Shantanu Narayen vs Allan Thygesen

Shantanu Narayen

CEO of Adobe

BIO: Preserving the status quo is not a winning strategy. As Adobe CEO, this core belief drove Shantanu and his leadership team’s successful transformation of Adobe, moving its creative software franchise from the desktop to the cloud, while creating and leading the explosive digital marketing category. He is passionate about building and empowering teams to drive product innovation and scale Adobe’s business globally, while advancing the company as a respected global brand and corporate citizen. Originally from Hyderabad, India, Shantanu has an undergraduate degree in electronics engineering, a master’s degree in computer science, and an MBA from UC Berkeley. He is a board member of Pfizer, and Vice Chairman of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum. Shantanu was named one of the World’s Best CEOs by Barron’s in 2019, the fourth consecutive year he's received the honor, and was ranked as a Top CEO by Glassdoor in 2019.

Allan Thygesen

CEO of Docusign

BIO: Allan Thygesen is the CEO of Docusign, the company that brings agreements to life. Since joining the company in 2022, Allan has led Docusign to expand on its market leadership positions in e-signature and contract lifecycle management, and launched the SaaS category of intelligent agreement management. Today, more than 1.5 million customers and more than a billion users in over 180 countries use Docusign products and solutions to accelerate the process of doing business and simplifying people's lives. Before he joined Docusign, Allan served as President, Americas & Global Partners at Google, leading the company’s $100 billion+ advertising business across North and South America. Prior to that role, he served as the President of Google Marketing Solutions, overseeing the global mid-market and small advertiser business, which serves millions of customers worldwide. Earlier in his career, Allan was a managing director and partner in the U.S. venture and growth funds of The Carlyle Group, where he led investments in startups in sectors including e-commerce, enterprise software, and more. He has also held executive positions in several public and private companies, including Wink Communications, Inc., an interactive television technology company, which he helped take public in 1999. Allan serves on the board of directors of global shipping leader A. P. Moller Maersk, and served as a Lecturer at Stanford's Graduate School of Business from 2014-2021. He serves on the advisory boards of Stanford’s Institute for Economic Policy Research and Stanford’s Institute for Research in the Social Sciences. He received a master's degree in economics from the University of Copenhagen and an MBA degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he graduated as an Arjay Miller scholar.