Events

The 2026 Neythri Leadership Summit & Gala, Nth Power: Defying Gravity, celebrates South Asian women leaders and changemakers who challenge limits and break barriers. This year's summit focuses on rising beyond expectations and creating lasting impact.
Attendees will enjoy inspiring keynotes, dynamic discussions, and networking opportunities, gaining fresh perspectives and practical strategies to empower the next generation.

Designed for senior executives pursuing corporate board governance, Demystifying the Path to the Boardroom features Suzanne Soares of illumyn Impact. The session details how to reframe operational experience into strategic board oversight, key differences between public and private company boards, network activation strategies, and the impact of AI on board recruitment, including illumyn Impact’s Seven Dimensions of Board Expertise. Exclusively for Neythri Leadership and Founding Circle members.

This virtual Mix and Mingle brought together Neythri Leadership and Founding Circle members for an evening of conversation and peer connection. Members connected in small-group breakouts on thought-provoking topics, shared updates from across the network, and engaged in the candid, community-driven exchange that has become a hallmark of this recurring Neythri gathering for senior South Asian professional women.

AI reshaped far more than productivity; it redefined value creation. While most leaders asked, "How can we use AI?", forward-thinking organizations examined how work, teams, and leadership needed to evolve. In this interactive session, Eightfold AI Chief People Officer Meghna Punhani shared a practical perspective on navigating the shift to an AI-first organization. Drawing on her expertise across tech and business strategy, she provided actionable frameworks to rethink workforce strategy and lead transformation.

In today’s fast-paced, AI-driven world, sustainable leadership requires more than technical expertise. Meha Agrawal led an interactive workshop exploring how an inner operating system shapes performance, resilience, and decision-making. Through practical exercises and evidence-based frameworks, participants learned how to overcome burnout, cultivate self-awareness, and gain the clarity needed to lead with confidence in a complex world.

This virtual Mix and Mingle brought together Neythri Leadership and Founding Circle members for an evening of conversation and peer connection. Members connected in small-group breakouts on thought-provoking topics, shared updates from across the network, and engaged in the candid, community-driven exchange that has become a hallmark of this recurring Neythri gathering for senior South Asian professional women.

This session, led by Dr. Sandeep Uttamchandani, VP of Enterprise AI at Palo Alto Networks, introduced a practical AI factory framework for senior leaders navigating enterprise AI adoption. Inspired by assembly line thinking, the framework helped organizations move from ad hoc experimentation to structured, repeatable execution. The discussion covered problem fit, data fit, model fit, and the core pillars of AI transformation across people, process, and technology.

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death among women, yet many symptoms are subtle or misdiagnosed. In this session, Rahul P. Sharma, Interventional Cardiologist and Clinical Professor of Medicine at Stanford, led a discussion on hidden symptoms, cardiovascular risk factors, co-morbidities such as PCOS and diabetes, preventive screenings, and the cardiovascular realities faced by South Asian women.

Executive presence is often reduced to projecting authority. In reality, it shapes how leaders are read before they speak, how they hold a room, and how they signal judgment in moments that matter. Featuring Aparna Bawa, Chief Legal and People Officer at Intel Corporation, in conversation with Ayesha Mathews-Wadhwa, this session explored how presence signals confidence and credibility, examined the role of grooming and body language, and discussed how small, intentional shifts influence leadership perception.

This session offered an honest look at what it takes to move from idea to execution. Featuring founders who transitioned from corporate careers to building businesses in health, art, and local commerce, it explored the realities of the early zero-to-one phase where decisions are personal and progress is non-linear. Speakers shared how they navigated the shift, translated key skills, and built confidence while defining success on their own terms.

This virtual Cocktails and Connections session brought together South Asian professional women for an evening of community and conversation. Members connected in self-moderated small-group breakouts, sharing stories about the women who had inspired them most, exchanging experiences across career stages, and building new connections alongside familiar faces — all in the warm, low-pressure format that defines the Neythri community.

This session, led by Dr. Sandeep Uttamchandani, VP of Enterprise AI at Palo Alto Networks, introduced a practical AI factory framework for senior leaders navigating enterprise AI adoption. Inspired by assembly line thinking, the framework helped organizations move from ad hoc experimentation to structured, repeatable execution. The discussion covered problem fit, data fit, model fit, and the core pillars of AI transformation across people, process, and technology.