Lakshmi Pratury brought TED to India in 2009, when the first
TEDIndia conference was held in Mysore. In December 2010, she
curated and hosted The INK Conference, in association with TED, (www.theinkconference.com)
which carried forward the momentum created by TEDIndia. Lakshmi
Pratury brings with her a varied and rich experience that spans
for-profit enterprises, venture capital and nonprofit
organizations.
Featured in the list of '100 Most
Powerful Women' by Forbes Asia in 2010 (
http://www.forbes.com/global/2010/1108/power-women-10-zeti-akhtar-aziz-peggy-liuwomen-
), Lakshmi has traversed an incredible distance
professionally.
As a social entrepreneur, Lakshmi was
a leading force at the American India Foundation (AIF), where she
was part of the management team that raised over $30M in five years
to channel towards development activities in India. She was the
founder of the Digital Equalizer program, which brought technology
education to over 100,000 children and 2,000 teachers in India.
Prior to AIF, Lakshmi was a partner at
the venture capital firm Global Catalyst Partners. At Global
Catalyst Partners, she established relationships between GCP, the
development community in India, and key executives in India.
Before this Lakshmi was with Intel
Corporation for 12 years and had various roles in marketing,
marketing communication, advertising, and evangelizing the
developer community.
Lakshmi holds a Bachelors degree in
Mathematics from Nizam College, Hyderabad, India. She attended IIT,
Mumbai; got an MBA from the Bajaj Institute, India, and a second
MBA from Portland State University, with a minor in theater
arts.
Lakshmi has published articles in
San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Chronicle,
Mint
(leading business daily in India);
interviewed celebrities, contributed to radio shows, including
National Public Radio, and acted in local (US) theater.
Lakshmi spoke at high profile
conferences like TED conference in the US (
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/lakshmi_pratury_on_letter_writing.html),
the DLD Conference in Germany, and at IIM Bangalore.