Time100: Satya Nadella, Jigar Shah and Priyamvada Natarajan Among Most Influential People in the World
- Joining the four Indian Americans are actors Dev Patel and Alia Bhatt, Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik, Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum, and British-Indian restaurateur and cookbook author Asma Khan.
Actors Dev Patel and Alia Bhatt, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, World Bank president Ajay Banga, Department of Energyâs Jigar Shah and Yale professor Priyamvada Natarajan are among Time100, the magazineâs most influential people in the world. Joining them are Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik, Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum, and British-Indian restaurateur and cookbook author Asma Khan. The list includes surprising pairings of the list members and the guest contributors the magazine selects to write about them.
The issue has four worldwide covers, each highlighting a member of the TIME100 â singer-songwriter Dua Lipa, football quarterback Patrick Mahomes, actor Taraji P. Henson, and Yulia Navalnaya, a leader of Russia’s opposition movement.
âThe influence recognized on this year’s TIME100 list of the world’s most influential people spans industries and continents,â said chief executive officer Jessica Sibley said. The celebrities on the list will be celebrated at the TIME100 Summit on April 24 and the TIME100 Gala on April 25 in New York City.
Actor Daniel Kaluuya first met Dev Patel at âthe very first read-through for Skins, before he ever got on TV.â The British-Indian actor was âso full of life,â Kaluuya writes, adding that they both âcouldnât believe we were missing school to do this.â
Patel âradiates goodness,â he continues. âHis humanity shines through every time he graces the screen, leaving you no choice but to root for him even when his character is doing something foul; his presence makes you understand where heâs coming from.â Patelâs performance in âMonkey Man,â his latest film, and his directorial debut, is Kaluuyaâs favorite. Patel gives us âa fierce, soulful empathy, a channeled rage, shades of him we have yet to see,â Kaluuya says, adding that he âlimitlessâ and âfearless.,â Kaluuya writes. Patel âcontinues to surpass himself and surprise us, and we are all waiting for where heâll take us next.â
Director, producer and writer Tom Harper describes Alia Bhatt as âa formidable talent.â She is ânot only one of the worldâs leading actors, admired for her work in the Indian film industry for over a decade, she is also a businesswoman and a philanthropist who leads with integrity,â he writes in Bhattâs profile. He met Bhatt on the sets of âA Heart of Stone,â the Bollywood A-listerâs English-language film debut which he directed. She is âself-effacing and funnyâ on set, and goes about her work âfocused, open to ideas, and willing to take creative risks,â he writes. He recalls âone of his favorite moments in the filmâ came during âan improvisation at the end of a take where she took the emotional thread and ran with it,â he writes. âAliaâs superpower is her ability to mix movie-star magnetism with authenticity and sensitivity,â he continues. âAs an actor she is luminous, and as a person she brings the grounded assurance and creativity that make a truly international star.â
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who is on the Time 100 list for the third time, âis profoundly influential in shaping our future,â according to Mellody Hobson, CEO and president of Ariel Investments. Describing Nadella as âa technologist with heart,â Hobson says âhe sees AI as a tool that will empower humans.â While thereâs still ârightful concern about unintended consequences and misuseâ of AI, she notes it is âso reassuring that Satya is one of AIâs steward.â When she served on the board of Starbucks with Nadella, she ânoticed that he doesnât need to be the center of attention. In fact, he doesnât seem to need any attention at all. Still, he commands it.â She lauds Nadella for propelling Microsoft âto a $3 trillion-plus market value and making it the largest company in the world,â and admires him âfor leading with integrity, strength, and kindness.”
Since Ajay Banga became president of the World Bank last June, he has âtransformedâ it with his âskill and drive,â Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen writes. At the World Bank, he âset forth a new vision to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet and moved boldly to make good on it âfrom pioneering innovative financial tools to reimagining partnerships across the multilateral development banks and with the private sector,â she wrote. âHis sharp wit consistently enables him to cut through the noise,â she continues. âWith unprecedented challenges such as climate change threatening our collective future, I cannot imagine a better partner with whom to take decisive action on behalf of people around the world.â
âRelentlessly optimistic, pioneering, and passionate,â Jigar Shah has âdedicated his life to unlocking the entrepreneurial opportunity that lies in a clean-energy transition,â writes. As director of the U.S. Department of Energyâs Loan Programs Office, Shah is âdemonstrating how this truly is one of the greatest opportunities of our time.â He oversees âmore than $200 billion in government loans to bring energy innovation to the market,â and âleads one of the largest economic-development programs the world has ever seen,â Branson says. Shah served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change. âThere is no doubt that when future generations write the history of the worldâs clean-energy revolution, Jigar Shah will be hailed as one of its key architects,â he concludes.
Priyamvada Natarajan is professor in the departments of astronomy and physics at Yale University. The theoretical astrophysicist interested in cosmology, gravitational lensing and black hole physics. Her research interests in black hole physics are focused on the formation, fueling, and feedback from supermassive black holes over cosmic time. Last November, âa novel approach developed years agoâ by her, brought astronomers âcloser to underÂstanding how supermassive black holes that lurk at the centers of most galaxies are formed,â noted Shep Doeleman, astrophysicist and the founding director of the Event Horizon Telescope in Natarajanâs Time profile. It was a theory she had speculated, which was corroborated by âthe piercing gaze of the James Webb Space Telescope,â Doeleman writes. She has âa knack for pursuing the most creative research, and as a fellow astronomer, IâŻam always inspired by her work,â he says. âHer latest result takes us one step closer to understanding our cosmic beginnings.â
TIME's list of the 100 Most Influential People in the world is out. I'm honored, delighted, and grateful to be a part of this incredible group #TIME100 https://t.co/81n6us4OuK
— Priyamvada Natarajan (@SheerPriya) April 17, 2024
Padma Lakshmi met Asma Khan when she was a guest on âTop Chef,â where she cooked a thali meal for the contestants. âAsma is âa ball of energy with a wicked sense of humor,â Laskhmi writes. âSheâs the auntie you would have said was your favorite growing up.â Her acclaimed London restaurant, Darjeeling Express, has an all-female kitchen; âmost chefs are older South Asian immigrants who lack formal training..â What sets her restaurant apart is that her food âdoesnât taste like restaurant food,â Lashmi says. Although sheâs been featured on âChefâs Table” and has âwon all kinds of acclaim for her food,â sheâs âhumble,â Lakshmi continues. She is excited for Khan âto start hosting the documentary series âTiffin Stories,â which will highlight food from the Indian diaspora. She will be a natural host: sheâs hospitable, and genuinely cares about people.â
Huge congratulations to our Chef Advocate Asma Khan for being named as one of @TIMEâs 100 most influential people of 2024.
— World Food Programme (@WFP) April 17, 2024
Asma has long been a powerful voice for women and food security.
We're grateful for your passionate advocacy, @Asma_KhanLDN đhttps://t.co/bcU7crLbd4
Sakshi Malik, Indiaâs firsthand only female wrestler to win an Olympic medal in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, made headlines early last year when she quit the sport in protest after the Wrestling Federation of India named former head Brij Bhushan Singhâs close ally as president. She had led protests against Singh, a powerful ruling party Member of Parliament who was accused of sexually harassing female athletes. âWhat began as a small, targeted protest to demand decisive government action in favor of the wrestlers ballooned instead into a yearlong battle unprecedented in Indian sport, drawing support from across the country and attention from across the world,â writes documentary filmmaker Nisha Pahuja. Singh was charged with sexual harassment, stalking, and intimidation, charges he has denied. âThis fight is no longer only for Indiaâs female wrestlers,â said Malik of the movement she helped spark, âit is for the daughters of India whose voices have been silenced time and again.â Though Malik quit the sport in âan emotional, public, and very brave act of defiance, she did not, however, quit the battle,â Pahuja writes. âHer light, and the light of all those standing against harassment, continues to shine.â
Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum has developed a practice and a way of being that prioritizes local cultures and values, as well as the perils faced by our shared planet, writes Sarah M. Whiting, dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. âTabassumâs altruism even extends to buildings themselves. She cares for her creations as creatures partaking in the resources of our earth.â Her Bait Ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which won the prestigious Aga Khan Award, she said a building âhas to be able to breathe without artificial aids.â Elsewhere in the country, which faces increased flood risks due to climate change, she has developed houses that are cost-effective and easy to moveâclearly, buildings shouldnât just breathe; they should avoid getting their feet wet. While she practices very locally, she teaches, lectures, and is recognized internationally, modeling architecture not as an individual signature but as a collective Esperanto.