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:

" Getting everyone to agree on what research should answer and in what order is where the fruitful back and forth happens. "
How to make UX research leadership more effective [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
October 26, 2023

" Research run rampant — anyone feeling empowered to do research can sometimes cause quality challenges. "
Two Jobs in One: Being a “Leader who is a Researcher” and a “Researcher who is a Leader"
March 10, 2021

" I’m exceptionally qualified to talk about design systems because I’ve never used one until recently. "
An Organizational Story: Salesforce Lightning Design System
June 9, 2016

" I try to position the system as an enabling force for designers to succeed better, not as confines or limits. "
Discussion
June 9, 2016