Aparna Khurjekar
Chief Customer Officer, Verizon Consumer Group
Aparna Khurjekar is the Chief Customer Officer for the Verizon Consumer Group. In this multi-disciplinary role reporting to the group CEO, she is responsible for the end-to-end digital .com and app sales and service channels, business transformation & governance, omnichannel sales & service experiences, retail experiences, and CX enabler platforms.
In this role, Aparna has been responsible for driving significant improvement in Verizon’s wireless brand NPS as well as executing the company’s digital response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Aparna has held various leadership roles at the company, including SVP of Consumer Products where she managed a multi-billion dollar product portfolio that included the launch and evolution of many of Verizon’s flagship products.
Prior to joining Verizon, Aparna was Director of Technology Strategy at Motorola and Product Director, working on marquee handset launches that defined the evolution of the mobile experience, including the first flip-phone, the first color-phone, the iconic RAZR, the first open OS phone, the cross-OS UI platform, and productization of numerous enabling technologies like Wi-Fi, NFC, and VoIP. Her seminal work in wireless signal processing ultimately resulted in defining the next generation of standards in handset architecture.
Aparna holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Temple University and a bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications & Electronics from Pune University, India. She has been awarded several national awards, a graduate fellowship, and multiple wireless technology patents. Throughout her career, Aparna has been passionate about mentoring and coaching women and young talent.
Kanchana Raman
President and CEO, Avion Network
Kanchana Raman is a TiE Women committee member. She has been an entrepreneur for 23 years and has launched several companies over the years. She founded Avion Systems in 1996 and built an organization with extensive knowledge of the ICT industry. In 2003, she formed ASI in India to service India & EMEA.
In 2014, Kanchana formed Avion Networks, Inc. a JV with Tech Mahindra, the joint venture aims to play a significant role in the final deployment and management of current mobile networks and their planned transformation into the next-generation cloud enabled, virtual and software driven networks.
Kanchana chairs several board positions. Telecom Industry Association -TIA, Emory University, TiE-Atlanta, AT&T Women’s forum, Georgia Women’s Business Council.
Kanchana holds an MBA from Goizueta Business School, Emory University, Executive training from Kellogg Business School, Northwestern University, and Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth to augment her broad experience in telecommunications and technology, which spans over 20 years.