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Scouting report · NTAP

George Kurian

  • Chief Executive Officer; director, NTAP since 2015-06src

NetApp CEO since June 2015; ran its product organisation before that

—thin record

Not ranked yet

Scouting sheet

as of 24 Sep 2026
Delivers guidance—no promises on the record yet
Answers the question—no call reviewed yet
Capital allocation—company not reviewed yet
Pay design73operating income, revenue, strategic, individual, relative tsr, time only · 92.9% for · 1.74% of net income
Skin in the game62stake worth $69.9m, 3× last year's pay
Age
59src
In the role
11 yr
Promises scored
0
Hit rate
—
Dodges / 100 answers
—
Airtime on calls
—
Every promise, oldest firstno scored promises yet

What to weigh

Watch 5

  • Sold 53,000 shares for about $10.26m on 2026-09-14 and 2026-09-21, at $190-200, under a 10b5-1 plan adopted 2026-06-15 after the stock had roughly doubled; direct holdings fell to 305,537 sharessrc
  • His brother runs Google Cloud, which NetApp transacts with in the ordinary course. The company calls the dealings arm's-length and not an Item 404 transaction, and gives no dollar figuresrc
  • Pay is being redesigned for FY2027 toward the top line: bonus revenue weight rises from 30% to 45% with a 250% cap, and PBRSUs move from Billings plus relative TSR to revenue plus non-GAAP EPS, with TSR demoted to a +/-25% modifiersrc
  • FY2026 bonus paid 0% on both strategic growth metrics (cloud storage revenue, ASA block-storage growth). The committee still applied a 105% individual modifier, so he took 94.0% of targetsrc
  • CEO pay ratio 163:1 on $22.2m total FY2026 paysrc

In their favour 2

  • Say-on-pay passed with 92.9% of votes cast for and against at the 2026-09-09 meeting (about 94% in 2025)src
  • The company bans hedging and pledging. He is subject to a 6x-salary ownership guideline, and all covered executives complied at FY2026 year endsrc

Career

  1. 2015-06 – now
    NetAppsrc
    Chief Executive Officer; director
  2. 2013-09 – 2015-05
    NetAppsrc
    EVP, Product Operations (technology strategy, product and solutions development across the portfolio)
  3. 2011-12 – 2013-09
    NetAppsrc
    SVP, Data ONTAP group
  4. 2011-04 – 2011-12
    NetAppsrc
    SVP, Storage Solutions group
  5. 2002 – 2011
    Cisco Systemssrc
    Several positions, including VP & GM of the Application Networking and Switching Technology group
  6. 1999 – 2002
    Akamai Technologiessrc
    VP, Product Management and Strategy

Undated in the sources

  • McKinsey & Company; Oraclesrc, Management consultant (McKinsey); software engineering and product management (Oracle)

Not located: Ten-year window fully covered by the 10-K. The Oracle and McKinsey years before 1999 are undated in every source read

Achievements

  • Has run NetApp for eleven years (CEO since 2015-06-01), after two years running all of product operations and four years in storage/ONTAP leadershipsrc
  • Fiscal 2026 revenue was a record $6.93bn (+5.4%) and operating income $1.67bn (+25.2%), per the proxy's performance summarysrc
  • GAAP net income was $986m in FY2024, $1,186m in FY2025 and $1,276m in FY2026src
  • Before NetApp spent nine years at Cisco, ending as VP & GM of its application networking and switching technology groupsrc
  • Re-elected to the board in September 2026 with 99.2% of votes cast for and againstsrc

Education

  • Princeton University, BS Electrical Engineeringsrc
  • Stanford University, MBA Businesssrc

Background

  • Family His brother Thomas Kurian is CEO of Google Cloud, with which NetApp transacts in the ordinary course. The proxy says the relationship predates Thomas Kurian's employment there and treats it as not a related-person transaction under Item 404src
  • Family The two are identical twins; both studied electrical engineering at Princeton and took Stanford MBAssrc
  • Boards Director of The Cigna Group (compliance and people resources committees)src
  • Legal A 2019 securities class action (N.D. Cal.) over the fiscal-2020 guidance given 2019-05-22 and cut 2019-08-01 named NetApp and certain executive officers. Dismissed 2021-02-26; after appeal the company settled for about $2.0m with no admission of liabilitysrc
  • Legal The court docket (Smith v. NetApp, 4:19-cv-04801) lists him among the defendantssrc
  • Other Has a change-of-control severance agreement: 200% of salary plus 200% of target bonus plus a pro-rata bonus, and 48 months of service-vesting acceleration, on a qualifying termination after a change of controlsrc

The promise ledger

No promise on the record yet: the research routine has not scored this company's guidance.

Sources

9
  1. Filing NetApp DEF 14A for the 2026 annual meeting (accession 0001193125-26-321210) · 2026-07-28
  2. Filing NetApp 10-K for fiscal 2026, Information About Our Executive Officers (0001193125-26-259683) · 2026-06-05
  3. Filing NetApp 10-K for fiscal 2022, Legal Proceedings note on the 2019 securities class action (0000950170-22-011708) · 2022-06-16
  4. Filing NetApp 8-K Items 3.03/5.03/5.07, 2026 annual meeting results (0001193125-26-389273) · 2026-09-11
  5. Filing SEC XBRL companyconcept us-gaap/NetIncomeLoss, CIK 1002047 (FY2026 10-K, 0001193125-26-259683) · 2026-06-05
  6. Filing Form 4, George Kurian (reporting CIK 1586813), 10b5-1 sales of 2026-09-14 (0001193125-26-393227) · 2026-09-16
  7. Filing Form 4, George Kurian, 10b5-1 sale of 2026-09-21 (0001193125-26-399475) · 2026-09-23
  8. Web search result WebSearch: George and Thomas Kurian, twin CEOs (Global Indian profile) · 2026-09-24
  9. Web search result WebSearch: Smith v. NetApp, Inc. et al, N.D. Cal. 4:19-cv-04801 (govinfo docket listing; Kurian among the defendants per the search summary) · 2026-09-24