From CS 411 to CEO

CJ Desai reflects on his days as a struggling student, relying heavily on the kindness of Illinois faculty, to his newly appointed position as president and CEO of MongoDB.

Chirantan “CJ” Desai (MCS and MBA ’95) is a tenacious professional who never forgets those who’ve helped him along the way. One need only look at his time at Illinois for proof. Desai pursued dual degrees, earning a Master in Computer Science from the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science at the Grainger College of Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from Gies School of Business. At the time, though, he was having a hard time making ends meet.

“I was a student facing financial hardship,” Desai said.

Of course, Desai didn’t get where he is today by giving up.

Photo Credit: MongoDB

Desai was appointed president and CEO of MongoDB, an open-source document database, in November 2025. News spread far and wide across consumer and business outlets, complete with the pressure of the high expectations that came with such a position. A month later, those same media outlets inundated the internet with word that MongoDB’s third quarter earnings exceeded analyst’s expectations with strong guidance for the future. Not bad for the first month on the job.

But then, Desai has always met life challenges head on.

While attending Illinois, he found a way to pay for both degrees with the help of the late Paul Handler, ECE and physics professor emeritus, who had an opening for a grad student at Loomis Lab to assist with his work on, among other things, algorithmic weather simulations.

“He said ‘yes, we will give you financial aid as a research assistantship in the physics department that will help you pay the tuition for both degrees,” Desai said of Handler, one of his early champions. “The fact that Handler and Illinois made that happen for me, I will never ever forget that and always be grateful.”

In fact, Desai’s memory of those who helped him at Illinois is long. That list includes the late Paul Megelli, Sr., former professor and senior director of the then-College of Business, and the late Michael Faiman, CS professor and founding director of the Siebel School’s Graduate Student Advising Office, who was Desai’s advisor.

“Illinois moved mountains for me,” Desai said.

Another faculty in his corner was Marianne S. Winslett, CS professor emerita, whose course, CS 411-Database Systems, was a decisive one for Desai. It’s where he found his passion and tapped into what would drive his long career in software.

That career began when, as he was completing his degrees, he was recruited by then-top database company, Oracle. As part of his hiring agreement, Oracle required Desai to attend a training boot camp in Redwood Shores, CA. Desai was now faced with completing his degree requirements, supporting payment of those degrees via his research assistantship, and attending Oracle’s mandated camp. Once again, Desai said, his faculty support system stepped in, working around Oracle’s schedule. His advisor, Faiman, knew this was a perfect opportunity for him and pushed him to pursue it.

“He went out of his way to ensure I fulfilled my requirements and was able to still join Oracle when they wanted me to start. He was a great advisor,” Desai said.

Besides Oracle, Desai had a lot of job offers by the time he graduated, but he knew that databases were his calling. He remains grateful for the chain of events that began with CS 411.

“I fell in love with databases, and then came Oracle,” Desai said. “And now I’m leading a modern database company.”

Desai stayed at Oracle for over 7 years and, among his accomplishments there, he was a key member of the team that launched Oracle’s first cloud service. Since then, he has built an impressive resume that includes president of product and engineering at Cloudflare, president and chief operating officer at ServiceNow, president of Emerging Technologies Division at EMC, and several product leadership roles at Symantec Corporation, including executive vice president of information management and senior vice president of endpoint and mobile security. 

Regardless of his ascent from struggling student to leading one of the most popular and modern database platforms in the world, Desai remembers his beginnings and is determined to give back. Through generous gifts, he’s already funded the Chirantan J. “CJ” Desai and Hina Desai Computer Science Fellowship and the Chirantan J. and Hina Desai Undergraduate Scholarship at Gies College of Business.

“Having a top computer science program is more than just world-class faculty, classes and research,” said Nancy Amato, Abel Bliss professor and director of the Siebel School, “it’s the alumni—our students who’ve gone out and forged their own paths and then are excited to come back and help the next generations. CJ is one of those people who has had astronomical success but remains humble and dedicated to giving back.”

Mapping the origins of Desai’s strong work ethic and desire to champion accessible education is a straight line that leads directly to his family.

“My grandparents on both sides, maternal and paternal, were school teachers. My mother was a teacher for 30-plus years,” Desai said. “I believe that education is the biggest income equalizer.”

Desai continues to look for ways to give back to students who are struggling like he was. “I want to help students get an education without having to worry about financial aid.”

And despite any choppy waters on the job market horizon, Desai will continue to rely on the talent at schools like Siebel School as he steers the ship at MongoDB.

“We have a very robust internship program. We continue to hire them fresh out of college,” Desai said, having previously led the charge during his tenure at ServiceNow to jump start their internship program. “We want innovators at MongoDB.”

In his new role, Desai said he feels privileged to be present when technology is at an inflection point, and AI is becoming real. Similar to the way mobile and cloud technology was in the previous decade, AI is at a pivotal moment.

“What will that do to software,” Desai pondered, “and what role can MongoDB play for our customers?”

He adds that he’s optimistic about the future of technology and companies transforming themselves with technology for their employees and their customers.

“It doesn’t flip overnight,” he said, “but it’s exciting to see that increased innovation velocity in AI on the technology side for customers and what the future holds.”

When asked if he had advice for students who are now where he was, he says, “The Siebel School and Illinois have a lot to give. Try to maximize your time and learn as much as you can from a multidisciplinary standpoint, like I did. Humanities, philosophy and other areas are so important for the future.” He added, “While you’re learning technology, maximize the offerings in other schools. That’s my humble suggestion.”

Regardless of their paths, Desai knows that current students are in good hands in the Siebel School and across the Illinois campus.

“I’m extremely grateful for what Illinois did for me, from both an education and support perspective,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here today without the University of Illinois.”

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Grainger Engineering affiliations

Nancy M. Amato is an Illinois Grainger professor of computer science and the Abel Bliss Professor of Engineering at Siebel School of Computing and Data Science as well as director of the Siebel School. Amato is affiliated with the Computing Research Association (CRA) as past board chair and is president elect of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Robotics and Automation Society (RAS).

Paul Handler, was an Illinois Grainger professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Marianne S. Winslett, is an Illinois Grainger professor emerita of computer science.

Michael Faiman, was an Illinois Grainger professor of computer science and founding director of the CS Graduate Student Advising Office.