Early Life
Aneel Bhusri was born in Pittsford, New York, on February 14, 1966, into an Indian-American family. He pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Brown University. He then earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1993. His initial career step was as a corporate finance analyst at Morgan Stanley.
Rise to Success
Bhusri's career took a significant turn in 1993 when he joined PeopleSoft, a human resources software company. He held key roles, including Senior Vice President of Product Strategy, Business Development, and Marketing, and eventually became Vice Chairman. In 2005, Bhusri co-founded Workday with David Duffield. Workday, which offers cloud-based enterprise software for human resources and finance, has grown into a multi-billion dollar company. Bhusri served as the CEO of Workday from 2014 to 2020 and then as co-CEO from 2020 to 2024. In February 2026, he took over as CEO once again and has transitioned to the role of Executive Chair.
Key Business Strategies
Bhusri's success is rooted in his vision to create a software company centered around its people. Workday's business model, based on subscriptions to its services, has been a key factor in its growth. Bhusri's leadership and product vision have been instrumental in establishing Workday as a leader in the cloud computing industry.
Philanthropy
Bhusri is actively involved in philanthropy. In April 2020, he donated $1 million to the Give2SF fund, which aided San Francisco residents and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bhusri joined the Giving Pledge in 2018, committing to donate the majority of his wealth to charitable causes.