Meet these Indian Origin Women Who Broke the Glass Celling in the Global Tech World

By: Anindita, writer

Women of Indian origin are currently at the top leadership positions of several global companies. Apart from inspiring generations of women to take up leadership roles, they are also redefining the spheres of technology, business operations, manufacturing and innovation. They are revolutionising existing company cultures and deconstructing gendered workspaces, making them more accessible and inclusive. Behind some of the most powerful brands, today are a group of women CEOs who have demonstrated to the corporate world that they have what it takes to be a driving force in their respective professions. Here is a list of some most talented Indian women CEOs who are changing the game today.

Revathi Advaithi

Indian-American Advaithi has worked in several leadership positions at Honeywell and Eaton but is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Flex (earlier known as Flextronics). For Uber and Catalyst.org, she serves as an independent director. In 2019 and 2020, she was named to Fortune's Most Powerful Women list. She earned an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in 2005 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology (BITS) in 1990.

Sharmistha Dubey

In 2006, Dubey joined the Match Group, which owns and operates online dating products including Hinge, Tinder and many more. She is also one of the board of directors of Fortive Corporation and Match Group. According to the Per Research centre report, as of February 2020, when Dubey became CEO, 30 per cent of adults in the US used online dating, up from 11 per cent in 2013. She did a Master’s in Science (MS) from Ohio State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in 1993.

Reshma Kewalramani

Kewalramani is one of the first female CEOs of a large US Biotech company and is currently the president and CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Earlier, at Vertex, she was the medical officer and vice president of global medicines development and medical affairs. She is the recipient of the American College of Physicians Associates Council Award and the Harvard Medical School Excellence in Teaching Award.

Anjali Sud

In 2017, after serving as General Manager and head of marketing, Sud became the CEO of Vimeo, which is an online video platform. She is recognised as the young global leader of the World Economic Forum and a board member of Dolby Laboratories. Sud was listed as one of The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Gen: 35 Under 35 honorees in November 2017. Crain's New York selected Sud as one of its annual 40 Under 40 honorees in March 2018. She was named number 14 on Fortune’s “2018 40 Under 40” list in July 2018. Along with Gloria Estefan and Ann Dowd, in December 2019, she was honoured with a Muse Award by the New York Women in Film & Television.

Sonia Syngal

Syngal, an India-born businesswoman has been serving as the CEO of the worldwide clothing and accessories brand, GAP since 2020. She pursued her Master’s in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Stanford University in 1995 and got her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University in 1993. Syngal serves on the Board of Governors for Boys & Girls of America and also serves on the Gap Foundation Board of Trustees. Syngal has been named one of the “Most Influential Women in Business of 2018” by San Francisco Business Times and one of “The 50 Most Powerful Moms of 2018” by Working Mother Magazine.

Jayshree Ullal

Currently, the president and CEO of Arista Networks, a cloud networking company responsible for the deployment of 10/25/40/50/100 Gigabit Ethernet networking, this Indian-American billionaire began her career with engineering and strategy positions at Fairchild Semiconductor and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). After working four years at Ungermann-Bass, Ullal became the vice president of marketing at Crescendo. She has been awarded as a Top Ten Executive in VMWorld 2011 and One of the 50 Most Powerful People in the 2005 Network World.

Padmashree Warrior

The founder and CEO of a curated reading platform, Fable which is focused on mental wellness, is an Indian-American Businesswoman. She served as the CTO of Cisco for seven years and as CTO at Motorola for five years and is well known for her leadership roles. Placing her between the 10 “highest apid” and the “Young and Powerful” categories, Fortune Magazine called her one of four rising stars on its Most Powerful Women list. She was ranked as the 11th most Influential Global Indian by the Economic Times in 2005. To receive the “Women Elevating Science and Technology” award from Working Woman Magazine she was one of the six women nationwide selected. Forbes also listed her in “America’s Top 50 Women in Tech” in 2018.

Priya Lakhani

The Founder and CEO of an AI education technology company, Century, Lekhani sits on the UK government’s AI Council and has been a member of the secretary of state for business, innovation and skill’s entrepreneurs’ forum. Lekhani was awarded the British Empire award (OBE) in 2014 and Business Entrepreneur of the year in 2009. She pursued B.A. in Law and Economics from Queen Mary and did Master of Laws from University College London.

From the current trend, it is visible that women are and will continue leading the top positions in higher designations.