Heena Purohit is a global AI leader, investor, and advocate redefining how the world builds, adopts, and governs artificial intelligence. With 15+ years of experience building and scaling transformative AI technologies, Heena brings a unique perspective that spans across both Fortune 500 enterprises and high-growth AI startups. 

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As Director of AI Startups at Microsoft, she empowers the world's most innovative AI founders to turn their bold ideas into scalable impact - helping them build fast, sscale smart, and sell more through the power of Microsoft's global ecosystem.

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Before joining Microsoft, Heena was the Head of Product at IBM’s Corporate Venture Studio where she incubated frontier AI startups at the company, helping launch differentiated GenAI capabilities and shaped IBM's watsonx platform. Prior to that, she led IBM Watson's first generation of large language models and AI products, pioneering new ways to bring intelligent automation into the enterprise.
 

A long-time champion of inclusion, Heena founded AI for Her, a global initiative empowering tens of thousands of women through AI education, mentorship, and community. She has advised hundreds of leading enterprises on AI-powered transformation strategies and has spoken on major stages worldwide, advising executives, startups, and policymakers on responsible innovation and the human side of AI transformation.

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Whether presenting to C-suite executives, advising boards, or keynoting global conferences, Heena excels at translating complex AI innovations into clear business value propositions that drive adoption, investment, and organizational change.

Her work has been recognized globally, from AI Magazine’s Top Women Innovators in AI to the University of Notre Dame’s Recent Alumni Award, and she has been featured in leading publications such as Entrepreneur, InformationWeek, Huffington Post, and AIM Magazine.