Jaya Jagadish is the country head of AMD in India. In this role, she is responsible for AMD’s R&D work out of the country and for fostering a culture of innovation, inclusive growth, and corporate responsibility at the India Development Centre (IDC). In 2022, she became the first woman Senior Vice President at AMD from the engineering division. The same year, she was given the mandate to lead AMD in India as the Country Head. Outside AMD, Jaya closely works with the government as part of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). In 2022, she was made the Chairperson of the Semiconductor talent building committee. She along with other industry peers has been closely working with the government to set goals and targets to make India a semiconductor talent nation. Jaya’s first stint with AMD was in Austin in 1994. She joined the company immediately after completing her master’s in electrical engineering. She moved on from AMD to work with Mentor Graphics as a senior consultant from 1997-2000, followed by Analog Devices as a Senior Design Engineer till 2004. After returning to India, she joined AMD in 2005 and was one of the first team members of AMD India’s development center in Bangalore. In early 2000, limited engineering design was done in India. She played an instrumental role in shifting this narrative. She built a strong team, that today is 500+ strong and is responsible for designing the very core of AMD CPUs. She hired fresh talent, trained, and mentored them. Over the years, she led this team to successfully execute complex programs in AMD’s roadmap. It is a testimony to her leadership that many of these employees today occupy senior positions in the company. In 2020, Jaya was given the ‘Rising Woman of Influence’ award by the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA). This award recognizes and profiles the next generation of women leaders in the semiconductor industry who are rising to top executive roles within their organizations. She is also the recipient of the “2018 Women Worth Watching For” award by the international publication, Diversity Journal. The award recognizes global change-makers and leaders who have recorded outstanding achievements throughout their careers. Jaya did her Bachelors in Electronics Engineering from BMS College, Bengaluru and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas. Ask her about her success as a woman leader, and she will urge you to not look at her growth from the prism of gender. She envisages a future where there is no such term as ‘Woman Leaders’, but just Leaders!