Deepa Purushothaman

Deepa Purushothaman (per-shot-a-man) is a corporate truth teller and growth-minded visionary who, throughout her illustrious career, challenged and redefined the status quo of leadership, success, and power on her incredible journey to becoming a transformative influence at one of the internationally renowned “Big Four” global services firms. For more than two decades, Deepa held various high-level executive leadership roles at Deloitte, eventually becoming the first Indian American woman and one of the youngest people ever to make partner at the organization, and developing breakthrough strategies for aligning the business’ focus on people, purpose, and profit.

Deepa leads revelatory sessions in which she introduces the audience to “Deepa’s Defining Decisions,” drawing from her own experiences to share valuable insights for how leaders can create more dynamic cultures within their organizations and, ultimately, change the game in their industries. Deepa helps audience members understand the actions they can take to realize their strengths, rethink the way things are, reimagine how organizations operate, and step into the future of leadership, while offering adaptable tactics for overcoming burnout, outdated norms, and the other challenges that stand in the way of individuals and their teams achieving their goals in the workplace.

Throughout her highly transformative career at Deloitte, Deepa advised the firm’s top clients on strategies for powering growth within their organizations and creating solutions and value for the people they serve. As a senior partner, she was the U.S. managing partner for WIN — Deloitte’s renowned women’s initiative — and also spearheaded many of the company’s other inclusion programs on its mission to make a social impact and foster more empowered workplaces designed for everyone to reach their full potential. Deepa left Deloitte in 2020 and founded re.write, a think tank that partners with leading organizations to rethink their workplace strategies. In addition to her leadership of re.write, she is an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School an Aspen Institute Fellow, and a board member of Avasara, India’s first leadership academy for girls.

Deepa continues to be a leading voice and champion for reworking the corporate workplace experience. Her debut book, The First, The Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America, was published by HarperCollins to international acclaim, and was called an “an important and engaging book that will help build bridges, dismantle barriers, and change how we lead in the workplace” by Billie Jean King. She has spoken at SXSW and her TED talks have amassed more than three million views. Her sought-after thought leadership has been featured in major media outlets, including TIME, PBS, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Financial Times, and Harvard Business Review. She has been widely recognized for “yielding a powerful collective narrative that business leaders would be wise to study closely.”

When Deepa is not focused on workplace issues, you can find her trying to manage the chaos caused by her fur babies.

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