NetApp announced the appointment of Syam Nair as its new Chief Product Officer (CPO), effective Monday, July 7, 2025. Nair succeeds Harv Bhela, who concluded his tenure in June following a successful chapter of product leadership.
Nair is a former Salesforce and Microsoft executive renowned as a maverick innovator in the industry, bringing over 25 years of experience in scaling cloud platforms and driving hyper-growth. In his new role, Nair will lead NetApp’s product and engineering teams to accelerate innovation in hybrid cloud and AI offerings and advance NetApp’s strategic vision for data-driven business growth.
“I am thrilled to welcome Syam to NetApp’s leadership team. He joins us at a time when our customers are looking to NetApp to help them deliver data-enabled growth and productivity: not only must they innovate to stay ahead, but they must also simplify to improve productivity and agility. This is a balance Syam has mastered throughout his career,” said George Kurian, Chief Executive Officer at NetApp. “Syam’s proven track record – from building planet-scale Azure data services at Microsoft to spearheading hyper-scale platforms like Salesforce Data Cloud – is exactly what we need as we sharpen our focus on high-growth markets. Importantly, he’s not only a brilliant technologist but also a people-first leader who builds teams grounded in integrity and a growth mindset. Under Syam’s product leadership, I’m confident NetApp will deliver even more innovation and value for customers, and strengthen our position as a cloud, data and AI leader, and remain at the forefront of what’s next.”
Syam Nair joins NetApp from Zscaler, where he served as Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Research & Development. Nair brings more than two decades of engineering and product development leadership, with expertise in incubating new technologies from the ground up and leading large teams through transformations at scale. During his tenure at Microsoft, Nair was part of the leadership team that built and expanded globally distributed Azure data services. At Salesforce, his leadership pioneered industry-defining innovations including Salesforce Data Cloud, the next generation Agentic platform that significantly advanced the company’s AI-powered customer engagement capabilities.
“I’m excited to join NetApp at such a pivotal time in the industry. Enterprises are embracing cloud and AI to transform their operations, and NetApp is uniquely positioned to help them succeed with its rich portfolio and talent,” said Syam Nair, Chief Product Officer at NetApp. “I’ve spent my career tackling complex technological challenges and leading teams through transformations for hyper-growth. I’m thrilled to bring that experience to NetApp. We will set a bold vision for the future of hybrid cloud data services and execute with a growth mindset and relentless focus on customer success. NetApp has an inspiring mission and a values-driven culture and I’m honored to be part of the team and eager to drive the next wave of innovation for our customers and partners.”
