Against All Odds: Six Indian American Women and Two From India in CNBC’s Inaugural Changemakers List
- Those who made it to the list are “creating a pattern of what it takes to defy the odds, innovate and thrive in a volatile business landscape,” the news channel says.
Six Indian American women and two from India have made it to CNBC’s inaugural “Changemakers,” a list featuring a group of women making a major impact in business. The Indian women in this year’s list include Revathi Advaithi, Aradhana Sarin, Dr. Suneeta Reddy, Ritu Narayan, Svanika Balasubramanian, Dr. Geetha Murali, and Sandhya Ganapathy. The women named to the list are “creating a pattern of what it takes to defy the odds, innovate and thrive in a volatile business landscape,” CNBC says. “From startup founders to S&P 500 C-suite growth drivers, from personalities shaking up the media industry to figures taking women’s sports further into the mainstream, the 2024 Changemakers have broken new ground and set the stage for others to follow.”
Revathi Advaithi is chief executive officer at Flex, a global supply chain and manufacturing solutions provider. She assumed the role of CEO in February 2019 and is responsible for architecting the company’s strategic direction and leading. She is focused on driving technology innovation, supply chain, and responsible, sustainable manufacturing solutions across various industries and end markets. She is also an advocate for women in STEM and in the workplace. Prior to joining Flex, she worked in various leadership positions at Eaton and Honeywell.
Dr. Suneeta Reddy is managing director of the Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals Group, labelled as Asia’s foremost and trusted healthcare provider. A member of the founding family, she started working with Apollo Hospitals in 1989. Under her stewardship Apollo Hospitals has emerged as a forerunner of integrated healthcare and also has a robust presence across the healthcare spectrum. She has been the chair of the CII Healthcare Council for several years, and was also the chairperson of CII Asia Health Summit 2021, and a member of its National Council and Family Business Council. An avid fitness enthusiast, she is very mindful about healthy living and following a balanced diet. A compassionate and caring individual, Suneeta Reddy has provided financial aid to innumerable underprivileged patients, especially to children ailing with thalassemia.
Ritu Narayan, founder and chief executive officer at Zūm struggled with managing her career while making sure her kids could get from point A to point B. So, she started the transportation company that focuses on students while using technology to create more efficient and environmentally friendly routes. The company’s mission is to serve students, families, and schools by reimagining student transportation, the largest transit system in the U.S. With best-in-class technology and a multi-sized vehicle fleet model, Zum is leading the charge in providing more than 4,000 schools around the United States — including multi-year contracts with two of the largest school districts in California, San Francisco Unified School District and Oakland Unified School District. Narayan is an alum of Stanford Graduate School of business and earned an undergraduate degree in computer science at the Delhi Institute of Technology.
Aradhana Sarin is executive director and chief financial officer of AstraZeneca PLC. Previously, she was chief financial officer of Alexion, managing director of Healthcare Corporate and Investment Banking at Citi Global Banking, and managing director of Healthcare Investment Banking at UBS. She also worked at JP Morgan in the Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory and Healthcare groups. A medical doctor, she began her career practicing medicine in India and Africa. In a LinkedIn post, Sarin wrote that she’s “honored” to be recognized among such an accomplished and inspiring list of women” named to the inaugural list. “While there is still work to be done to ensure gender equality in leadership positions globally, I am proud to work for a company where 50.1% of our senior middle management roles and above are filled by women,” she wrote. “I am the beneficiary of all the accomplishments of the women before and around me and hope that I can pass that along to the next generation of female leaders.”
Dr. Geetha Murali is the chief executive officer of Room to Read, a leading international education organization that believes World Change Starts with Educated Children.Room to Read transforms the lives of millions of children through education, creating a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality. As CEO, Murali has been a driving force behind the exponential scale of Room to Read’s quality programs — achieving presence in 23 countries and benefiting more than 39 million children to date. Murali joined Room to Read in 2009 and has more than 25 years of diverse experience across the corporate and non-profit sectors. She has worked with large pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Chiron as well as on an array of educational technology programs like the Digital Equalizer Program (American India Foundation) and Adobe Youth Voices (Adobe Systems Incorporated). Her compelling personal history as the daughter of a potential child bride coupled with her corporate experience, academic background in the quantitative and social sciences, and community-based work give her a unique perspective on the socio-economic landscapes in which Room to Read operates, as well as the quantitative rigor and business acumen needed to lead this transformative movement.”
Mumbai-based Dipali Goenka, chief executive officer and managing director of Welspun Living Limited has been a driving force in making the company a global leader in home textiles with relentless focus on customer centricity, innovation and sustainability. It is one of the largest exporters of home textile products from India and has the highest market share in the U.S. Goenka has been recognized as 16th most powerful woman in Asia and fourth in India by Forbes magazine in 2016. She was also the co-chair of theWorld Economic Forum on India in 2017 and an Inspire series speaker at the Harvard India conference 2018.
Sandhya Ganapathy is the chief executive officer for EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA) and a member of the Management Team of EDP Renewables (EDPR), the fourth largest renewable energy producer in the world. She joined EDPR in 2012 as Head of Investments and M&A North America. From 2017 to her CEO appointment in early 2022, she served as Global Head of Investments and M&A, responsible for M&A, investment and capital allocation decisions, and asset rotation for EDPR across all of its geographies. She was also a member of EDPR’s investment committee. She has extensive experience in renewable energy evaluations as well as leading acquisitions and evaluation of investments enabling geographical and asset class diversification. Prior to joining EDPR, Sandhya worked as an investment banker for more than a decade with regional and global banks across multiple geographies. She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon and is a Chartered Accountant from India.
Svanika Balasubramanian is the co-founder and chief executive officer of rePurpose Global, the world’s first plastic credit platform dedicated to making planetary action delightfully simple for purposeful people and companies. Since its inception, rePurpose Global has worked with more than 100 purposeful brands. As a result, millions of pounds of plastic waste are removed from nature every year, and the venture is positively impacting the lives of thousands of marginalzed community members worldwide. Balasubramanian is a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, World Economic Forum SDG Champion, One Young World Lead2030 Champion, Halcyon Fellow, and a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a frequent commentator on sustainable business practices and solutions to the plastic waste crisis with appearances on diverse platforms including the United Nations, World Economic Forum, Sustainable Brands, SOCAP, and Greenbiz.