Women Leaders Break Barriers as IT Sector's New Rainmakers
For decades, the IT sector's most influential dealmakers have emerged from a predominantly male cohort. While women constitute a significant portion of the workforce in major IT services firms, their representation in roles driving multi-million- and billion-dollar deals has traditionally been limited. This disparity highlights a persistent gap between workforce participation and strategic influence.
A New Generation of Female Rainmakers
Despite historical underrepresentation, a growing number of women leaders are now reshaping this narrative. These executives are emerging as key rainmakers behind some of the industry's largest and most transformative deals.
Arundhati Chakraborty, Chief Executive of Accenture Operations, exemplifies this trend. Two years ago, she assumed leadership of a business generating approximately $10 billion in revenue. Chakraborty now oversees a global workforce exceeding 220,000 professionals and manages large-scale transformation programs for international enterprises.
Rising Stars in Indian IT Firms
Within India's technology sector, companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have witnessed homegrown women leaders ascending to influential positions. Uma Rijhwani, Senior Vice President and Business Unit Head for Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance, manages her unit's profit and loss, overseeing sales, client relationships, delivery, and operations across critical regional accounts.
Aarthi Subramanian, TCS's Chief Operating Officer, played a pivotal role in the company's $700 million all-cash acquisition of Salesforce consulting firm Coastal Cloud. A decade earlier, Farzana Haque managed a business portfolio exceeding $1 billion as Global Head of Strategic Group Accounts at TCS.
The Gender Paradox in Technology
According to Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, Partner at Catalincs, the IT sector faces a significant gender paradox. "While the industry prides itself on having 35–40% women in the workforce and some of the most accomplished women leaders on its boards, it could have done a much better job of creating women rainmakers and dealmakers," he observed.
Ramamoorthy emphasized that "while there is no dearth of high-potential leaders, the lack of visible role models has been a limitation that needs to be addressed at multiple levels."
Multinational Corporations Embrace Change
Several global IT firms are increasingly placing women in influential operational roles. At Capgemini, Karine Brunet was appointed Chief Operations and Delivery Officer in January, joining the group's executive board. Her promotion followed successful leadership of the company's Cloud Infrastructure Services business and a proven track record in large-scale infrastructure programs.
Cognizant has seen significant contributions from women leaders including Shveta Arora, Global Head of Consulting, who helped secure the Pearson deal last year. Mariesa Coughanour, Head of Advisory and North American Delivery & Mindshare for Cognizant Automation and Agentic AI, was instrumental in forging the company's partnership with Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
At Genpact, Riju Vashisht serves as Chief Growth Officer, leading transformation services and enterprise sales. Other notable figures driving major strategic deals include Melissa Taylor, Vice Chair for Clients and Markets at KPMG US, and Katie Stein, Chief Executive of IGT Solutions.
The AI Era and Future Challenges
Industry analysts warn that gender imbalances could become more pronounced as the IT services sector transitions into the artificial intelligence era. Phil Fersht, CEO of HfS Research, noted that many roles most vulnerable to AI transformation—including operations, customer experience, and program management—already feature high proportions of women.
"Yet the leadership tables shaping AI strategy are still overwhelmingly male," Fersht observed. "The IT services industry has thousands of brilliant women across delivery, operations, and client leadership. The real question is why so few of them end up running the firms."
As the technology landscape evolves, the emergence of women rainmakers represents a crucial step toward addressing historical inequities and harnessing diverse leadership perspectives in an increasingly competitive global market.
