Women represent less than one-third of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) career force, according to Catalyst. With odds stacked against their favor, advancing as a female STEM professional proves an even greater challenge in such a male-dominated industry.
Full-Time MBA alum and Apple Vice President, Priya Balasubramaniam
This added challenge hasn’t stopped women from making a deep impact on businesses, and the world, through their STEM careers, though. Timed with National Engineers Week (February 19-23), Business Insider released its list of “43 Most Powerful Female Engineers” and named Apple Inc. vice president and Broad College of Business alum Priya Balasubramaniam (FTMBA Supply Chain Management ‘01) as the fifth most powerful woman.
Balasubramaniam launched her career with Apple straight out of the Broad MBA program and hasn’t looked back. She worked her way from global sourcing manager up to her current role as vice president of iPhone operations, based in San Francisco. As The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year, Balasubramaniam played a prominent role in instrumenting Apple’s move manufacturing operations to India, one of the world’s fastest growing smartphone markets where it still has only a tiny market share. In her time at Apple, Balasubramaniam has overseen procurement for Apple’s core technologies, as well as flat panel displays.
“Priya’s innovative spirit and strategic mindset have positioned her to thrive in business, and are transferable across industries and geographies,” said Sanjay Gupta, the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Dean of the Eli Broad College of Business. “We feel very proud to see our alums standing out and making an impact in unprecedented ways,” he said.
