Seven Indian-American women from diverse fields including technology, finance, science, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and art have been named to Forbes’ 2026 “50 Over 50” list, which celebrates women aged 50 and above who are making a significant impact in their respective fields.
The sixth annual edition of the list features 200 women across four categories — Lifestyle, Impact, Innovation and Investment. The initiative is produced in partnership with Mika Brzezinski’s Know Your Value, and this year’s honourees include entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, investors, philanthropists and innovators.
The seven Indian-American women recognised on the list are Komal Shah, Asha Jadeja Motwani, Maya Ajmera, Ritu Narayan, Yamini Rangan, Shubhi Rao and Savita Subramanian.
Komal Shah: Championing Women Artists
In the Lifestyle category, 56-year-old Komal Shah was recognised for her contributions as an art collector and philanthropist.
An engineer by training, Shah moved from India to the United States to study computer science at Stanford University. After working as a technology executive in Silicon Valley, she shifted her focus towards philanthropy and supporting women artists.
Nearly two decades ago, Shah and her husband, technology investor Gaurav Garg, began building the Shah Garg Collection, which focuses on modern and contemporary works by women and artists of colour.
The collection aims to address historical gender disparities in the art world and museums. Earlier this year, Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection, a travelling exhibition featuring works from the collection, opened at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.
Asha Jadeja Motwani: Supporting US-India Innovation
Venture capitalist and philanthropist Asha Jadeja Motwani, 63, was recognised in the Impact category for her work supporting entrepreneurship and the US-India innovation ecosystem.
Motwani has invested in more than 200 technology startups, including early investments in companies such as Google, PayPal, Pinterest and AppDynamics.
Following the death of her husband, Stanford computer scientist and early Google mentor Rajeev Motwani, in 2009, she established the Motwani Jadeja Family Foundation. The foundation focuses on supporting entrepreneurs and strengthening innovation links between the United States and India. In 2025, she established the Motwani Jadeja Institute for American Studies at O.P. Jindal Global University with a $5 million endowment. The investment was described as one of the largest private contributions to American Studies in India.
Maya Ajmera: Advancing STEM Education
Maya Ajmera, 59, was recognised in the Innovation category for her leadership at the Society for Science, where she serves as president and CEO. She is also the executive publisher of Science News.
Ajmera first came to national attention as a participant in the Science Talent Search as a teenager. Today, she leads the organisation behind the competition and several major STEM programmes for school and college students.
Since becoming president and CEO in 2014, Ajmera has helped secure a $100 million, 10-year sponsorship for the Science Talent Search and launched an $11 million STEM outreach programme aimed at expanding opportunities for students from underserved communities.
Under her leadership, Science News has also expanded its reach to more than 23 million readers.
Raised in North Carolina by Indian immigrant parents, Ajmera studied biology at Bryn Mawr College before earning a master’s degree in public policy from Duke University. She also founded the Global Fund for Children, which supports organisations working with vulnerable children and young people.
Ritu Narayan: Transforming School Transportation
Entrepreneur Ritu Narayan, 53, was also recognised in the Innovation category for co-founding and leading Zum, a technology-driven school transportation company valued at $1.7 billion.
Narayan founded the company with her brothers in 2015 after experiencing difficulties in finding reliable transportation for her own children. Zum uses technology, including GPS and tablets, to connect school buses and student shuttle services with a platform that allows parents and teachers to track vehicles.
The company reported $333 million in revenue in 2025, representing a 35 per cent increase from the previous year. Its services are now used by around 5,000 schools across the United States.
Narayan has said that her experience reminded her of her mother, an educator in India who had faced similar challenges and left her job because of family responsibilities.
Yamini Rangan: Leading HubSpot’s Growth
Yamini Rangan, 53, was recognised for her leadership as CEO of HubSpot, the New York Stock Exchange-listed marketing software company.
Born in India, Rangan moved to the United States to pursue a master’s degree in computer engineering and later earned an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.
She became HubSpot’s CEO in 2021, succeeding co-founder Brian Halligan. Under her leadership, the company’s revenue has doubled to $3.1 billion. HubSpot also reported an annual net profit of $45.9 million in 2025, marking its first annual profitability.
Before becoming CEO, Rangan held senior leadership positions at Dropbox and Workday.
Shubhi Rao: Using AI to Address Workplace Gaps Shubhi Rao, 59, was recognised for founding and leading Uplevyl, an AI- powered platform designed to help organisations navigate complex workplace and life-related decisions.
Rao’s career has included leadership positions at Ford Motor, Tesco, Alphabet/Google and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
In 2020, she identified gaps in how information concerning women’s workplace and life circumstances was collected and used. She subsequently founded Uplevyl, which launched in 2021.
The platform combines data, laws, eligibility rules, benefits information, provider details and institutional knowledge to create intelligence tailored to specific jurisdictions.
Uplevyl’s services are used by organisations including Evercore, Ancestry.com and Equal Rights Advocates. Rao has described her experience over three decades as one in which systems often treated women as an “edge case”. Her company aims to address those gaps using AI and structured knowledge systems across areas such as workplace rights, financial decisions, healthcare and caregiving.
Savita Subramanian: A Voice in US Markets
In the Investment category, Savita Subramanian, 54, was recognised for her role as managing director and head of US Equity and Quantitative Strategy at Bank of America. Subramanian is responsible for the bank’s forecasts for major US stock indexes and is a prominent commentator on financial markets. She joined the organisation in 2001 as a strategist at Merrill Lynch, which later merged with Bank of America.
Subramanian drew national attention in June 2026 after publishing an investment note warning of potential risks in the stock market. Her message, “Too many red flags. Take profits,” cautioned investors about indicators that could signal a potential bear market.
Recognition of Achievement and Influence
The Forbes list was compiled following thousands of nominations, along with research, reporting and fact-checking by journalists from Forbes and Know Your Value.
The inclusion of seven Indian-American women highlights their contributions across sectors ranging from technology and artificial intelligence to finance, scientific education, entrepreneurship, art and philanthropy.
Their stories also reflect the growing influence of Indian-American women in leadership positions across the US corporate, technology, academic and philanthropic landscape, while many continue to maintain strong connections with India and the wider Indian community.