Nivruti Rai, 

There was a number of instances when Rai almost quit her job—particularly when her 18-month-old baby was undergoing ear surgery. “And here I am, 22 years later,” Rai said, when she took over as country head of Intel India in March 2016. Last year, Rai, who wanted to be a fashion designer once, led an investment of ₹1,100 crore to build a new state-of-the-art SoC (system-on-a-chip) design house in Bengaluru. She also spearheaded Intel’s R&D unit in India, the largest outside the U.S. For Rai, 2018 was marked by her appointing the first Intel fellow, a technical leadership position at the company. She was also instrumental in the recent collaboration between Intel India and the Consulate General of Israel to connect startups and enterprises of both countries.