2021 Nominee
Rashmi Char
VP, Engineering
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Rashmi Char serves as vice president of engineering for Qualcomm Technologies Incorporated. Her current responsibilities include leading the 700-person global product and tools organization and serving as the overall MSM software project engineer for chipsets across the company’s portfolio, the overall IP guardian leading the IP Protection efforts to protect Qualcomm’s IP for Qualcomm technologies, and the overall tools platform project engineer to build a best-in-class Snapdragon Developer Environment.
Rashmi Char joined Qualcomm in 1997 as an intern and has held roles of increasing responsibility in Mobile Product Development and Commercialization since that time. One of her first key positions was in UMTS Protocol Stack Development. She then moved on to lead global Software Design and Development teams to support High-Speed Data Services overall air interface technologies (UMTS, LTE, CDMA). As Software Project Engineer and Architect, Rashmi led the worldwide commercialization of the first worldwide LTE (4G) capable handset launches on all major carriers’ networks including VZW, ATT, SKT, LGU+, and Sprint, and a number of cutting-edge 4G modems for mobile products. Rashmi excels at multitasking across various roles, directly leading hundreds of employees, while also simultaneously leading projects comprised of thousands of engineers around the world.
Rashmi is a member of Qualcomm’s Women’s Leadership Council, executive sponsor of Qualcomm Women’s organization (QWomen), Board member of the Girl Scouts of San Diego, Board member of San Diego Fleet Science Center, and a member of the CSU San Marcos Advisory Council for the College of Science and Mathematics.
Rashmi firmly believes that attracting and retaining more women in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce will maximize innovation, creativity, and competitiveness and is passionate about doing her part to promote women in STEM. Rashmi’s efforts in diversity advocacy are recognized by employees in and outside her own org. She works deliberately to ensure that her team is diverse and intentionally addresses diversity & Inclusion during program reviews, hiring initiatives, AR reviews, and more which inspires those around her. Rashmi works closely with our QWomen employee network and created the Women’s Speakership Club, a platform for women to share their professional experiences, promote their prospects and network within Qualcomm. Rashmi is also an avid member of her community and contributes a lot of volunteer efforts towards getting a more diverse population to enter STEM education and professions
Rashmi has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Electronics and Computer Science and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from SDSU.