Industry Leaders Champion Agentic AI at Salesforce Trailblazing Women Summit

Trailblazing Women Summit convenes cross-industry executives and legendary cricketer Mithali Raj to chart a new playbook for leading in the Agentic Era

Bengaluru, India, May 6, 2025: Salesforce, the world’s #1 AI CRM*, today hosted the Trailblazing Women Summit in India – a strategic forum for leaders navigating the shift from AI adoption to AI agency. The summit, themed “Drive Success in the Agentic Era”, saw participation from 380+ in-person attendees and 3,700+virtual participants, from across industries. The summit addressed a defining question for leaders: not whether to adopt AI but how to architect agency, the strategic ability to leverage AI agents as force multipliers for career and organisational success.

The summit featured a fireside chat between Arundhati Bhattacharya, President and CEO, Salesforce India & South Asia, and Mithali Raj, former Captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket Team. Across a 23-year career spanning multiple eras of transformation — from her international debut in 1999 to leading India into the digital age of sport — Mithali offered a blueprint for adaptive leadership that resonated far beyond the cricket pitch. She urged leaders to move beyond managing disruption toward defining it, arguing that the teams who win are those who build trust, clarity, and the agility to reinvent continuously.

Reflecting on the parallels between sports and leadership, Mithali Raj, former Captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket Team, said “Every era brings new conditions and new rules. The leaders who thrive are not those who resist change, but those who build teams capable of turning it into a competitive advantage. That is as true in cricket as it is in any boardroom navigating Agentic AI today.” 

Reflecting on the significance of the summit and leadership in the agentic AI era, Arundhati Bhattacharya, President and CEO, Salesforce – South Asia, said, “We are at an inflection point — not just for technology, but for leadership itself. The Agentic Era gives us the ability to direct AI with intention, freeing people to lead with what matters most — judgment, empathy, and purpose. This summit is about having the conviction to build that future ourselves, not simply adapt to one being built elsewhere.”

Executive panels further deepened the conversation: 

• A panel on leading the agentic enterprise, moderated by Aditi Sharma, RVP and Head of Consumer and Manufacturing Industry Segment, Salesforce India, brought together Piya Haldar, Chief Compliance Officer, Honeywell India; Ashima Bhat, Group Head, HDFC Bank; and Nathalie Scardino, President & Chief People Officer, Salesforce. They explored how organizations are reimagining teams and operating models for a world where AI agents and human ingenuity work in tandem to deliver results.
• Another panel on future-proofing careers in the AI era, moderated by Geetha Chandrasekhar, VP Engineering, Salesforce, featured Annapurna Vishwanathan, Head of Digital, Airbus India; Praneet Sidhu, Head of Sales, WeWork India; and Sridevi Rao, SVP Customer Success, Salesforce. The conversation centred on a clear conviction that distinctly human judgment is the most indispensable asset in an AI-driven world, and panelists shared strategies for cultivating it.