NetApp appoints Syam Nair as Chief Product Officer

NetApp, the intelligent data infrastructure company, has appointed Syam Nair as its new Chief Product Officer, effective July 7. He takes over from Harv Bhela, who stepped down in June. In his new role, Nair will oversee product and engineering teams as the company continues to develop its hybrid cloud and Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiatives. 

In his new role, Nair is expected to guide NetApp’s strategy in developing hybrid cloud and AI-driven products, helping enterprises manage their digital transformation using NetApp’s infrastructure and data tools. 

Nair brings more than 25 years of experience in technology and product development. Most recently, he served as Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Research and Development at Zscaler. Prior to that, he held senior leadership roles at Salesforce and Microsoft. At Salesforce, he worked on several core platforms, including Marketing Cloud, Tableau, and Salesforce Data Cloud. While at Microsoft, he was part of the team that scaled Azure data services across global infrastructure. 

“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.  

“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 Nair.  

Nair holds a Master of Computer Science and Applications from Goa University and later earned an MBA from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.