Powering Up SUSE India: Meet Marshal Correia, Our New GM Leading the Charge for Sovereign AI

Marshal Correia, a veteran technology leader with four decades of enterprise experience,
joins SUSE’s as General Manager for India and South Asia to accelerate growth 

As SUSE strengthens its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, we are thrilled to welcome Marshal Correia as our new General Manager for India and South Asia. With four decades of experience—including leadership roles at HPE, DXC, and Red Hat —Marshal joins us at a time when Indian enterprises are at the forefront of a global shift toward digital independence .

To dive deeper into what this means for the region, Josep Garcia, General Manager of APAC at SUSE, sat down with Marshal to discuss how we are supporting Indian businesses to reclaim their IT destinies through infrastructural control, sovereign AI and true choice.

Josep Garcia (JG): Marshal, it’s great to have you on board. Our recent Navigating Digital Resilience report shows incredible momentum in India. While 98% of enterprises globally prioritize sovereignty, only 52% are actually taking action. But India’s showing an above-average interest in practical applications to safeguard their stacks, with 62% of respondents saying that digital sovereignty’s a genuine strategic priority they are actively investing in. From your perspective, why is India leading this charge?

Marshal Correia (MC): Thanks, Josep. As AI is moving from conception to now application, Indian organisations are increasingly realizing that public-cloud-first strategies can inadvertently lead to significant vendor lock-in. There is a growing sovereignty paradox here: companies want the power of AI, but they are wary of losing control over their data or model provenance. They shouldn’t be backed into a corner when it comes to making these choices. 

In India, we see a massive appetite for innovation. 90% of Indian respondents to SUSE’s digital resilience survey have said they are willing to increase their AI budgets. But they want to do it on their own terms. They are choosing to invest in sovereignty now to ensure long-term technical independence.

JG You’ve spent decades in this industry. How is the concept of Sovereign AI emerging as a non-negotiable for the enterprises you’re talking to?

MC: It comes down to trust and transparency, and SUSE’s vision for architecture when it comes to AI matches that well, by providing an AI Factory approach: orchestrating sovereign, on-premises, and hybrid environments that are inspectable and auditable by design. By transforming community innovations into secure, AI-ready solutions, enterprise open source companies like SUSE help Indian customers ensure their data stays private, and that AI models remain under their control. 

In a hub as large as South Asia, open source is more than a preference. Cases at scale like NPCI demonstrate that it’s an engine for collaborative innovation that keeps control and choice in the hands of the customer. In my observation, what makes SUSE unique is that we manage many Linux and Kubernetes distributions, not just our own . This gives a CTO the exit velocity needed to move away from restrictive, locked-in relationships. We are here to help them regain control of their IT roadmaps by providing true interoperability and a sovereign technology foundation.

JG: With our recent announcements around the SUSE AI Factory and agentic product innovations, what can the South Asia region expect from your leadership in the coming months?

MC: Expect a relentless focus on pushing boundaries. We are going to double down on helping organizations accelerate growth through services-led transformation and open source innovation. I look forward to collaborating with the team to ensure that for our customers in India, choice goes far beyond a marketing slogan. It’s a value we live and breathe every day.