Company: Flex
Title:Â Chief Executive Officer
Industry: Manufacturing
Hometown:Â Chennai, India
Notable in 2023: Forged a key Biden administration partnership on US/India relations and accelerated climate tech and EV adoption.
Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi hosted two guests at the company's factories in 2023 that highlight not only her growing influence but also the critical role of the manufacturing industry: President Joe Biden and U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
Named CEO in February 2019 after starting her career as a shop-floor supervisor in Oklahoma, Advaithi has helped build Flex into one of the most trusted manufacturing partners across a variety of industries by embracing the company's "do the right thing, always" ethos.
Advaithi has also looked to create stronger alliances between the private and public sector, leading to those factory visits from Biden and Granholm, as well as her participation at the White House's "Innovation Handshake" between the U.S. and India and a state dinner for India Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In March, she was named by Biden to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
It’s difficult, if not downright impossible, to be effective if you are not willing to hear and learn from other peoples’ perspectives.Revathi AdvaithiChief Executive Officer, Flex
The visits from Biden and Granholm highlighted the role that Flex is playing in the clean energy transition and the future of electrification. It also showcased the transformation that the manufacturing industry is going through amid the Inflation Reduction Act, shifts in geopolitics and tech innovation.
But, as a leader of a company with more than 170,000 employees across 30 countries, Advaithi has continued to emphasize investing in the human side of manufacturing's future. "It is only when we embrace our interconnectedness in advancing the future of manufacturing that we can realize the full potential of human ingenuity and innovation," she wrote in a post for the World Economic Forum's website.
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