This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(August 2023) |
Revathi Advaithi | |
---|---|
Born | India | October 18, 1967
Education | Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BS) Thunderbird School of Global Management (MBA) |
Title | CEO of Flex |
Term | February 2019 – present |
Predecessor | Mike McNamara |
Revathi Advaithi is an Indian-born American business executive. She is the CEO of Flex (formerly Flextronics) and an advocate for women in STEM [1] and in the workplace.
Prior to joining Flex in 2019, Advaithi worked in various leadership positions at Eaton and Honeywell. [2]
Advaithi is a co-chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Advanced Manufacturing CEO Community (2022) and has joined the WEF Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders (2021).
She currently serves as an independent director on the Board of Directors of Uber [3] and Catalyst.org. [4] She is also a member of the MIT Presidential CEO Advisory Board. She was named to Fortune ’s Most Powerful Women list in 2019, 2020, [5] 2021, [6] 2022, [7] and 2023. [8]
Revathi Advaithi was named 'Global Indian of the Year' at the ETPrime Women Leadership Awards 2023. [9]
Advaithi graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in 1990, and earned an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in 2005. [10]
Advaithi began her career as a shop floor supervisor at Eaton in Shawnee, Oklahoma. [11] She joined Honeywell in 2002, where she spent six years in functions spanning manufacturing and supply chain. In 2008, Advaithi returned to Eaton and helped run various groups within the electrical business unit for 10 years before becoming Eaton's COO. [3]
In February 2019, Advaithi joined Flex as CEO with a focus on driving the next era of technology, manufacturing and supply chain. [12]
Under Advaithi, Flex has shifted its focus to end-to-end customer value chain ownership, augmenting its core contract manufacturing business. [13]
She cites her leadership style as “being empathetic but making decisions quickly.” Revathi has shared that her business philosophy heavily focuses on sustainability, culture, [14] and diversity and inclusion. [15] She frequently provides industry guidance for the manufacturing and supply chain sectors. [16]
Advaithi has said the pandemic is “probably the most difficult time” she has faced in her career. Under her direction, Flex prepared its 50,000 Chinese workers to safely return to work in early February, and by early May, Flex had returned hundreds of remote workers to work and accelerated medical gear production to fight the pandemic. [17] Supply chain, operations and government professionals have recognized Flex for its ability to “secure PPE for itself and also ensure that its suppliers across the value chain were well stocked.” [18]
Advaithi stated the disruption caused by the pandemic is prompting global businesses “to take a far more serious look at restructuring their supply chains.”. [19] In 2022, she spoke about building more efficient supply chains at Fortune Brainstorm Tech. [20]
United States President Joe Biden appointed Advaithi to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations (2023) [21] and the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (2022). [22] In June 2023, Advaithi participated in the “Innovation Handshake” at the White House with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Biden. [23] The following month, Advaithi hosted President Biden at a Flex factory in South Carolina, highlighting Flex’s partnership with Enphase Energy. [24]
Advaithi is also heavily focused on driving sustainable manufacturing practices at Flex. During her tenure, Flex made CDPs 'A list' for tackling water security [25] and has pledged to cut company carbon emissions in half by 2030. [26] In July 2022, under Advaithi's leadership, Flex announced a commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. [27]
Advaithi served on the board of BAE Systems between January 2019 - July 2020. [28] In July 2020, she stepped down from this role and joined Uber as a board member. [29] She is also a member of the Business Roundtable, [30] and Catalyst CEO Champions For Change initiative. [31]
In 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, Advaithi was named to Fortune's Most Powerful Women list, one of the few Indian-born CEOs recognized. [7]
Business Today also recognized Advaithi as one of Most Powerful Women in India in 2020. [32] In 2021, Gadgets Now listed Advaithi as one of the most important Indian-born tech executives in the world. [33] Advaithi believes India offers “manufacturing capability for domestic consumption” and that “being able to manufacture for India in India is of huge importance to [Flex] customers.” [34]
In 2021, Advaithi became a member of World Economic Forum's Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, a coalition of business leaders across key sectors committed to driving positive climate action and sustainable economic growth. [35]
In April 2022, the Wall Street Journal profiled Advaithi in “The Modeling of a Manufacturing CEO” a Personal Board of Directors article focused on how she rose to the top of her industry with the encouragement from influential advisors. [36]
3BL also recognized her as a 2021 Responsible CEO of the Year for Worldwide Impact for her proven leadership on environmental, social and governance commitments. [37]
The National Safety Council (NSC) also named her as a “CEO Who Gets It” (2022) for fostering a culture where safety is a top priority. [38]
The Economic Times named Advaithi “Global Indian of the Year” in the 2023 ETPrime Awards.
Advaithi is also a frequent public speaker. She has spoken at the Fortune's Global Forum [39] and Most Powerful Women conferences, the Collision Conference, [40] Ethisphere's Global Ethics Summit, [41] Silicon Valley Leadership Group Annual Forum, [42] WEF's Advanced Manufacturing Working Group, [43] Harvard Business School panels, [44] Women Executive 50 Summit and Catalyst conferences [45] and Carnegie Mellon University events. [46]
Under Advaithi, Flex was named one of the World's Most Admired [47] and Most Ethical Companies, [48] and recognized on the Global 500 by Fortune. [49]
Advaithi was born in India in 1967 to A.N.N Swamy, a chemical engineer and Visalam Swamy, a homemaker. Advaithi has four sisters. Her family lived in Bihar, Gujarat, Assam before finally settling in Chennai, India.
Advaithi met her husband Jeevan Mulgund in Hutchinson, KS and they married in 1998. Mulgund and Advaithi have since lived in England, Shanghai, Phoenix, AZ, Pittsburgh, PA, and they are currently residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have two children. [10]
Advaithi is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workforce, as well as STEM education for girls [50] and computer science education. [51] In past interviews, Advaithi often says that she is inspired by her mother, who singlehandedly raised five daughters after her husband’s death and ensured that they received good educations. [52]
Flex Ltd. is an American headquartered multinational diversified manufacturing company. It is the third largest global electronics manufacturing services (EMS), original design manufacturer (ODM) company by revenue, behind only Pegatron for what concerns original equipment manufacturers. Flex's U.S. corporate headquarters are located in Austin, Texas. The company has manufacturing operations in over 30 countries, totaling about 172,000 employees.
Indra Nooyi is an American business executive who was the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo.
Padmasree Warrior is an Indian-American businesswoman and technology executive. She is known for her leadership roles in technology firms like Cisco where she served as the CTO for seven years, and at Motorola where she was the CTO for five years. She also served as the CEO of Nio USA, an electric car maker. Currently, she is the founder and CEO of Fable, a curated reading platform focused on mental wellness. She also serves on the board of directors of Microsoft and Spotify.
Chanda Kochhar is an Indian banker. She was the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank from 2009 to 2018 She resigned from her positions in 2018 due a case of conflict of interest. Subsequently, she was fired by ICICI Bank, a decision which was later upheld by the Supreme Court of India.
The phrase women in business refers to women who hold positions, particularly leadership in the fields of commerce, business, and entrepreneurship. It advocates for their increased participation in business.
Virginia Marie "Ginni" Rometty is an American business executive who was executive chairman of IBM after stepping down as CEO on April 1, 2020. She was previously chairman, president and CEO of IBM, becoming the first woman to head the company. She retired from IBM on December 31, 2020, after a near-40 year career there. Before becoming president and CEO in January 2012, she first joined IBM as a systems engineer in 1981 and subsequently headed global sales, marketing, and strategy.
Jayshree V. Ullal is a British-American billionaire businesswoman, president and CEO of Arista Networks, a cloud networking company responsible for the deployment of 10/25/40/50/100 Gigabit Ethernet networking in the data center.
Denise M. Morrison is an American business executive who served as president and chief executive officer of Campbell Soup Company from 2011 through 2018. Named the "21st Most Powerful Woman in Business" by Fortune magazine in 2011, Morrison was elected a director of Campbell in October 2010. She became Campbell's 12th leader in the company's 140-year history. Morrison retired from Campbell in May 2018.
Mary Teresa Barra is an American businesswoman who has been the chair and chief executive officer (CEO) of General Motors since January 15, 2014. She is the first female CEO of a 'Big Three' automaker. In December 2013, GM named her to succeed Daniel Akerson as CEO. Prior to being named CEO, Barra was executive vice president of global product development, purchasing, and supply chain.
Mallika Srinivasan is an Indian industrialist and is the Chairman and Managing Director of Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited, a tractor major incorporated in 1960 at Chennai, India. She is also the Chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) constituted by the Government of India. She is additionally on the Global Board of U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), and the Boards of AGCO Corporation - United States. She is a core member of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance and a member of India-US CEO Forum. She is also the member on the Governing Body of Stella Maris College - Chennai.
Leena Nair is a British-Indian business executive who is the Global CEO of Chanel. Nair previously served as the Chief Human Resource Officer of Unilever and member of the Unilever Leadership Executive. Nair was responsible for the human capital of Unilever, which operates across multiple regulatory and labour environments spread over 190 countries. Under her leadership, Unilever has been named the number one FMCG graduate employer of choice in 54 countries. Nair is an advocate for human-centred workplaces and compassionate leadership.
Lisa Su is a Taiwanese-born American business executive and electrical engineer, who is the president, chief executive officer and chair of AMD. Early in her career, Su worked at Texas Instruments, IBM, and Freescale Semiconductor in engineering and management positions. She is known for her work developing silicon-on-insulator semiconductor manufacturing technologies and more efficient semiconductor chips during her time as vice president of IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center.
Ameera Shah (born 24 September 1979) is an Indian entrepreneur and the managing director of Metropolis Healthcare, a multinational chain of pathology centers based in Mumbai, with presence in seven countries. She is the daughter of Dr Sushil Shah, the founder and chairman of Metropolis Healthcare. She has been honored as a 2015 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Anjali Sud is an American businesswoman and technology and media executive. She is the CEO of Tubi, the entertainment platform and free ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. Sud was previously CEO of Vimeo for six years, until August 2023. She was appointed to the position in July 2017 and took the company public in May 2021. Sud is on the boards of Dolby Laboratories and Change.org, is a designated Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, and was listed as one of Fortune's 40 Under 40 rising business leaders in 2018.
Sonia Syngal is an American businesswoman who formerly served as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Gap, Inc., the largest specialty apparel company in the U.S.
Julie Terese Sweet is an American business executive and attorney. She is chair and chief executive officer (CEO) of Accenture, a multinational professional services company.
Beth E. Ford is an American businessperson. Ford is most notable for being the CEO of Land O'Lakes, an American agricultural cooperative which she assumed leadership of in 2018. She is the first openly gay female CEO of an American Fortune 500 company.
Ankiti Bose is the co-founder of e-commerce start-up Zilingo. She has been featured in Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 list in 2018 as well as in Fortune's 40 Under 40 along with Bloomberg 50 in 2019. On 31 March 2022, she was suspended as CEO after an attempt to raise capital raised questions about Zilingo's accounting practices, according to Bloomberg. On 20 May 2022 Bose was fired from Zilingo.
Karen S. Lynch is an American businesswoman and the president and chief executive officer of CVS Health. Lynch serves on the board of directors of AHIP, CVS Health, and U.S. Bancorp. In 2015, she became the first female president of Aetna. She has held executive positions at Magellan Health Services and Cigna. In 2021, she became the highest-ranking female chief executive on the Fortune 500 list.
Julia Maria Aisha de Sequeira was an Indian banker. She was the co-head of Morgan Stanley India from 2013 through 2020. In 2007, she became the founding head of investment banking for Morgan Stanley India, and continued in this position until her death in 2020.