GHCI ‘21

Virtual Grace Hopper Celebration India (vGHCI) provided opportunities for women in tech to connect, guide, and inspire. Since 2009, the Celebration

has now become Asia’s largest technical conference for women. At vGHCI, attendees were inspired by role models including keynote speakers and industry veterans. The Celebration was a great way to network with peers and connect with technologists and thought leaders across India and the globe. Tech Talks and Sessions on various technology topics offered exciting opportunities for learning.

Students, professionals or technology leaders – there was something for every attendee!

• Agenda

Gargi B. Dasgupta

Director for IBM Research in India and the CTO
In her role as Director, Gargi is responsible for establishing and executing the technical agenda of IBM’s India Research Lab in collaboration with IBM’s worldwide research labs and business units. In her role as CTO, Gargi is responsible for representing and communicating IBM’s overall technical vision & strategy with key stakeholders across the India/South Asia ecosystem – from developers and start-ups to key clients, analysts, media, and industry experts. Gargi has been with IBM since 2004 when she joined as a Research Staff Member. In 2019, Gargi was recognized as one of IBM’s Distinguished Engineer for her exemplary technological achievements. She was recognized as one of most powerful women in business by Fortune India in 2019, one of top women technologists by Economic Times 2020 and one of the most powerful women in business by Business Today 2020. Gargi is an ACM Distinguished Speaker and an alumnus of Jadavpur University, Kolkata and University of Maryland, Baltimore Count

Sramana Mitra

Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M)
a global virtual accelerator that aims to help one million entrepreneurs globally to reach $1 million in revenue and beyond. She is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant, she writes the blog Sramana Mitra On Strategy, and is author of the Entrepreneur Journeys book series and Vision India 2020. As an entrepreneur CEO, she ran three companies: DAIS, Intarka, and Uuma. Sramana has a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2015, Sramana was named one of LinkedIn’s Top 10 Influencers.

Ruchika Panesar

Vice President, CTO & Global Consumer Services Group, Head of Technology, Asia Pacific at American Express
Ruchika is also a Director on the American Express India Pvt. Ltd and American Express Banking Corporation company Boards and member of the India Leadership Team.
Ruchika is a deep Technologist and an inspiring Global Digital leader. With over 2 decades of experience in Product and Platform architecture and Engineering, she leads her Global teams to grow in their contributions, engineering muscle and innovations.
As the leader of the Amex India’s Flagship Inclusion & Diversity program, she champions the vision. She has been instrumental in expanding the program beyond Gender and include critically important pillars like Generations, LGBTQ and Differently Abled & Mental Health, thereby bringing in a true and holistic culture of Inclusion & Diversity. She is passionate about STEM education and is an active voice for ‘Women In Technology’ networks both inside and outside of American Express.”

Arundhati Bhattacharya

Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer for Salesforce, India
In her role, Arundhati oversees the growth strategy of the company and plays an integral role in defining Salesforce’s relationship with the ecosystem of customers, partners and community across India. Throughout Arundhati’s 40+ years in the financial sector, she has also earned a string of accolades to her name, which include “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” by Forbes, “Top 50 globally most powerful women in business” and “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” list by Fortune.