Mohan Warrior – President and Chief Executive Officer

Mohan Warrior joined Alfalight Inc. as president and chief executive officer (CEO) in February 2004. Prior to joining Alfalight, Mr. Warrior's career includes 15 years at Motorola Semiconductors (now Freescale) where he most recently led the test and assembly operations, a group of 3500 employees, in the US, Scotland and Korea. He previously held senior-level leadership positions at Motorola including managing operations for silicon wafer fabrication, and leading a global team of scientists and engineers to develop advanced packaging solutions.

Following Motorola, Mr. Warrior gained a successful track record as an entrepreneur launching two start-ups. Immediately prior to Alfalight, Mr. Warrior was the president and CEO of Nanocoolers, a thin film thermoelectric cooling company in Austin, Texas.

Mr. Warrior received a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, an MS degree in Chemical Engineering from Syracuse University, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He was a founding charter member of the Austin chapter of TiE (The IndUS Entrepreneurs), a non-profit global network of entrepreneurs and professionals and is currently a charter member of TiE Midwest. Mr. Warrior has also served as a reviewer for both the Texas State Education Board for Advanced Research Programs (Material Science) and the National Science Foundation (Electronics Materials).

Contributed by: Latha Warrier

NRI picks top US tech award for Motorola

Padmasree Warrior, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Motorola, and the driving force behind the company's recent growth and innovative successes, accepted the 2004 National Medal of Technology Award from President George W Bush on behalf of her company at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on February 13.

Warrior is also responsible for the success of Motorola Labs, the global software group and emerging early-stage businesses of the company. Her operational responsibilities include leading a global team of 4,600 technologists, prioritising technology programmes, creating value from intellectual property, guiding creative research from innovation through early-stage commercialisation, and influencing standards and roadmaps.She also serves as a technology advisor to the office of the chairman and to the board's technology and design steering committee.

The prestigious National Medal of Technology annual award recognised Motorola for its outstanding contributions to America's technological innovation and competitiveness.Established in 1980 by an Act of US Congress, this is the highest honour awarded by the President to America's leading innovators.Ed Zander, Motorola chairman and chief executive officer, said, "All of us at Motorola are honoured to receive the National Medal of Technology from the President.""This award belongs not only to the talented employees of today but to the several generations of Motorolans who built our heritage of innovation. Given this heritage, we strongly support the President's plan to keep America the world's most competitive and innovative nation," he added.

Warrior has been with Motorla since 1994 and is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (from where she received her bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering). She then obtained her master of science degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University."We applaud the Administration for proposing increased investments in R&D, in particular for the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) at Commerce and the National Science Foundation," said Warrior."From convergence to mobile Internet to nanotechnology, we must educate, excite and inspire our nation's children about science, technology, engineering and mathematics," she said.

In an interview with rediff.com, immediately after accepting the award, Warrior said, "It's a great honour, I feel really humbled, and I feel very happy for all of our engineers worldwide, because the award is really theirs."

She said being in the company of several other leading scientists and technologists who were also awarded the National Medical of Science and the National Medal of Technology Award, "who made these great breakthroughs in the fields of science and technology was very inspiring to me to be amongst of the company of these people."

Warrior said while giving her the medal at the awards ceremony and also preceding the ceremony "he (President Bush) talked quite a lot to me and asked me if I was from India and I said, 'Yes, I came to the US on a student visa to go to graduate school and then stayed here.' And he said 'we need more people like you. We need more talented people from around the world to come and contribute and help our economy grow and build our innovative strengths to be competitive.'"

She said Bush had also told her that he was looking forward to his visit to India. "He said, 'I am going to India in a couple of weeks and I'll be meeting once again with my good friend, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.'"

Bush in his remarks before presenting the National Medals of Science and Technology, declared, "It is a honour to be in the company of so many bright and distinguished Americans. Each of our honorees has been blessed with talent, and each has used their talent to the fullest.""The work we honour today has improved the lives of people everywhere. It has helped to move our economy forward and it has helped to make sure that America is the leader of innovation in our world. The medals are our nation's way of expressing gratitude to gifted and visionary citizens."

Bush said that these annual awards "are the highest award a President can bestow for astounding achievement in science and technology. They recognise work that has helped expand the horizons of human knowledge. The National Medal of Science honors those whose research has enhanced our understanding of life and the world around us. And the National Medal of Technology recognises innovators whose work keeps America on the cutting edge with discoveries that change the way we live.

Contributed by: Latha Warrier

Padmasree Warrior, Chief Technology Officer, Cisco Systems

Padmasree Warrior is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Cisco Systems. As CTO she is responsible for driving the company’s technology innovations and strategy, and works closely with its senior executive team and board of directors to align these efforts with Cisco’s corporate goals. As an evangelist for what is possible, she pushes the organization to stretch beyond current capabilities – not just in technology, but also in strategic partnerships and new business models.

Warrior joined Cisco in March 2008. Prior to that, she was the CTO at Motorola from 2003 to 2007, where she led a team of 26,000 engineers with an annual R&D budget of $3.7 billion. She had direct leadership accountability for Motorola research, global software group, standards, intellectual property and technology policy. Over the course of her 23 year career at Motorola, she served in a broad range of roles, including Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Motorola’s Energy Systems Group, and as Corporate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector.

Warrior’s energetic, approachable and pragmatic leadership style integrates ideas from diverse sources, which include engineers, sociologists, technologists, marketers, business leaders, policy experts and others. Throughout her career, she has earned a reputation as a visionary and change agent. She has the track record for establishing processes that tap a rich diversity of technical, business and entrepreneurial IQ to nurture disruptive and breakthrough innovations, speed development time to market, and improve the way people work, live, play and learn.

Under Warrior’s leadership, Motorola was awarded the 2004 National Medal of Technology by the President of the United States, the first time the company had received this honor. Recently, the Economic Times ranked her as the 11th Most Influential Global person of Indian origin, and the United States Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce recognized her with its prestigious Excellence Award. In 2008, the Wall Street Journal recognized Warrior as one of the “Top 50 Women to Watch”.

Warrior is a strong and vocal advocate for women and minorities in math, science and engineering. In 2007, she was inducted into the Women in Information Technology International Hall of Fame, and received the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago Outstanding Woman of Achievement Award. She has been recognized as a role model by many organizations, including the Girl Scouts Illinois Crossroads Council, Notre Dame Girls High School in Chicago, the South Asian Women Leadership Forum and as a Science Spectrum Trailblazer. In 2001 she was one of six women nationwide selected to receive the "Women Elevating Science and Technology" award from Working Woman magazine.

Warrior is also a committed community leader. She has served on the boards of Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet and Museum of Science and Industry, the Chicago Mayor’s Technology Council. She currently serves on the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (ASTAR), Cornell University Engineering Council and the advisory council of the Indian Institute of Technology. She previously served on the Texas Governor's Council for Digital Economy, the White House Fellowships Selection Board, and the Technology Advisory Council for the FCC. She was a member of the Advisory Committee for the Computing and Information Science and Engineering of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Warrior is a highly sought after public speaker and has the unique gift of communicating complex technical ideas in a simple and easy to understand manner. She is a passionate advocate and practitioner of innovation.

Warrior holds a M.S. degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University and a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, India. In 2007 she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Engineering from New York's Polytechnic University. Warrior has experience in corporate governance serving on the boards of Ferro Corporation (2002-2005) and Corning Inc (2005-2008). A naturalized US citizen, she is married to Mohandas Warrior, President and CEO of Alfalight, Inc. Mohan and Padmasree are the proud parents of a son, Karna who is attending the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora, Illinois.

Contributed by: Latha Warrier