Revathi Advaithi

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Revathi Advaithi
Flex Revathi 0033-Peter-Prato-Retouched.jpg
Born (1967-10-18) October 18, 1967 (age 54)
India
EducationBirla Institute of Technology and Science (BS)
Thunderbird School of Global Management (MBA)
TitleCEO of Flex
TermFebruary 2019 – present
PredecessorMike McNamara

Revathi Advaithi is an Indian-born American business executive. She is the CEO of Flex (formerly Flextronics) and is an advocate for women in STEM fields.[1] Prior to joining Flex in 2019, Advaithi worked in various leadership positions at Eaton and Honeywell.

Advaithi serves as an independent director for the board of directors of Uber [2] and Catalyst.org.[3] She is also a member of the MIT Presidential CEO Advisory Board. She was named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list in 2019 and 2020.[4]

Education[]

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.[5]

Career[]

Advaithi began her career as a shop floor supervisor at Eaton in Shawnee, Oklahoma.[6] 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 to run various parts of the electrical business for 10 years before becoming the COO.[2]

In February 2019, Advaithi joined Flex as CEO. She said her focus is on driving the next era of technology, manufacturing and supply chain.[7]

Revathi Advaithi at Buffalo Grove, Illinois

Under Advaithi, Flex shifted its focus to end-to-end customer value chain ownership, augmenting its contract manufacturing business.[8] She cites her leadership style as “being empathetic but making decisions quickly” and spends 60% of her time traveling to meetings with customers and employees.[9]

In January 2020, Advaithi learned Flex's factories faced shortages of 8,000 individual items due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on global demand. She 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.[10]

Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi at Tczew, Poland

During Advaithi's tenure, Flex made CDPs 'A list' for tackling water security.[11]

Advaithi served on the board of BAE Systems between January 2019 - July 2020.[12] In July 2020 she stepped down from this role and joined Uber as a board member.[13] She is also a member of the Business Roundtable,[14] and Catalyst CEO Champions For Change initiative.[15]

Media and speaking[]

In 2019 and 2020, Advaithi was named to Fortune's most powerful women list, one of the only Indian-origin CEOs recognized.[16]

Business Today also recognized Advaithi as one of most powerful women in India in 2020.[17]

In 2021, Gadgets Now listed Advaithi as one of the most important Indian origin tech executives.[18]

Under Advaithi , Flex was named one of the World's Most Admired Companies by Fortune.[19]

Advaithi has spoken at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Annual Forum,[20] WEF's Advanced Manufacturing Working Group [21] and Harvard Business panels in 2020.[22]

Personal life[]

Born in 1967 to A.N.N Swamy, a chemical engineer and Visalam Swamy, a homemaker. Advaithi is one of five daughters. Her family lived in Bihar, Gujarat, Assam before finally settling in Chennai, India.

Revathi met her husband Jeevan Mulgund in Hutchinson, Kansas and married in 1998. Jeevan and Revathi have since lived in England, Shanghai, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and now are residents of the Bay Area. The couple have two children.[5]

Advaithi is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workforce, as well as STEM education for girls.[23]

References[]

  1. ^ Tellis, Shannon. "Revathi Advaithi, only Indian-origin CEO on Most Powerful Women in Biz list, is a BITS Pilani alum, advocates STEM education for girls". The Economic Times.
  2. ^ a b Loizos, Connie (July 2, 2020). "Uber adds another director to its board Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi". Tech Crunch.
  3. ^ Stych, Anne. "Working women's advocacy group Catalyst adds UPS CEO Carol Tome, five others to board". The Business Journals.
  4. ^ "Most Powerful Women". Fortune.
  5. ^ a b "Eaton electrical unit chief 'giving space'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  6. ^ Tellis, Shannon (2019-09-25). "Revathi Advaithi, only Indian-origin CEO on Most Powerful Women in Biz list, is a BITS Pilani alum, advocates STEM education for girls". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  7. ^ Gale, Michael. "A Lesson For The Vaccine Industry From The Future of Flexible Manufacturing". Forbes. No. February 8, 2021.
  8. ^ Moorhead, Patrick. "Meet Flex: One Of The Most Crucial Companies You May Not Be Familiar With". Forbes. No. June 22, 2020.
  9. ^ "How one company manages supply chains for every single 'essential' industry". Fortune. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  10. ^ Lynch, David (July 30, 2020). "Business Unusual". The Washington Post.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ "The A List 2020". CDP.
  12. ^ "Top 5 Indian origin tech executives in the world". Business Reader. 2021-02-03. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  13. ^ "Uber adds another director to its board: Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  14. ^ "Business Roundtable".
  15. ^ "Catalyst CEO Champions For Change".
  16. ^ "Revathi Advaithi". Fortune. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  17. ^ "BT MPW 2020 Business Today honors 'Most Powerful Women' who lead from the front". Business Today.
  18. ^ "17 most-important Indian origin tech executives in the world". Gadgets Now.
  19. ^ "World's Most Admired Companies". Fortune.
  20. ^ "Silicon Valley Leadership Group debuts 'Inclusive Conversations' series at the 2020 Annual Virtual Forum"". Silicon Valley Leadership Group.
  21. ^ "Pioneers of Change Summit". World Economic Forum.
  22. ^ "Leading Through a Crisis". Harvard Business School.
  23. ^ "EMSNOW Executive Interview: Revathi Advaithi, CEO, Flex · EMSNow". EMSNow. 2020-03-11. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
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