Journey in Innovation & Leadership with Ponni Krishnamoorthy

Today, as part of the women’s special series in March, 2025, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Ponni Krishnamoorthy, Director and Global head of Telco cloud in Nokia talks about breaking societal expectations to achieving career goals - Ponni shares about her humble background and Her roots in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, and how her upbringing shaped her career choices and Ponni’s career journey from NIT Trichy to becoming Director at Nokia.- Ponni shares her Being the first woman engineer in her extended family.- Initial societal expectations (suggestions to become a teacher or doctor).- Love for math, problem-solving, and coding led her to engineering.- Ponni shares her Career Growth & Transition from software engineer and her inspiration to be a coding guru- She started her career with Siemens Communication Software as a developer and slowly shifted into techno-management after earning an MBA from IIM Bangalore while working full-time.- Ponni shares stories of her transition from developer to global technology leadership.- Ponni talks about taking different roles in the same firm such as global product development and end-to-end project ownership- Pooni shares her Experience with mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and predicting industry trends.- She talks about operational challenges and Leading teams across multiple countries (Finland, India, China, US) and working through sanctions during the Iraq-Iran war.- Ponni talks about Early involvement in digital twin technology (before it became mainstream).-Importance of creating a culture of problem-solving & dreaming big.- Ponni talks about her role in University Engagement & Mentorship while encouraging students and young professionals to take risks.- Pooni shares her career advice and Leadership Lessons on the importance of patience and long-term growth, avoiding the trap of jumping jobs for short-term gains.- She also shares her learning from each role before moving up the ladder and defining personal success metrics rather than following trends.Ponni is Director of Telco Cloud Data center and Telecom Test networks with Mobile Networks business group, Nokia - Leading R&D Telco cloud data centers and services across 8 countries- Leading the unit of end-to-end telecom test networks for testing of Nokia products and solutions- Leading University Collaboration platform for Nokia Bangalore - connecting universities, Professional organizations , Research & management institutes- Leading global and cross cultural teams, across Europe, India, China and USA- Leads the Nokia Bangalore 6G research center- Nokia certified coach having coached and developed high performing employees globally She has been Instrumental in ramping up and setting up new product development groups, global lab service organization , R&D Cloud data centers, end-to-end test network infrastructure & services unit and transformation of organizations. Experienced in Partner management, leadership development, nurturing innovation and driving efficiency improvement programs and strategic decision making etc.She has successfully launched various programs across Indian universities and is committed to take the latest telecom technologies and research opportunities to the doorsteps of academic world.She is a recipient of IEEE Women Technologist of the year-2019.A strong leader and team player with good communication and interpersonal skills. Ponni did her computer science engineering from NIT Trichy and management from IIM BangalorePonni can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ponnikrishnamoorthy/