Meet IIT alumnus, mountaineering expedition leader in college, now CEO of Rs 237,000 crore company

Ajei Gopal's stands among the elite group of Indians who are leading some of the biggest companies around the world. He stands shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and chosen few others. He is the President and CEO of Ansys, world leader in engineering simulation with a market cap of over Rs 237,000 crore ($28.98 billion). 

Gopal's credentials as a leader are no secret. As CEO of Ansys, Gopal led the company to double its value and increase market capitalization by over $8 billion in just the first 18 months. Gopal has been leading the company since 2017. 

But years ago, a college climbing trip proved to be his first reckoning as a leader. Gopal was chosen the leader of the expedition despite being younger than several peers. His decisiveness was recognised for the first time. 

Before heading to the US to earn a PhD and then go on to build a stellar career, Gopal did his engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. After passing out in 1982, he went to Cornell University to pursue a doctorate in Computer Science. 

Dr Gopal entered the workforce as an employee at Bell Communications Research. He then went on to work for the likes of IBM, HP and Citrix. As IBM Research, he was a Founding Member and the Chief Technology Officer for the Pervasive Computing Division. 
He is also an entrepreneur and co-founded ReefEdge Networks back in 2000. He served as the CEO before the firm was sold to cybersecurity giant Symantec Corporation. He also holds 23 patents.