By P.C. Staff
Google joins the list of top tech companies that now have Asian Americans as their CEOs . Today, the tech giant is one of the 25 percent of all tech start-ups with immigrant founders, according to “America’s New Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Then and Now” study. Sundar Pichai, Google’s new CEO, is one of many Asian Americans that are heading major tech companies in the United States, breaking the bamboo ceiling.
Other tech start-ups include eBay, PayPal, Sun Microsystems, Tesla and Yahoo, to name a few.
Much like his counterparts, Pichai is becoming an example of breaking misconceptions that Asian Americans can only execute but not lead due to language and cultural barriers.
While the presence of Asian Americans sitting at the top in major tech companies is promising, today the percentage of women, blacks and HIspanics is still low. Efforts to change these figures are underway as the industry recognizes that resourcing people of color and different cultural balance is key to staying competitive. Immigration reform and discussions surrounding policy change is not only a tech industry concern but also a nationwide tabletop item for the presidential election next year.
Jeff Yang, columnist for The Wall Street Journal Online, poses an important question about Pichai’s influence in his CNN Opinion piece “If you see individuals with talent, skills and ambition as your most critical asset, why wouldn’t you try to corner the market on these assets?”
