Tech's highest-paid young CEOs

Gone are the days when one had to wait for `grey hair days' for that 10-digit salary. Today's corporate world boasts of a breed of young CEOs taking home 10-digit salaries.

And little surprising that leading this pack of young guns are techies. In fact, the biggest boost to the trend came during 2000 tech boom when 30-something techies set up technology businesses.

However, as the boom went bust, there has also been a fall in the number of these young czars. According to a recent Forbes report, since the height of the tech boom in 2000, the number of CEOs aged 45 or younger at the helm of the 500 largest publicly traded US companies has dropped to 28 from 60, and just three haven't yet reached their 40th birthdays.

Here's meeting up with the young techies who are still holding fort and guarding their places in the highest paid CEOs list.

Nabeel Gareeb, MEMC Electronic Materials
Topping the list of highest paid CEOs is 43-year-old Nabeel Gareeb of Pakistani origin, CEO of chipmaker MEMC Electronic Materials since April 2002 with a total compensation package of $79.6 million.

Gareeb joined MEMC as CEO in April 2002. Gareeb's appointment came after Texas Pacific Group purchased the company from its German owners in 2001 and recapitalised the business.

Prior to joining MEMC, Gareeb was the Chief Operating Officer of International Rectifier Corporation, a leading supplier of power semiconductors, where he was responsible for worldwide operations, research and development and marketing.

He joined International Rectifier in 1992 as Vice President of Manufacturing and subsequently held other senior management positions. Gareeb immigrated to US from Pakistan more than 25 years ago. He holds an MSc in engineering management, and a Bachelors in electrical and electronic engineering.

Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia
Second on the list is Nvidia Corporation co founder Jen-Hsun Huang. Huang founded graphic chip maker in April 1993 today commands a pay packet of $45.9 million. He has being President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member on Nvidia's Board since its inception.

Under his leadership, Nvidia emerged as a leading name in programmable graphics processing technologies and one of the semiconductor industry's largest fabless companies.

Huang also serves on the Rand Corporation's Board of Trustees and is a member of the Committee of 100, an organisation that addresses issues concerning the Chinese-American community and US-China relations.

Prior to founding Nvidia, Huang held engineering, marketing and general management positions at LSI Logic, and was a microprocessor designer at Advanced Micro Devices.

Huang holds a BSEE degree from Oregon State University and an MSEE degree from Stanford University.

Jonathan Schwartz, Sun Microsystems
Jonathan Schwartz, chief executive officer and president of Sun Microsystems is the third highest-paid young tech CEO with an annual package of $13.5 million. A member of Sun's board of directors, Schwartz became company's CEO in 2006, succeeding the Sun's co-founder and current chairman of the board, Scott McNealy.

Schwartz was promoted to president and chief operating officer in 2004, and managed all operational functions at Sun -- from product development and marketing, to global sales and service.

A leader behind many of Sun's open source and standard setting initiatives, Jonathan's been an outspoken advocate for the network as a utility with more than just value for the computing industry -- but as a tool for driving economic, social and political progress.

Prior to his position as COO, Schwartz served as Sun's executive vice president for software, its Chief Strategy Officer, and held a variety of leadership positions across product and corporate development.

He joined Sun in 1996 after the company acquired Lighthouse Design, where he was CEO and co-founder. Prior to that, Schwartz was with McKinsey & Co. Schwartz received degrees in economics and mathematics from Wesleyan University.

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe Systems
Forty-four-year old electronics engineer from Hyderabad, Shantanu Narayen, became Adobe's CEO last year. His annual compensation is at $12 million.

Narayen joined Adobe in January 1998 as Vice President and General Manager of Adobe's engineering technology group. In January 1999, he was promoted to Senior Vice President, Worldwide Products and in March 2001 he was promoted to Executive Vice President, Worldwide Product Marketing and Development.

In January 2005, Narayen was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of Adobe. Prior to joining Adobe, Narayen co-founded Pictra Inc in 1996.

Together with the ex-CEO Bruce Chizen, Narayen spearheaded the $3.4 billion acquisition of Macromedia Inc in 2005, expanding Adobe's software platform and solutions and strengthening the company's presence in key markets ranging from enterprise and vertical industries to mobile devices and multimedia publishing.

Narayen is a frequent speaker at industry and academic events. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley.

Narayen holds a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University in India, a master's degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University, and a master's degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business.

Dara Khosrowshahi, Expedia
At no. five is CEO of Expedia Dara Khosrowshahi with a total compensation package of is $4.9 million.

Founded as a division of Microsoft in October 1996, Expedia was spun off in 1999. The company was later purchased by USA Networks in 2001.

The 39-year-old Khosrowshahi became CEO of Expedia when it spun off from IAC/InterActiveCorp (IAC) in August 2005. He joined IAC in 1998 as vice president of strategic planning. Prior to this he worked at Allen & Company LLC from 1991 to 1998, where he served as vice president from 1995 to 1998.

Khosrowshahi received a BA in engineering from Brown University in 1991.

Francisco D'Souza, Cognizant
At no. six is thiry-nine-year old Francisco D'Souza, president and chief executive officer of Cognizant. D'Souza who has been the company's President and CEO since January 2007 has an annual compensation package of $3.7 million.

Prior to this he was the Chief Operating Officer for Cognizant's global delivery, marketing and sales, business development and client services operations. He has also led the company's North American and European operations.

Earlier, Francisco held key positions at The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation in marketing, strategic planning and new business development in Germany, US and India.

Born in Kenya, he has Bachelors degree from the University of East Asia. He has also done MBA from Carnegie-Mellon University.