Raj Subramaniam is an Indian American businessman. He is an IIT Gold Medalist who is the President, CEO, a Director of FedEx Corporation. He runs this U.S.A. based conglomerate that has an annual revenue of $92 Billion and has a global team of over 6 lakh individuals.
Wiki/Biography
Raj Subramaniam was born on Thursday, 14 September 1967 (age 54 years; as of 2021) in Thiruvananthapuram, a city in Kerala, India. He studied at the Loyola School in Thiruvananthapuram till the tenth standard. He was an ICSE topper and shifted to Bombay (now Mumbai) when he was 15 years old. There he cleared his twelfth from the SIES Group of Institutions. Later he joined the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay for his Bachelor’s and graduated in 1987. He went to Syracuse University in New York to pursue his Masters in Science, Chemical Engineering and completed it in 1989. After completing his MS, he decided to pursue MBA in Marketing/Finance from The University of Texas at Austin and completed it in 1991.
Physical Appearance
Hair Colour: Grey
Eye Colour: Brown
Family
Raj Subramaniam belongs to a South Indian family.
Parents & Siblings
Raj Subramaniam is the son of C Subramaniam, a former DJP in the Indian Police. His mother is B Kamalammal who once worked as an anaesthetist at Thiruvananthapuram general hospital. Rajeev Subrahmaniam is his brother who works as an employee at FedEx in the United States.
Raj Subramaniam with his father, wife and son
Wife & Children
Raj Subramaniam married Uma, an IIM Ahemdabad Alumna who herself works at FedEx. The couple has a son named Arjun Rajesh who worked at the E-Commerce division of the company and is pursuing higher studies.
Raj Subramaniam with his wife Uma at the marriage ceremony
Career
Raj Subramaniam joined FedEx almost 30 years ago. He joined FedEx after completing his MBA as a marketing analyst in Memphis in 1991. His hard work and dedication earned him the position of Vice President of Marketing for the Asia Pacific region in September 1996 which he continued to hold till September 2003. In September 2003, he was promoted to the position of Regional President, Canada. He held this position for two years and nine months after which he was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President. In February 2013, he served as the EVP in Marketing & Communication and was promoted to the position of President & CEO of FedEx Express in January 2019. In March 2019, he was appointed as the President, and COO of FedEx Corp. In 2020, he joined the board of directors of the company. With a total of 30 years of service to the company, he introduced transformational initiatives, grew the company’s e-commerce business and revived the company’s operating strategy for its digital transformation. With all these developments, he was finally elected to become the CEO of FedEx Corp in March 2022. He was elected for this position after Frederick W. Smith, the founder, Chairman and CEO of the company decided to step down from the CEO position at FedEx.
Frederick Wallace Smith, the Founder, former CEO and Chairman Of FedEx
After taking up the CEO position from Frederick, Raj Subramaniam is responsible for offering strategic direction to all the FedEx operating companies including FedEx Ground, FedEx Services, FedEx Express, FedEx Office, FedEx Freight, FedEx Dataworks and FedEx Logistics. He is also a member of FedEx’s Executive Committee that plans and executes the strategic business activities of the corporation. In addition to this, he also serves as a member of the FedEx Strategic Management Committee which decides the strategic direction of the conglomerate. After being appointed as the CEO of FedEx he said,
Fred is a visionary leader and a legend of the business world. He founded one of the world’s greatest and most admired companies, and it is my honour and privilege to step into this role and build upon what he has created,”
Awards, Honours, Achievements
- He became an IIT Gold Medalist and graduated from IIT Bombay in 1987.
Facts/Trivia
- Raj has a grip on four languages which include English, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil.
- His father wanted him to join civil services when he was studying in India.
- Since the beginning of his career, he has only worked for FedEx.
- His real name is Rajesh Subramaniam and his son uses Raj’s first name (Rajesh) as his last name.