Roshni Nadar among world’s most powerful women

Roshni Nadar Malhotra, the CEO and Executive Director of HCL Corporation, was ranked 51 in the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women List. She blazed past Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (ranked 60), Shobhana Bhartia(88) and Priyanka Chopra (36). Roshni became the CEO of HCL  orporation in 2009, at 27. She’s responsible for all strategic

decisions for the $8.1 billion enterprise, which operates in technology, healthcare and infosystems.

Women may still be a minority in tech, but as their power rises, so does their responsibility and visibility. In 2018, many female tech leaders became the face of change in their industry, trying to change sexism from within, or in Sheryl Sandberg’s case, becoming the battering ram for all of Facebook’s problems from misinformation to election interference.

This year’s Forbes Power Women list features 20 stars from across the tech sector whose clout is growing every year. Topping the tech list for the first time is YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki (No. 7 overall), who championed diversity in tech and shepherded her company through a shooting at its corporate campus, which left the shooter dead and three people wounded. After James Damore’s memo and the broader #MeToo movement, Wojcicki also became a more active voice in encouraging leaders to think about diversity from the top. 

“Tech is an incredible force that will change our world in ways we can’t anticipate,” Wojcicki told Forbes in April. “If that force is only 20 to 30% women, that is a problem.” (Her sister, 23andMe cofounder Anne Wojcicki, is also on the Forbes Power Women list, debuting at No. 92.)  

If the platforms are to be held to greater standards though, so too are its leaders. Sandberg (No. 11 overall) lost her position as the most powerful woman in tech after six years in the top slot as Facebook faces mounting criticism over how it’s handled election interference. Sandberg appeared before a Senate judiciary committee in September to address election-related meddling and abuse on Facebook’s platform.