The 2020 Women Leaders in Technology: Avani Desai

Her family never cared how much money she made, or how much recognition she gained—they only cared that she committed to better herself and those around her in a field she found satisfying. 

They cared that she worked to push herself to the forefront, craved innovation, and chose to be a leader. Her father and grandfather would say, "a family dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge will always be wealthier than those dedicated to the pursuit of profit.  Money will come and go, but knowledge can never be taken." Still, having immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s, they never anticipated that they would see one of their daughters take on this role, she says.   

"It was also memorable for my children," Desai says. "I always worry that my responsibilities and the attached time away hurt them, but having reached this point, I know my work sets a positive example for them. I want my daughter, Sareena, to know that her opportunities are limitless, and for my son Sahil to never underestimate women's capabilities."

But as is often the case, Desai ended up in consulting not so much by choice, but rather by chance. She says she never thought she would go into computer science and then somehow segue that into working for an accounting firm. "However, when I think back, everything that I considered exciting and attractive in a potential job—solving problems, data analysis, encouraging collaboration for decision making—is what I've found. I'm so happy as to how it's all worked out."

Being a trusted partner for clients and helping them hand in hand solving their technology compliance issues has been exciting since 2012 when she started and still is today, she says.  "We are not just helping our clients, but we are helping them write their story so they can tell their customer how much they have achieved," Desai says. "Whether it is emerging requirements from technologies like blockchain or artificial intelligence of the threat of cybersecurity the compliance market is seeing a lot of growth and I am excited that I'm at the forefront to help clients."

Over the next 12 months, Desai says she is looking forward to continuing to work with women in the technology and information security and mentoring them into leadership positions. "There is a huge pool of latent female talent which is doubtless inhibiting not only the speed of commercial change, but the potential of all our businesses," she says. "We women have a mission-critical battle which is to fight against the gravitational pull of our own self-doubt to achieve 100 percent gender parity because we no longer must prove that women can be incredibly successful leaders. Being able to help young women achieve that and hopefully continue that has been a mission for 2020 and beyond."

What does winning Consulting's Women Leaders in Technology award mean to you?

Desai: "It is humbling and gratifying that the work I do every day is seen as impactful and worthy by both our clients and my firm. I always have lived by the Confucius quote, 'Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,' and I have been lucky to find that in the technology industry."