[February 18, 2020]

Advancing Women in Product (AWIP) Announces First Expansion into India, Opens New Chapter in Chennai

Advancing Women in Product (AWIP), the organization empowering high potential female product and tech leaders through professional education and executive mentorship, is expanding into the Asia Pacific region with the opening of its inaugural India chapter in Chennai.

In celebration of the Chennai chapter as well as additional chapters in Bangalore and Delhi opening later this year, AWIP will host an all-day summit on Feb. 28. The summit will focus on best practices for career success for women in tech.

Co-sponsored by PayPal (News - Alert), the summit is entitled "Circle of WoMEN - Working Together to Accelerate Career Success." Saichithra Swaminathan, Chief Portal and Mobile Officer at Matrimony.com, will provide the keynote. A panel discussion moderated by Jayashree Ravi, will follow, with Vetrivel Sundaresan, Founder and Managing Director of HealthMed; Anand Nergunam S, Vice President of revenue management and growth at Zoho; and Kalpana Tatvarti, Founder of Parity Consulting, who will also lead a workshop on negotiation skills.

"Inclusion is one of the core tenets that drives PayPal's vibrant and people-centric culture. For PayPal, our customers in over 200 markets around the world come from diverse backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, geographies etc," said Guru Bhat, Vice President of Engineering and General Manager at PayPal India. "Mirroring that diversity in our employee population is a business imperative if we want to build meaningful products that delight our customers. For me, diversity and inclusion hold more than mere business significance and are essential human values that all of us should strive hard to inculcate and nurture. PayPal's partnership with Advancing Women in Product reiterates our commitment to increasing the tech and product ecosystem diversity and being a force for good in this world."

"The opening of our Chennai branch led by Savitha Ajitraj is a new chapter in AWIP's mission to empower women and other underrepresented groups to advance their careers in product and tech," said Nancy Wang, the CEO of AWIP. "The Circle of WoMEN is the first of many events aimed at empowering and advancing women in the mid-level ranks of technology. We're excited to spread our objectives across all of Southeast Asia."

"The Indian business community is ready for a transparent dialogue for women moving to the next level in their careers, in collaboration with their male allies," said Saichithra. "Tech is the biggest employer in India, and the workforce is incredibly diverse. AWIP is making strides in furthering the conversation around equality, transparency and inclusion."

"Building today's female middle managers strengthens tomorrow's executive-level pipeline," said Kalpana. "Yet discussions around inclusion are still in their early stages. I'm proud to be part of a global movement towards a more diverse and empowered workforce."

Based in Silicon Valley, AWIP has four chapters in the United States - San Francisco, Seattle, Boston and New York City - as well as three European chapters in Berlin, London and Paris. The Chennai chapter represents AWIP's first expansion into the Asia Pacific region.

About AWIP

Co-founded by two Google (News - Alert) and Amazon PMs, Advancing Women in Product (AWIP) empowers tech leaders through equality of opportunity in career advancement for both men and women. AWIP believes in the power of education and community to propel the technology industry forward. To learn more and to join AWIP, visit www.advancingwomeninproduct.org, @theAWIP on Twitter (News - Alert), and @AdvancingWomenInProduct on Facebook (News - Alert).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200218005309/en/

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