Vanitha Narayanan is the Chairman of IBM India Private Limited.
Appointed to this leadership position in January 2017, she plays a
critical role in enabling IBM’s global missions and evangelizing the
organizations’ brand and solutions externally. She will also spearhead
transformational initiatives for IBM’s global centers of excellence, while
maximizing the value of the entire organization in ISA.
In her earlier role as Managing Director of IBM India Private Limited,
and Regional General Manager of IBM India/ South Asia, Vanitha was
responsible for all of IBM's sales, marketing, services and global
delivery operations in the India/South Asia region, including operations
in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Having joined IBM in the US in 1987, Vanitha has over 29 years of
experience working with multiple client sets and in several countries.
Since 2009, she has been a part of the IBM ISA business, serving in
roles as the Vice President of Sales & Distribution and then as the
Managing Partner for Global Business Services (GBS). Prior to this, she
has served as the Vice President of Communications sector, Asia
Pacific, and the Global Vice President for IBM’s Telecom solutions &
partnerships.
She is a member of IBM’s Growth & Transformation team that
comprises senior Global Executives who are selected by the IBM
Chairman. In 2012, Vanitha was inducted into the IBM Industry
Academy, a select group of experts, designed to advance IBM’s
industry thought leadership and brand. Vanitha is now an advisory
board member of the Industry Academy. She is also a member of IBM’s
Global Women’s Council.
Vanitha was the first woman chairperson of AMCHAM India (2015-
2016) and continues to serve as a member on the National Executive
Board. In addition, she is a member of the National Council of
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) since 2013, Co-Chair of National
Committee for MNCs of Confederation of Indian Industry. She was
appointed the Chairperson of the board of governors for National
Institutes of Technology (NIT) heading NIT-Suratkal, for a term of three
years, by the President of India. Vanitha is also one of the Directors of
Catalyst India Advisory Board. More recently, she was named among
the 12 Global Indian Super Women of 2016 by CXOToday, as one of
the ‘Most Powerful Women’ in Business in India (2016) by Business
Today and conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Letters by the LNM
Institute of Information Technology.
She has a Masters in Business Administration in Marketing from the
University of Madras and a Masters in Business Administration in
Information Systems from University of Houston - Magna Cum Laude.
Vanitha is married with a daughter and resides in Bangalore, India