Prime Highlights :
- Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi pledges $1 million to endow a women’s scholarship fund at BITS Pilani.
- Advaithi delivers the convocation address, urging graduates to embrace opportunities without waiting to feel fully ready.
Key Facts :
- Scholarship named the Visalam Swamy and Sucheta Mulgund Scholarship, honoring both donors’ mothers.
- Advaithi has led Flex’s global workforce across 30 countries since 2019.
Background :
Indian American business leader Revathi Advaithi has pledged $1 million to set up a permanent scholarship endowment for economically disadvantaged women students at her alma mater, the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
She established the fund jointly with her husband, manufacturing technology leader and investor Jeevan Mulgund, naming it the Visalam Swamy and Sucheta Mulgund Scholarship in honor of their mothers.
The institute said the scholarship aims to ensure financial circumstances never keep a talented young woman from receiving a BITS Pilani education. Advaithi, Chief Executive Officer of Fortune 500 manufacturing and supply chain company Flex, has led the firm’s global workforce across 30 countries since 2019, focusing on technology innovation, supply chain resilience, and sustainable manufacturing.
She announced the gift as chief guest at the university’s 2026 convocation, recalling her own path from a 1990 BITS Pilani graduate to a global CEO. Built around the phrase “ready enough,” her commencement address encouraged graduates to step into opportunities rather than wait until they felt fully prepared, drawing a standing ovation.
BITS Pilani Group Vice Chancellor Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao introduced Advaithi as a global manufacturing leader known for innovation and responsible manufacturing.
Following the planned spin-off of Flex’s Cloud and Power business, Advaithi will lead the new independent company as CEO while serving as Chairman of the Flex Board through the transition. She also sits on the boards of Uber and the MIT Presidential CEO Advisory Board.
