Five Indian Americans among top 25 women Chief Digital Officers

Five Indian American executives are among Women We Admire’s list of The Top 25 Women Chief Digital Officers of 2024 instrumental in leading digital transformation initiatives within their organizations across industries.

“Their experience and expertise foster innovation and drive disruptive strategies,” said the publication which provides news and information on today’s women leaders in business, entertainment, sports, motherhood, medicine, law, and other fields.

“They develop personalized and seamless digital experiences that resonate with their customers, improve engagement, and build brand loyalty,” it said in a March 16 media release.

Indian American awardees in this year’s list are Sushmita Biswas (USAA), Sehr Thadhani (Nasdaq), Ekta Chopra (e.l.f. Beauty), Prama Bhatt (Ulta Beauty) and Reeny Sondhi (Twilio).

Sushmita Biswas, Chief Digital Officer, USAA, LifeCo

As a Financial Services executive with over 20 years of experience in digital strategy and transformation, product & operations management, and data analytics, Biswas has driven growth, efficiency, and exceptional customer experiences in multiple countries spanning the US, UK, and Asia.

READ: 10 Indian American women on Forbes 50 Over 50 list (August 16, 2023)

Biswas first got her start in 2002 as a relationship manager at Standard Chartered Bank. From there, she eventually rose to a head of property claims digital, strategy & vendor management, and global retail markets at Liberty Mutual Insurance, her most recent position prior to joining USAA.

Biswas graduated from MIT Sloan School of Management with an MBA in strategy and finance and from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore with a PGDM in marketing and general management.

Sehr Thadhani, Chief Digital Officer, Nasdaq

Thadhani is a dynamic “intraprenuer,” strategic leader, and inspirational team builder with a passion for driving change by finding opportunities in the whitespace to guiding companies and leaders from big idea innovation to marketplace activation.

At Nasdaq she develops and implements strategic initiatives for long-term success across consumer engagement, client experience, market expansion, and brand strategy.

She has held senior executive and advisory roles at Google, NBC, Viacom, Silicon Foundry, and Edelman Digital and served as a trusted thought partner and advisor to executives at GE, Estee Lauder, Samsung, the Department of Education, and the White House during the Obama Administration.

READ: Four Indian American businesswomen on Forbes’ 2023 list (July 6, 2023)

Thadhani holds an undergraduate degree in marketing and voice performance from Indiana University, an MS in global affairs from NYU, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

She’s a trained opera singer and the co-founder of a non-profit that helped more than 150 women with physical disabilities build financial freedom. A true “third culture kid,” she currently resides in Miami after a childhood growing up in five countries and years of globe-hopping.

Ekta Chopra, Chief Digital Officer, e.l.f. Beauty

Ekta Chopra joined e.l.f. in January 2016 and brings over 20 years of technology experience from private equity and retail companies. At e.l.f. Beauty she is responsible for digital transformation in her current role, including e-commerce, engineering, data ecosystem, enterprise applications, security, metaverse, AI/AR, and consumer technologies. She is actively involved with leading e.l.f. Beauty’s digital efforts to grow our digital footprint across the globe.

Chopra joined e.l.f. from the James Irvine Foundation, where she defined and led a highly successful technology strategy for an investment portfolio. Before that, she served as a VP of technology for Charming Charlie, a specialty retailer that grew from 17 to 120 stores nationally.

Chopra holds an undergraduate degree in technology and operations management and a minor in finance from California Polytechnic State University.

Prama Bhatt, Chief Digital Officer, Ulta Beauty

At Ulta Beauty Bhatt and her team reinvent beauty engagement through innovative, reimagined digital and omnichannel experiences. Since joining the Fortune 500 retailer in 2014, her forward-thinking, visionary approach has fueled e-commerce growth which now accounts for more than 20% of total company sales.

Under her leadership, Ulta Beauty creates and deploys premier, personalized experiences with unique technologies at every touchpoint of the customer journey, in stores, online, and anywhere the beauty enthusiast is.

An industry leader, team builder, and innovator, Bhatt ensures Ulta Beauty is constantly evolving its strategic and digital capabilities and operating with the mindset that the possibilities are beautiful.

This approach has brought to life experiences such as the Virtual Beauty Advisor, Skin Analysis, GLAMLab Virtual Try-On, real-time recommendations, and other personalized experiences.

READ: 7 Indian American women among Forbes ‘50 Over 50’ (October 7, 2022)

Bhatt’s innovative work contributes to the company’s various recognitions including its longstanding ranking as the number one beauty destination among the tech-minded Gen Z consumers and ranking on Gartner’s Digital IQ Index: Specialty Retail US 2020.

Prior to her current role, Bhatt was both an SVP and VP of digital and e-commerce at Ulta Beauty. Before that, she led teams at Toys R Us and Kenneth Cole.

Beyond her deep retail industry experience, she held several roles across product strategy, design, and development at Ford Motor Company and worked as a management consultant at Booz Allen.

Bhatt holds a BS in electrical engineering from Oakland University, an MS in electrical engineering from Wayne State University, and an MBA in corporate strategy from the University of Michigan. She serves on Hormel Food’s board of directors.

Reeny Sondhi, Chief Digital Officer, Twilio

Sondhi is currently responsible for the Information and Corporate Security organizations as well as Information Technology. She joined Twilio from Autodesk where she was a chief security officer.

Sondhi was responsible for driving the company’s security and trust strategy for its infrastructure, products, and services. She previously led security engineering for EMC, now part of Dell.

Sondhi also serves on the board of Rapid7, a growth business in cybersecurity. She made a transition to security after many years in product management launching multiple hardware and software products.

Sondhi was featured by the San Francisco Business Times as part of the 100 Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business in 2019 and has also been featured in Girl Geek X: 16 Female Infosec & Cybersecurity Executives To Watch.

She was recently named one of the 100 Executive Women in Tech to Watch in 2023 by the womentech network. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Telecommunications and a Master of Business Administration.