Chief Operating Officer, Way.com, Fremont, California
Sharada Bose stepped out of Oregon State directly into HP’s Corvallis division. After two years, she moved to the company’s headquarters in Silicon Valley and held various leadership roles over the next 14 years before retiring in 2012. "I thoroughly enjoyed my 24-year career at HP," said Bose. As a single mother, she liked the corporate stability HP offered, and as an engineer she enjoyed contributing to software, server, storage, cloud, and data center technologies. She created and led large, global teams and worked successfully with technology giants such as Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle."During those 24 years, while HP had six different CEOs, I acquired the equivalent of two additional engineering degrees and three MBA degrees," she said.
But there was always part of her that dreamed of joining a startup. “Many startup opportunities came my way in the early 2000s during the internet boom," she said. "I had several friends saying, ‘You’d be a perfect fit, come join us.’ "After retiring from HP, Bose embraced the fast-paced, versatile world of startups. As chief operating officer at Way.com, she is involved in building a company from the ground up. “I’m now living my dream," she said. As a community leader, Bose serves on several nonprofit boards. She is a trained classical Indian dance artist, and she dances, teaches, and writes about the art and culture of the dance form. She is also a trained counselor and advocate for victims of sexual assault."I’m now living my dream."
Degrees
- M.S. Computer Science, 1988
- B.S. Computer Science, 1986