Vinika Devasar Rao

Vinika Devasar Rao is Executive Director of the INSEAD Emerging Markets Institute and Gender Initiative, and Director of the Hoffman Global Institute for Business & Society, Asia. Vinika’s doctorate from the Singapore Management University is in the area of gender diversity in corporate leadership, specifically the impact of male supervisorial support on the self-regulating focus of mid-career female managers. Her other research interests are leadership diversity, millennials & inter-generational influences on the workplace, and emerging markets strategy. She is frequently invited to speak on these areas and has been quoted or published articles in leading business publications including Harvard Business Review, Forbes, The Economist, The Business Times, South China Morning Post and INSEAD Knowledge. After completing her MBA from IIM Bangalore, Vinika started her career with a multinational bank in India. She went on to become General Manager of an American Asian JV in the field of industrial chemicals and later the Managing Director of an Indonesian conglomerate, before making a serendipitous transition to education. As Associate Professor at the SP Jain Centre of Management, Singapore, Vinika taught business strategy to MBA and EMBA students and conducted specialised programmes for corporate clients. She has also taught at the Melbourne Institute of Technology, Deakin University, Curtin University, Lembaga Pengembangan Management, Indonesia, as well as Murdoch University and Kaplan, Singapore. She has conducted numerous workshops and seminars for specific companies as well as open enrolment events.