Case Study: Vanitha Narayanan (Managing Director, IBM India '

1. Vanitha Narayanan (Managing Director, IBM India) – Vanitha’s inspiring career graph spans across all the steps of career ladder; it starts with a trainee position and gradually rises towards the top of corporate ladder. Vanitha was responsible for diversifying IBM from its traditional role in Telecom. Under her leadership, IBM, in addition to strengthening its position in Telecom sector, also achieved a successful penetration in other key industry verticals such as Banking, Financial services and Insurance, Industrial and Retail industry. After her stint in Communications business at IBM's Asia Pacific division (based in Shanghai), she was appointed as India head in 2006.

As IBM India head, she has successfully added a significant client
Neelam Dhawan (Managing Director, HP India) – Ms. Dhawan’s key strength is her out-of-the-box thinking. A stark example is that of the HCL BusyBee. Hoardings advertising personal computers were never put up in the late 80’s but Dhawan ingeniously strategized the launch of BusyBee, the affordable PC by giving it adequate publicity via hoardings and in newspapers. This first of its kind campaign won her wide acclaim.
In 1990s, Ms. Dhawan embarked upon another out of the box initiative. At that time, she was in IBM – and under her leadership, India’s first network channel to sell IBM machines in Tier 2 towns was set up. Later in 1999 she joined HP. She was the force behind HP’s first two outsourcing contract wins in 2003. This was at a time when the BPO industry was flourishing. Later on, she moved to Microsoft India – and in 2008 once again returned to HP, this time as HP’s India head.
Neelam’s story is an answer to those who question women’s capability to successfully make bold career moves across the
Raji Arasu (Vice President and CTO, Stubhub) - Raji hails from a time when social environment wasn’t very conducive for women wanting to have a career in computer engineering. However this did not dilute her resolve. She started her career in early 1990s in US, in the field of software development. Raji has led teams working in cutting edge technology in several organizations (including Oracle) – specifically, who specialize in development of technology related to online commerce and payments. Her appointment as the Vice President of engineering for trading with eBay was the result of her expertise and knowledge. Raji has successfully resolved problems related to system engineering and performance – like the ones which involved traffic and payments for the website, scalability and so on. Afterwards, Raji accepted a leadership position as VP and CTO of StubHub (a subsidiary of eBay). However what is heartening to know is that Raji Arasu is also a woman activist - she passionately works for women who are in the technology