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Schoolmates of newly-appointed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella are expecting him to be a part of the 30th reunion of their batch at the end of this year.
Nadella studied at the Hyderabad Public School (HPS) between July 1978 and April 1984. For the 25th reunion of the school friends in 2009, he was present here for three days.
"In 2009, he spent one day at the school, and for the next two days, we partied with our families. At that time, we proposed to meet at Las Vegas for the 30th reunion in 2014," Faiz Khan, secretary of HPS Society and a classmate of Nadella, told Business Standard.
He said soon after the official announcement of their friend's elevation to the top post, they e-mailed congratulating him for the achievement.
"We have not yet communicated with him on phone. We're quite eager to listen from him about his choice of place for the upcoming reunion in December. It may take place either in Vegas or in India," said Khan.
Following the announcement of Nadella's appointment, the management of HPS, Begumpet, held a general assembly in the school premises today to celebrate his achievement. It was attended by Jayanand, who was the school principal when Nadella was a student, and others who studied with him.
"We did not invite parents of Nadella today keeping in mind their privacy issues," said Khan.
For the students of HPS, Nadella already has offered a taste of innovation with the Microsoft outreach programme Ispark in 2011. The school was the first in India to partner with the company to train students in robotics, and Nadella was present for its launch.
Every year, around 100 students of the school, mostly from Class 8-10, develop robots with the software and technical support from Microsoft. "Hopefully, with Nadella at the helm, we expect more such programmes from MS for students over here," said Khan.
India Development Centre enthused
Some of the employees at the Microsoft Hyderabad campus said they were impressed after reading the mail addressed to them by the new-CEO yesterday evening. In his mail, Nadella said: "I am honoured, humble and excited."
"It is definitely a good development for the people of the city. This would boost the spirit of every IT professional in the country," said an employee, who has been working with the company for the last eight years.
The corporate communications team at Hyderabad confirmed Nadella was here a few months ago on an official visit.
The Washington-headquartered Microsoft Corporation, which clocked revenues of $77.85 billion (in 2013) on a headcount of 100,932 globally, had set up its first India Development Centre here in 1998. It is the largest for the company outside the US and has a headcount of 4,500.
