Satya Nadella, Cloud & Enterprise Group, Microsoft - He and his team deliver the "Cloud OS." Rumored to be on the short list for CEO

Satya is responsible for building and running Microsoft's computing platforms, developer tools and cloud services. He and his team deliver the "Cloud OS." Rumored to be on the short list for CEO, he shares his views on the future.

Microsoft is reportedly planning to name a new CEO to replace Steve Ballmer in the next week, and there appears to be a new frontrunner: Satya Nadella.

If you don't recognize the name, you're probably not alone. Unlike some of the other candidates that Microsoft had been rumored to be considering — people like Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Nokia CEO Stephen Elop — Nadella isn't particularly well-known to people outside Microsoft.

With that in mind, here are few things you should now about the 47-year-old tech industry veteran who may soon run one of the biggest companies in the world.

1. He has worked at Microsoft for more than 20 years.
   If you believe Microsoft needs someone in the CEO role who knows the company inside and out, Nadella is a strong pick. He joined the company in 1992 from Sun Microsystems, and has served in a number of executive roles since, starting out in the Windows developer-relations group and moving on to the online services division. In recent years, he built up Microsoft's cloud computing efforts as the executive VP of its Cloud and Enterprise group.
   Microsoft's first CEO was its cofounder, Bill Gates. Ballmer, the company's second CEO, had worked at the company since 1980. Nadella, with his long tenure at the company, would fit the general formula.
2. He has never run a company.
   If, however, you believe Microsoft needs someone with an outside perspective and experience as a chief executive, Nadella may be a more questionable pick. He worked as a member of the technology staff at Sun Microsystems and has held key roles at Microsoft, but never served as a CEO. Then again, the Microsoft division he runs is a $20 billion business, larger than many tech companies.
3. His vision for the future of tech: better UI, better backends
   During an interview last year at the Le Web conference, Nadella offered some thoughts on tech trends he expects to see over the next decade.
   "My feeling is if you look at the broad stroke of technology shifts, it seems like at least on the device side or on the client side, it's the changes in UI, or input and output, it's touch or ink or voice or gesture, that's going to be the next big revolution," he said at the time. "Then on the backend, I've always noticed that it's all about the factor of production, an improvement of utilization... What happened with virtualization was that you could get more done with less. What's happening with cloud is you can get more done with less."
   When pressed about whether Microsoft could get out of its own way to grab the future, he added the following: "We wouldn't be here 30 years since our founding if we were not able to ride the new waves of technology, some more successfully than others. There's no question of that. The fact that we have the capability that allows us to go and hunt for the new concept is the key for this business and longevity."

1. 1. People at Microsoft like him.
      Though he may not be particularly well-known outside the company, multiple reports note that he is well-liked and well-respected within Microsoft and within the industry at large.
   2. He would be the first Microsoft CEO born outside the country.
      Nadella was born in Hyderabad, India, and studied engineering at a university there before moving to the United States. He went on to study computer science at the University of Wisconsin and earned a Master's degree in business administration at the University of Chicago. If he is appointed CEO of Microsoft, he will be one of just a handful of Indian-born chief executives to run major American companies.