Nalini P. Kotamraju
Vice President, Research & Insights, Salesforce
Nalini P. Kotamraju, Ph.D. is Senior Vice President of Research & Insights at Salesforce, where she leads a cross-disciplinary team that drives insights for product design and development. She previously led research at Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and assorted dot.coms. She is a sociologist who spent the past 25 years investigating people’s professional and personal use of technology.
Nalini’s interest in people’s use of technology solidified when she witnessed firsthand the Internet’s global influence while working on the historic 1995 United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing. Nalini held positions of Associate Professor at IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark and University of Twente, Netherlands, focusing on digital technologies, design practice, and social science research methods.
Nalini earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from University of California, Berkeley, her B.A. cum laude in Social Studies and her B.A. cum laude in Women’s Studies from Harvard College.
Rosenverse talks by Nalini:
" Strong trust and partnership with design or product leaders is essential for successful research democratization. "
How to make UX research leadership more effective [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series] (Videoconference)
October 26, 2023
" I’m transparent about compromises I make for the greater good, even if that sometimes frustrates my research team. "
Two Jobs in One: Being a “Leader who is a Researcher” and a “Researcher who is a Leader"
March 10, 2021
" Trust comes from having design principles that give us a way to have less ‘I want it this way’ arguments and more about user experience. "
An Organizational Story: Salesforce Lightning Design System
June 9, 2016
" You have to treat the design system as a product that delivers features and releases over increments, never really done. "
Discussion
June 9, 2016
