In the late eighties, Atish Banerjea was drawn to the Fox School of Business by the promise of a well-rounded education. “I didn’t want a computer science program that was purely technical,” he says. “I wanted the engineering background, but I also wanted to learn how technology can drive businesses forward. Temple was one of the few universities at the time to offer such a program.” Mr. Banerjea’s instincts have been omniscient through his career journey. As the demand for programmers increased, those with business acumen were more coveted and often became candidates for the senior positions. During the coursework for his master of science degree, he was highly influenced by the faculty at the Fox School. “They piqued my interest in education and I aspired to join their ranks,” says Mr. Banerjea. Upon earning his master’s, he accepted a full-time tenure-track faculty position at the University of Wisconsin as an assistant professor of computer information systems. Mr. Banerjea left Wisconsin shortly and joined Pearson, the textbook publisher, in a technology role. He spent a decade at Pearson and held many important roles, including executive vice president and chief technology officer. He was credited with helping direct Pearson’s transformation from an increasingly irrelevant, print-dominated company to a global digital leader with online learning management and assessment platforms. He also spent almost four years at NBCUniversal as global CIO, managing technology initiatives across broadcast and cable television, movie studio and theme park businesses. He helped create digital platforms and data analytics to help boost top-line revenue and profitability. Mr. Banerjea was named chief information officer for Facebook in November 2016. At Facebook, he helps facilitate the growth of the world’s largest social media company. “Facebook is driven by efficiency because our ability to create the technical platforms we need to do our jobs and make informed decisions is unparalleled,” he says. “Our rapid scaling has necessitated us to build much of our technology platforms internally. Bringing in external systems would require changes in workflows, creating a slow-down.” His team at Facebook builds innovative, people-centric enterprise solutions that transform and accelerate Facebook’s business and are tailored to the varied needs of engineering and business teams across Facebook. At every company he has worked, Mr. Banerjea has made an indelible imprint. Facebook is no exception. While it may take years to fully appreciate the extent of his impact, it’s clear that his talent and approach are already contributing to Facebook’s unparalleled performance at scale.

Temple University Degree
Master of Science ’91, Fox School of Business

Temple University Awards & Affiliatons

• Recipient, Information Technology Award for Distinguished Alumni, Fox School of Business, 2013
• Keynote speaker, Digital Business Innovation Forum, Fox School of Business, 2014

What I wanted to be when I was 20 years old
A computer engineer. My dad was an engineer with Air India, so I always wanted to be an engineer of some kind. Around that age I got interested in computers.

Best piece of advice anyone ever gave me
“Unless you understand the core business, you’ll never be able to make the most of technology.” I took this advice to heart. At each turn, I’ve attempted to learn about the company inside out before diving into my technology job.