Padma Chandrasekaran

Ms. Padma Chandrasekaran holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics/Statistics from the University of Calcutta, an MBA (PGP 1984) from IIM Ahmedabad and an MBA with a specialization in Telecommunications from the University of San Francisco, California. She has worked for over 30 years at executive and board levels and as an entrepreneur for world-class organizations in the for-profit and philanthropic sectors in India, UK and USA. She is an angel investor and mentor and serves as an Executive Committee member of The Chennai Angels, a leading angel investing group in India. She is also a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) Chennai, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship. She is a founding trustee and board member of Algolabs, the AI/data science initiative of the Chennai Mathematical Institute. She is an expert in the IT / Internet sector where she has traversed the standard gradient of developer, manager, executive officer, and entrepreneur. In software services, she has worked for ICIM / ICL UK in Mumbai, Pune, UK, and the Bay Area, California. She was a founding member of Sify Ltd, India’s first Internet company, and was a part of the team that took it public on Nasdaq in 1999.

On the Philanthropy side, Ms. Padma has worked as Senior Program Manager for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She has held responsibilities for strategy development, program implementation, impact evaluation, and research in HIV prevention initially, managing a portfolio of over $200 million in grants. Subsequently, she managed major initiatives in infectious diseases (vaccines, diagnostics) and maternal and childcare.