Influential Woman · Manufacturing

Prajakta Vaidya

Deputy Director, Internal Controls, GlobalFoundries

Santa Clara, CA

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) Degree University of Pune (Savitribai Phule University) Degree Chartered Accountant Degree Institute of Chartered Accountants of India Cert Chartered Accountant (India) Cert Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) Cert Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) Cert Diploma in Information Systems Audit

Her Story

About Prajakta

I have been in my industry for nearly 20 years, with a journey that has taken me across continents and through significant life transitions. After graduating and working in India for 5-6 years, I got married and came to the U.S., which was a big jump because I couldn't work initially without a work permit. I used that time to complete certifications, and it turned out to be a good break when I had kids. Once I got my work permit, I started again, and it was another journey for me in a different country with a different culture, but I was able to continue in the same profession. Currently, I work with Global Foundries as Deputy Director of Internal Controls, where my primary expertise area is Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and maintaining internal controls for the company. We set up a new department here with my director, and my day is completely focused on controls, meetings, scheduling walkthroughs, and discussing processes to bring value to my company by designing optimized controls for robust governance across the organization. I handle both business and IT sides, having professional certifications in both areas. We are like a bridge between all functions, connected left and right, up and down, which gives us unique visibility across the entire organization. My day begins at 5 a.m. with meetings, coordinating with team members and other functions, working on status reporting, remediation activities, and my own professional development through continuous professional education. I also stay updated on LinkedIn daily, checking where the company stands and what the future holds, while keeping myself informed about new developments in finance and technology, then distributing that information to my team members and up-level CEOs or CFOs.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Prajakta

01What do you attribute your success to?

I attribute my success to dedication, passion, and family support. These three elements have been the foundation that allowed me to navigate my career journey across two countries, through career breaks and restarts, and ultimately continue excelling in my profession despite the challenges of adapting to a different country and culture.

02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

The best career advice I ever received came from my ex-boss when I was working with the Tata Group. He taught me how the work-life balance should be and was always promoting me to go further. He helped me professionally to build myself and gave me exposure to futuristic technology. In fact, the technology that we are using right now, I used almost 16 years back because of him. He was really a future-thinking person, and that forward-looking perspective he shared with me has shaped my entire career approach.

03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

My advice, especially for women like me who come from another country, is to understand that being a homemaker is not something to be ashamed of or see as less valuable. It is the most important thing that you can do in life, because as a professional or working person, we have to handle both wheels. Not having a job is not a bad thing - you are able to do a service to the community and to your family at the same time, even if you are a homemaker. But when you are on a professional front, you have to sustain a balance in that work-life thing and drive the car for your whole family. There has to be a balanced assessment - how much time you are giving to your family, how much time you are giving to your community, and how much time you are dedicating to your profession. But it's always about excelling, which helps you to proceed further and further through the milestones, and nothing is impossible. Most importantly, you should never stop learning, because when you stop learning, your growth is cut off. It's not there anymore.

04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

The opportunities right now are significant - there are a lot of opportunities available around how you can automate your functions and how you can best use AI in your function. The challenges mainly are around resistance to change from a lot of people. Sometimes people are ready for change, but you may not have the resources you need, and you may not have clarity on the use case. So you're struggling with that. The challenges are that you learn something new, but you need the resources to implement it, and you need a strategy to implement that effectively.

05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

The values most important to me are trust and communication. First is trust - you should be able to listen and be a good communicator. Communication is very important when it comes to building up any kind of trust and building a bridge between two people. These values form the foundation of how I approach both my professional relationships and my personal life.

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