Aparna Prabhakar

Vice President, Quantum Partners & Alliances IBM Quantum

Aparna Prabhakar is a transformational senior business executive and change catalyst with deep experience in building and scaling strategies for long-term success.

Currently, she is a vice president at IBM where she leads the IBM Quantum Ecosystem, driving adoption, business development, and enablement of the world's largest quantum computing network.

Previously Aparna was an executive leader at IBM corporate strategy, where she led and developed the strategic outlook and recommendations at the C-Suite level for AI, Quantum computing, High-performance computing systems, and Cloud Computing. Beyond that, Aparna has been in multiple technical and sales leadership roles during her tenure at IBM.

In recognition of her leadership in the electronics and infrastructure industry, Aparna was inducted into IBM Industry Academy in 2021 as one of the top 300 industry leaders from worldwide IBM. She has multiple patents and publications, has been highlighted as one of the three most dynamic technical women in IBM, and awarded the rising technical start award by the Women of color organization.

Aparna earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and an MS from Louisiana State University. She is also an advisory board member for the Guidance Center of Westchester, providing educational and career opportunities in STEM for underprivileged youth.

Aparna lives in NY with her husband and her 2 boys