Dr Vinika D. Rao

Dr Vinika Rao is the Executive Director of the INSEAD Gender Initiative & Emerging Markets Institute, and Director of the Hoffman Global Institute for Business & Society, Asia. 

She started her career with an MNC bank and went on to become the Managing Director of an Indonesian conglomerate, before a serendipitous transition to education. Prior to INSEAD, she was Associate Professor of Strategy at the S.P. Jain Centre of Management, Singapore. Her research is in gender diversity in corporate leadership, specifically, the impact of male support on the self-regulating focus of female managers; as well as millennial and multigenerational influences in the workplace.

She is frequently invited to speak on related topics and is quoted/published in leading business publications. She has an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a doctorate from the Singapore Management University. She currently sits on the boards of a non-profit organisation and a think tank. 

Vinika is passionate about supporting women managers to make fulfilling work-life decisions, aiming to do this through active sponsorship rather than mentorship alone. She strives to engage both men and women in the effort to foster gender balance and create equity, diversity and inclusion in their organisations and communities.