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Heena Purohit

Director at Microsoft

New York, NY, United States

She is the Director of AI Startups at Microsoft, where she identifies and partners with the world’s most promising Data and AI startups, helping them scale through strategic partnerships across the Microsoft ecosystem. Prior to that, she was the Head of Product at IBM, where she built and launched multiple AI products from zero to one and also led a portfolio of GenAI startups through the company's corporate incubator program and was the Group Product Manager for IBM Watson's AI, where she launched IBM's first transformer models and next-gen AI capabilities.

Beyond her corporate leadership, Heena has been a consistent force for responsible innovation, and she's deeply committed to democratizing AI literacy and shaping an AI-powered future that benefits everyone.

She has been recognized several times as one of the Top Women Innovators in AI, Top Women Leaders in AI to Watch, Top 11 AI Leaders, and was also awarded the University of Notre Dame's Recent Alumni Award for her impact on women in technology.

Available For: Advising, Authoring, Influencing, Speaking
Travels From: Boston, MA
Speaking Topics: Enterprise AI Innovation, AI Strategy, Responsible AI, Women in Technology

Speaking Fee $25,000 (In-Person)

Heena Purohit Points
Academic 0
Author 10
Influencer 237
Speaker 20
Entrepreneur 40
Total 307

Points based upon Thinkers360 patent-pending algorithm.

Thought Leader Profile

Portfolio Mix

Company Information

Company Type: Enterprise
Minimum Project Size: $100,000+
Average Hourly Rate: $300+
Number of Employees: 100,000+
Company Founded Date: Undisclosed

Areas of Expertise

Agentic AI 30.43
AI 30.10
AI Ethics 41.18
AI Governance 30.63
Diversity and Inclusion 31.67
Generative AI 30.28
Innovation 30.19
Open Innovation 34.61
Startups 31.86

Industry Experience

Cross Industry
High Tech & Electronics
Manufacturing
Oil & Gas
Professional Services
Utilities

Publications & Experience

1 Analyst Advisory
Vibe Coding - It's Four Months Old. What's Up?
Forbes
June 19, 2025

See publication

Tags: AI, Generative AI, Innovation

2 Article/Blogs
Top 10 Enterprise AI Predictions for 2026
Linkedin
January 29, 2026
2024 was the year of experimentation. 2025 was the year of pilots. Now 2026 is the year enterprises must deliver

See publication

Tags: AI Ethics, Open Innovation, Startups

Top 6 AI Predictions and Trends for Enterprises in 2024
Linkedin
December 26, 2023
To say that 2023 has been a transformative year for AI would be an understatement. We witnessed relentless innovation, surprising breakthroughs, and new AI products coming in so fast it’s been hard to keep pace.

See publication

Tags: AI Ethics, Open Innovation, Startups

1 Award Judge
Startup Accelerator Program Judge
MassChallenge
September 10, 2021

See publication

Tags: AI Ethics

1 Corporate Partner
Startup Boston | Executive Speaker
Startup Boston
August 21, 2025

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Tags: AI Ethics, Open Innovation, Startups

1 Founder
Magazine Feature
Analytics India Magazine
October 14, 2022

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Tags: AI Ethics, Diversity and Inclusion, Open Innovation

1 Keynote
Innovating with AI at Enterprise Scale
Microsoft Ignite
November 13, 2025
How startups are helping leading enterprises scale AI to production, responsibly
Snippet from Microsoft Ignite 2025
Full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC_k53L1fC0

See publication

Tags: Agentic AI, Open Innovation, Startups

1 Panel
Panel: Enterprise AI: Scaling Innovation with Purpose (MIT Product Tech Conference)
MIT Product Tech Conference
November 01, 2024

9
00
BREAKFAST
9
30
OPENING REMARKS
10
00
OPENING KEYNOTE
Siya Raj Purohit (OpenAI)
10
30
PANEL DISCUSSION
The Hardware Horizon – Trends Shaping 2030

Neeka Mashouf (Rubi Labs)​
Vipul Potluri (Whoop)
Magnus Snorrason (Smart Systems Consulting)
Moderated by Carl Palme (Boundless Robotics)
FIRESIDE CHAT
Fireside chat with Google DeepMind

Reut Aharony (Google DeepMind)
​Moderated by Luis Armenta
11
15
COFFEE BREAK
11
30
PANEL DISCUSSION
Enterprise AI: Scaling Innovation with Purpose

Heena Purohit (Microsoft Startups)
Dalia Tarabay (IBM)
Michael Droesch (Bessemer Ventures)
Shankar Krishnan (AWS)
Moderated by Noga Shachar Schleyer (CyberArk)

See publication

Tags: Innovation, Open Innovation, Startups

1 Profile
Heena Purohit | Influencer and Speaker Profile
AI for Her
October 11, 2025

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Tags: Agentic AI, Generative AI, Open Innovation

1 Speaker Bureau Listing
Heena Purohit Speaker Profile | All American Speakers
All American Speakers
January 10, 2025
https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/celebritytalentbios/Heena+Purohit/466410

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Tags: Agentic AI, AI, Generative AI

3 Speaking Engagements
Counting to Inclusion: How Women Can WIN with AI
Youtube
May 22, 2025
From her first engineering lecture to leading AI product teams, the speaker has kept a running tally of how few women occupy tech spaces—and the count still doesn’t add up. Drawing on global studies of 140,000 workers, she reveals a persistent “confidence cliff,” fear of backlash, and skepticism of AI’s benefits that leave women using generative tools up to 40 percent less than men—even in fields they dominate. She argues that this gap threatens women’s career growth and the fairness of the systems we build.

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Tags: AI Ethics, Open Innovation, Startups

Implementing AI Responsibly and Securely
Youtube
November 21, 2024
Designed to bring together AI enthusiasts, enterprise leaders, startup founders, data scientists, and security experts. The session will explore AI implementation in enterprises, sharing real-world examples and strategies for overcoming challenges

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Tags: AI Ethics, Open Innovation, Startups

The Power of Foundation Models in Industry 4.0
Reliability Web
May 18, 2022

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Tags: AI Ethics, AI Governance, Open Innovation

1 Video
TEDx Talk: The Gender Gap in AI is worse than ever
TEDx
April 10, 2025
This talk addresses the urgent need for closing the gender gap in AI. It includes:
1/ The real state of the gender gap in AI + its impact (Spoiler: it’s worse than most people think).
2/ Research-backed reasons on why this gap exists.
3/ A simple, practical framework to close it - and help more people build AI literacy.

See publication

Tags: AI, AI Ethics, Generative AI

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