Emerging Leader
Geetika Purohit
John Deere
For exceptional leadership and commitment to team goals; for superb communication skills that bring results; and for serving as an advocate of empowerment for women in engineering.
Geetika Purohit is manager, hay and forage software delivery, at John Deere’s Enterprise Technology Engineering Center (ETEC), located in Pune, India. She leads the function of 50-plus engineers responsible for quality software delivery for all hay and forage machines, including forage harvesters, windrowers, round balers, and large square balers. Her group is responsible for software delivery of more than 12 new and current programs and serves internal stakeholders from the U.S., France, and Germany.
Previously, Purohit was software delivery lead for baling and mowing products in Ottumwa, Iowa, and was manager for forage harvesters and windrowers software delivery teams, where she was responsible for employee development and talent planning for both product teams, comprising approximately 25 engineers. Under her leadership, the team grew 50% and achieved an engagement score of 97%.
Prior to that, Purohit worked as software systems engineer for the forage harvesters team in Zweibrücken, Germany, where her focus was embedded software systems design, translating electrical systems requirements to software requirements, developing software architecture, and making key software-centric decisions for her team.
Purohit has been instrumental in forming and expanding the hay and forage software team in India. Believing that “recognition must happen at the right time or lose significance,” she has led talent development and recognition initiatives, resulting in increased recognition for the department within the company. In 2017, Purohit spearheaded Innovation Abode, a unique program targeting 18 new graduates and postgraduate hires. Purohit designed the program to break the notion of requiring dedicated time to innovate. The program was so successful that it served as a basis for future innovation programs in the department.
The first woman engineer in her family, Purohit encourages young girls from her family and hometown to pursue education in engineering. She has mentored several young engineers, including both women and men at John Deere. As a communicator, she freely shares her international experience of living on three continents. She is multilingual and speaks English, German, and three Indian origin languages at various proficiency levels.
Active in professional organizations, Purohit served as executive member on the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) India chapter committee from 2016-19. She was an organizing committee member of the Asia-Oceania Systems Engineering Conference in Bangalore, India, in 2016. Actively engaged in SWE since 2015, she co-delivered the lightning talk “Connected Machines Transforming Today’s Off-highway Industry” at the 2017 WE Local India conference.
Purohit holds a B.S. in electronics and telecommunication from Cummins College, Pune, India, and an M.S. in software systems from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India. She has recently completed certification in system design and management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In her free time, she enjoys being with family and friends, music, and travel.