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Revathi Advaithi

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Revathi Advaithi is an Indian-born American business executive. She is the CEO of Flex (formerly Flextronics) and an advocate for women in STEM[1] and in the workplace.

Revathi Advaithi
Born (1967-10-18) October 18, 1967 (age 57)
India
EducationBirla Institute of Technology and Science (BS)
Thunderbird School of Global Management (MBA)
TitleCEO of Flex
TermFebruary 2019 – present
PredecessorMike McNamara

Prior to joining Flex in 2019, Advaithi worked in various leadership positions at Eaton and Honeywell.[2]

Advaithi is a co-chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Advanced Manufacturing CEO Community (2022) and has joined the WEF Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders (2021).

She currently serves as an independent director on the Board of Directors of Uber[3] and Catalyst.org.[4] She is also a member of the MIT Presidential CEO Advisory Board. She was named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list in 2019, 2020,[5] 2021,[6] 2022,[7] and 2023.[8]

Education

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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.[9]

Career

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Advaithi began her career as a shop floor supervisor at Eaton in Shawnee, Oklahoma.[10] 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 run various groups within the electrical business unit for 10 years before becoming Eaton's COO.[3]

In February 2019, Advaithi joined Flex as CEO with a focus on driving the next era of technology, manufacturing and supply chain.[11]

 
Revathi Advaithi at Buffalo Grove, Illinois

Under Advaithi, Flex has shifted its focus to end-to-end customer value chain ownership, augmenting its core contract manufacturing business.[12]

Revathi has shared that her business philosophy heavily focuses on sustainability, culture,[13] and diversity and inclusion.[14] She frequently provides industry guidance for the manufacturing and supply chain sectors.[15]

United States President Joe Biden appointed Advaithi to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations (2023)[16] and the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (2022).[17] In June 2023, Advaithi participated in the “Innovation Handshake” at the White House with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Biden.[18] The following month, Advaithi hosted President Biden at a Flex factory in South Carolina, highlighting Flex’s partnership with Enphase Energy.[19]

 
Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi at Tczew, Poland

Advaithi is also heavily focused on driving sustainable manufacturing practices at Flex. During her tenure, Flex made CDPs 'A list' for tackling water security[20] and has pledged to cut company carbon emissions in half by 2030.[21] In July 2022, under Advaithi's leadership, Flex announced a commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.[22]

Advaithi served on the board of BAE Systems between January 2019 - July 2020.[23] In July 2020, she stepped down from this role and joined Uber as a board member.[24] She is also a member of the Business Roundtable,[25] and Catalyst CEO Champions For Change initiative.[26]

Media and speaking

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Revathi was selected to the inaugural CNBC Changemakers: Women Transforming Business list in 2024.[27]

In 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, Advaithi was named to Fortune's Most Powerful Women list, one of the few Indian-born CEOs recognized.[7]

In April 2022, the Wall Street Journal profiled Advaithi in “The Modeling of a Manufacturing CEO” article. [28]

In 2021, Advaithi became a member of World Economic Forum's Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, a coalition of business leaders across key sectors committed to driving positive climate action and sustainable economic growth.[29]

The Economic Times named Advaithi “Global Indian of the Year” in the 2023 ETPrime Awards.

Advaithi is also a frequent public speaker. She has spoken at the Fortune's Global Forum [30] and Most Powerful Women conferences, the Collision Conference,[31] Ethisphere's Global Ethics Summit,[32] the WSJ CEO Council Summit, [33] Harvard Business School panels,[34] Women Executive 50 Summit and Catalyst conferences [35] and Carnegie Mellon University events.[36]

Under Advaithi, Flex was named one of the World's Most Admired [37] and Most Ethical Companies,[38] and recognized on the Global 500 by Fortune.[39]

Personal life

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Advaithi was born in India in 1967 to A.N.N Swamy, a chemical engineer and Visalam Swamy, a homemaker. Advaithi has four sisters. Her family lived in Bihar, Gujarat, Assam before finally settling in Chennai, India.

Advaithi met her husband Jeevan Mulgund in Hutchinson, KS and they married in 1998. Mulgund and Advaithi have since lived in England, Shanghai, Phoenix, AZ, Pittsburgh, PA, and they are currently residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have two children.[9]

Advaithi is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workforce, as well as STEM education for girls [40] and computer science education.[41] In past interviews, Advaithi often says that she is inspired by her mother, who singlehandedly raised five daughters after her husband’s death and ensured that they received good educations.[42]

References

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  1. ^ Tellis, Shannon (September 25, 2019). "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. ^ "This Fortune 500 CEO Is Obsessed With Gender Parity—But She Still Hasn't Achieved It. Here's Why". Time. March 5, 2023. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Loizos, Connie (July 2, 2020). "Uber adds another director to its board Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi". Tech Crunch.
  4. ^ Stych, Anne. "Working women's advocacy group Catalyst adds UPS CEO Carol Tome, five others to board". The Business Journals.
  5. ^ "Most Powerful Women". Fortune.
  6. ^ "Most Powerful Women". Fortune.
  7. ^ a b "Most Powerful Women". Fortune.
  8. ^ "The 100 Most Powerful Women". Fortune. Retrieved October 6, 2023.
  9. ^ a b "Eaton electrical unit chief 'giving space'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  10. ^ Tellis, Shannon (September 25, 2019). "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 June 23, 2020.
  11. ^ Gale, Michael. "A Lesson For The Vaccine Industry From The Future of Flexible Manufacturing". Forbes. No. February 8, 2021.
  12. ^ Moorhead, Patrick. "Meet Flex: One Of The Most Crucial Companies You May Not Be Familiar With". Forbes. No. June 22, 2020.
  13. ^ Swan, Daniel. "CEO dialogue: Perspectives on productivity and sustainability". McKinsey & Company.
  14. ^ Reiss, Robert. "Flex, Revathi Advaithi, CEO". The CEO Forum.
  15. ^ "Transcript: The Path Forward: Manufacturing with Revathi Advaithi". Washington Post.
  16. ^ "President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions". White House. March 10, 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  17. ^ "Advisory Committee On Supply Chain Competitiveness". International Trade Administration. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  18. ^ Vuukle. "PM Modi at White House on third successive day for "Hi-tech handshake" with top CEOs". Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  19. ^ Kim, Elizabeth. "Biden to Announce $60 Million Enphase Energy Investment". Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  20. ^ "The A List 2020". CDP.
  21. ^ Patel, Nilay. "FLEX MANUFACTURES EVERYTHING FROM HAIR DRYERS TO THE MAC PRO — WHAT'S NEXT?". The Verge. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  22. ^ "Flex releases 2022 sustainability report". Construction Week. July 17, 2022.
  23. ^ "Top 5 Indian origin tech executives in the world". Business Reader. February 3, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  24. ^ "Uber adds another director to its board: Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi". TechCrunch. July 2, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  25. ^ "Business Roundtable".
  26. ^ "Catalyst CEO Champions For Change".
  27. ^ "These are the 2024 CNBC Changemakers: See the full list of women transforming business". February 28, 2024.
  28. ^ "The Molding of a Manufacturing CEO". WSJ. April 16, 2022.
  29. ^ "CEO Climate Alliance to world leaders: We support you in taking decisive climate steps at COP26". World Economic Forum. October 27, 2021.
  30. ^ "FORTUNE Global Forum VIRTUAL". Fortune.
  31. ^ "When robots become co-workers". Collision.
  32. ^ "Revathi Advaithi". Global Ethics Summit. February 17, 2021.
  33. ^ "Leading in Uncertain Times". WSJ. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  34. ^ "Leading Through a Crisis". Harvard Business School. Archived from the original on September 5, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  35. ^ "2021 Catalyst Awards". Catalyst.
  36. ^ "W.L. Mellon Speaker: Revathi Advaithi". Carnegie Mellon University.
  37. ^ "World's Most Admired Companies". Fortune.
  38. ^ "Ethisphere Recognizes Flex as One of the World's Most Ethical Companies". SMT007. November 18, 2019.
  39. ^ Hinchliffe, Emma. "The number of women running Global 500 businesses soars to an all-time high". Fortune.
  40. ^ "EMSNOW Executive Interview: Revathi Advaithi, CEO, Flex · EMSNow". EMSNow. March 11, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  41. ^ "Computer Science: Opportunity for Every Student". www.ceosforcs.com/.
  42. ^ Revathi Advaithi: Risk, Persistence, and the American Dream (Video). Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
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