About
Ashok is a 30-year industry veteran. In his latest stint he was CEO of NASSCOM Foundation. Previously, he worked with IBM as Geo Expansion Leader & in HP (Hewlett Packard) as a Transformation Leader. He has been involved as a strategic thought leader with various forums from around the world. Ashok currently serves as an advisory board member for start-ups and as guest faculty for prominent Indian universities.
A purpose-driven leader with over 30 years of cross-functional experience in IT, D&I, and social impact. He is currently serving on the advisory boards of start-ups in domains like ESG. diversity and inclusion, disability and Industry 4.0.
Previously, Ashok was the CEO of NASSCOM Foundation where he was able to align, scale, sustain initiatives that propelled the industry in achieving its goals of social transformation and impact through technology. He commenced the ‘Tech For Good” initiative “ to harness the strength of Social Entrepreneurs to achieve impact at scale. In a short span of time, he ensured that NASSCOM FOUNDATION emerged as a convenor and non-profit partner of choice for the technology sector, Government and civic bodies.
Before leading the foundation, Ashok spent over 5 years at NASSCOM, where he donned multiple hats at leadership level. One of Ashok's greatest contributions at NASSCOM was to redefine NASSCOM's Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) portfolio. SMEs constituted 80% of NASSCOM's clientele base, and with Ashok's intervention of facilitating global trade opportunities, they were able to scale newer heights globally.
He also led NASSCOMs strategy for regional member outreach to expand and include businesses in non-Tier I locations by liaising with government authorities for ease of doing business. He initiated disruptive initiatives to strengthen NASSCOMs skilling-reskilling goals and led the industrys vision to build a work environment that embraces equity, equality, and inclusion.
His road map for D&I as a practice and culture for the IT- BPM Industry members has pivoted from being nationally focused to globally collaborated with key stakeholders. He was instrumental in conceptualising the Women Wizards Rule Tech (WWRT) a unique program to re-skill women in emerging technologies. WWRT impacted over 10,000 women from over 100 organisations.
Ashok has collaborated with academia and international institutions to publish several white-papers and case studies on Diversity & Inclusion.
He is passionate about people & impact and has the acumen of investing in, building, and nurturing people, managers, and teams that help achieve organisational vision.