Bhaskar Deka, a Silicon Valley-based Assamese technology executive, has been honoured by US-based publication ‘Human Resources Executive’ as one of the top 100 global technology executives this year.
The annual list includes top technology executives from global companies such as Google, Oracle, Disney, Facebook, SAP and others. Bhaskar Deka is one of the six persons of Indian origin to be included in the list and the only Assamese to be bestowed with that honour.
“The people named to the list enjoys a reputation that makes an impact within the industry across various fields and this year’s influencers are shaping the delivery of HR technology,” the website of ‘Human Resources Executive’ says about the list. The award ceremony will take place in the second week of October in Las Vegas.
Bhaskar Deka is currently a global vice president (GVP) and general manager and a member of the senior leadership team for Cornerstone on Demand, a global software leader in talent management with multiple billion dollars in annual revenue and with offices around the world including in India.
Since immigrating to the United States in 1995, Bhaskar Deka has held senior leadership positions in engineering and product management in top Silicon Valley stalwarts such as Oracle Corporation.
Originally from Guwahati, Bhaskar Deka had a stellar academic record from his formative years. As the eldest son of Mrinalini Deka and Late Rajendra Nath Deka, he grew up in the Pub Sarania/Rajgarh area and did his schooling at Cotton Collegiate High School. He secured 3rd position in the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination and also won the Assam Science Society award for getting combined highest marks in Mathematics, Science and Assamese Literature and joined Cotton College for his higher secondary education.
He graduated with first class with distinction from Birla Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree (BE) in Computer Science and Engineering. He then received a Masters in Science (MS) degree in Computer Science with a focus on Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems from Boston University, US. Bhaskar also has an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, USA – one of the top 5 management institutes in the world.
As chief product and artificial intelligence (AI) officer, Deka has been credited with leading product development in three startups with successful exits in the past 9 years with a total exit value of over 1 billion dollars.
These start-ups have been funded by some of the best venture capital firms with hundreds of billions dollars assets under management – with marquee names such as SoftBank, Insight Partners, CrossLink capital and Bessemer Venture Partners. Deka has also been an advisor to multiple startups in the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning space and venture capital firms focused on investment in Artificial Intelligence technologies.
Deka lives in Palo Alto, California in Silicon Valley with his wife Monmi Dutta who is a lead software engineer with Wells Fargo, a global financial services leader, and two kids.
