Sadia Ashraf

Sadia Ashraf began their career in 2007 as a Design Engineer at the Center for Advanced Research in Engineering (CARE), where they focused on developing social network analysis algorithms and data visualization tools. Sadia then joined the NUST School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science in 2008 as a Lecturer, eventually becoming an Assistant Professor. In these roles, they taught a wide range of computer science and software engineering subjects to undergraduate and graduate students.

In 2014, Sadia joined Software Productivity Strategists, Inc. (SPS) as a Technical Team Lead, later progressing to the roles of AI Group Lead and General Manager. Their contributions led to the establishment of their own practice within the company, managing a team of 30+ software development professionals. Sadia was responsible for various aspects of software development and its intersection with business.

Currently, Sadia is the Co-founder and CTO of Azalio, a venture-backed employee management and recognition platform designed for the retail industry. Sadia leads product development and oversees an engineering team based in Pakistan. Azalio has secured over $2 million in pre-seed funding.

Sadia Ashraf completed an Innovation Leadership Bootcamp at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the year 2021. Prior to that, from 2005 to 2007, Sadia earned a Master's Degree in Computer Software Engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST). Sadia also obtained a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Computer Software Engineering from Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi, studying from 2001 to 2005.

In addition to their formal education, Sadia has obtained certifications. Sadia received a Certificate in Innovation Leadership from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in April 2021. Sadia also obtained the Avnet: Bluemix, Watson and IOT Inventor certification from IBM in February 2016.