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Satish, smiling

Satish Viswanathan

Head of Social Impact and Sustainability, India and Middle East

I am a technologist, delivery professional and operations leader with more than two decades of experience in the tech industry. As the Head of Social Impact, I focus on Thoughtworks' Social Change lens and seek to harness our collective talents as technologists to amplify positive social change. I work on identifying opportunities in the areas of responsible technology and global health. I also work on shaping our social impact strategy and integrating it closely with the rest of our business. Additionally, as the Head of Sustainability, I lead our corporate sustainability efforts in the India Middle East region.

 

I have had opportunities to contribute to several of Thoughtworks' key social impact initiatives. 

 

I have the privilege of representing Thoughtworks on the governing committee of Bahmni, an award-winning, free and open source electronic medical record (EMR) system that is used in more than 50 countries. As part of my role, I lead the activities of the Bahmni coalition, lead partnership outreach and governance efforts.

 

In partnership with the Geneva-based NGO, Women at the Table, I led the team that built the Gender Gap App (g-App), a digital tool that measures representation, active participation and the influence of participants at events and in decision-making spaces. 

 

I was part of a team that built RapidFTR, an innovative mobile tool to help aid workers reunite children with their families after disasters and helped pilot this in refugee camps in Uganda. I was a core team member of the People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), a living journal and an archive of rural India and was involved in creating the platform, defining the digital strategy and advising on leveraging the use of open source volunteers and community to make the platform community-owned and socially maintained. I was also an innovation advisor for the Start Network's DEPP Labs programme, a radical new way of community-led innovation for disaster risk reduction.

 

Previously, as Office Principal, I helped set up and run Thoughtworks' office in Coimbatore, India. As a delivery lead for Thoughtworks India, I provided delivery oversight, risk management and handled client relationships for a portfolio of projects for clients in the retail, technology, life sciences, health and development sectors. I have experience working with stakeholders in multiple geographies and industry verticals. I also helped set up and run the STEP internship programme.

 

My professional interests are helping delivery teams discover effective ways of working, design thinking, innovation and coaching. I am deeply influenced by the philosophy of working espoused by Extreme Programming (XP) and a passionate believer in sustainability and local solutions.

Thoughtworks acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land where we work and live, and their continued connection to Country. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were the world's first scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians. We celebrate the stories, culture and traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders of all communities who also work and live on this land. 

 

As a company, we invite Thoughtworkers to be actively engaged in advancing reconciliation and strengthen their solidarity with the First Peoples of Australia. Since 2019, we have been working with Reconciliation Australia to formalize our commitment and take meaningful action to advance reconciliation. We invite you to review our Reconciliation Action Plan.