mohan took charge of the CEO role in February 2023

Indian-American Neal Mohan, CEO of Google's video division YouTube, has been chosen TIME’s CEO of the Year.

Mohan (51) is one of the most prominent Indian-origin CEOs at the helm of US-based global giants, including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen.

Time magazine describes Mohan as a "surprisingly mellow pilot of one of the world’s most powerful companies". Soft-spoken, thoughtful, and almost impossible to ruffle, he comes across as someone far removed from the archetype of the modern tech titan. While others chase moonshots, feud with regulators, or send tourists into space, Neal Mohan is content with a simpler focus: he just runs YouTube. For him, that’s more than enough.

Mohan took charge of the CEO role in February 2023. He had been the Chief Product Officer at YouTube for seven years before becoming the CEO. Mohan moved to the YouTube team in 2015.

Under Mohan's leadership, YouTube launched a number of successful products and features, including YouTube Music, YouTube TV, YouTube Premium and YouTube Shorts. He is also credited for developing new revenue streams for creators, such as Super Chat, Super Stickers, and channel memberships.

Mohan holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Stanford University in 1996 and an MBA degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2005. His work journey began with Accenture (then called Andersen Consulting) in 1996. He later joined a startup called NetGravity which was later acquired by Internet advertising firm DoubleClick. DoubleClick was acquired by Google in 2007 for US$3.1 billion. He quickly rose through the ranks at Google. Mohan played a pivotal role in the development of AdSense, a program that enables website owners to display Google ads and earn revenue AdSense is now one of the most successful advertising platforms in the world. Mohan has had a stint with Microsoft where he was the manager of corporate strategy.