Her Story
About Rekha
Rekha Gajendran is an Enterprise Transformation Leader with 16 years of experience in the IT and software industry. She began her career at Data Consultancy Services as a developer and was promoted to lead within two years due to her demonstrated strengths and leadership. Rekha now operates a $40 million portfolio, leading six teams concurrently on complex transformation initiatives. Her expertise centers on cloud transformation, technology modernization, and AI transformation, particularly in extracting business rules from legacy systems such as Mainframe, Oracle, and Postgres to enable successful modernization. She attributes her success to five key factors: absolute clarity on business outcomes, yearly stakeholder alignment, establishing governance models with clear accountability, disciplined execution, and treating change as a people journey. Rekha values clarity, accountability, and continuous improvement in both her professional and personal life. Outside of work, she is dedicated to volunteering, having adopted a senior home in India where she visited weekly with her family, and she continues similar community engagement since relocating to Chicago, Illinois four years ago from India.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Rekha
01What do you attribute your success to?
I believe the success came from 5 factors. First, I had absolute clarity on the business outcome. Before I propose any solution. At the end of the meeting, or at the end of the discussion with me, everyone should understand what success looked like. Second, I always invest yearly in the stakeholder alignment. Third, I establish a governance model with a clear accountability and ownership. Fourth, I always focus on discipline in the way that I execute. It can be a personal, or it can be even for the organization. Finally, I always trade Change as a people journey, not just a process change.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Lead with confidence, but also with humility. You don't need to have every answer to be an effective leader. Ask thoughtful questions, listen deeply, and create an environment where people feel safe to approach you and contribute. The strongest leaders don't create followers, they develop more leaders.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Three values that are most important to me. First, clarity. Second, accountability. Third, continuous improvement.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.