Nicknamed ‘Vas’, Narasimhan heads one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical corporations and ranks among highest paid Indian-origin CEOs globally.
46-year-old Vasant Narasimhan is a global business leader who achieved his feathers 20 years before the age when CEOs are typically baptised. The business leader, nicknamed ‘Vas’, heads one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical corporations and ranks among highest paid Indian-origin CEOs globally. Narasimhan took over the reins at the Swiss MNC Novartis in 2018 and has been leading the $185 billion (Rs 15,29,000 crore) market cap company ever since.
Narasimhan started out in healthcare not as a manager but as a trained physician. However, the doctor-turned CEO went on to work for some of the biggest companies in the world and quickly rose to become a young turk. His growth has been compared to the likes of Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
While Vasant Narasimhan was born and brought up in the United Status, his parents were originally from Tamil Nadu. Apart from his Indian roots, Narasimran also worked in India on child poverty during his college days. Son of a business executive father and a nuclear engineer mother, he pursued healthcare as a career. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Chicago, and his MD from the prestigious Harvard Medical School and master's in public policy from John F. Kennedy School of Government.
After earning his wings at Harvard, Narasimhan started his career with McKinsey & Co, Inc. He joined Novartis in 2005 and served in various leadership roles at the pharma giant for over a decade. In between, he also had a stint at Sandoz International. Novartis named him as the man to replace outgoing CEO Joseph Jimenez in 2017. As per Novartis Annual Report 2022, Vas Narasimhan’s total realised compensation for the year was CHF 8,452,176 (over Rs 75.5 crore).
In his personal life, Narasimhan credits yoga, meditation and pranayama for giving him strength and courage. He has been doing them since a child and learnt it from his grandparents. He credits his family and forefathers for giving him the platform to have a life of opportunities. Narasimhan got married to Srishti Gupta in 2003. The two met at Harvard while organising an Asian cultural fest. The couple have two children.
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 "Meet Vasant Narasimhan, doctor-turned-CEO who earned over Rs 1 crore every week Novartis")
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