Mrinalini Ingram

Mrinalini (Lani) Ingram is the VP of Verizon’s Smart Communities organization and leads the company’s initiative on digital transformation of cities, universities, utilities, and sports & entertainment organizations. Her goal is to drive economic growth, enable environmental sustainability, and enhance quality of life for citizens, students, and fans on a global scale.

Verizon Smart Communities (VSC) creates and implements smart solutions in areas such as lighting, traffic, parking, citizen engagement, and public safety & security, in addition to simplifying the development and deployment of solutions through the Smart Communities & ThingSpace platforms. VSC is committed to developing best-in-class connected solutions with Verizon’s strong ecosystem of partners while maintaining the highest standards of network security, data privacy, and solution implementation. Lani has developed a Public Private Partnership model with cities to leverage the best of Verizon and the government leaders in order to drive city innovation and deliver a diverse array of solutions for its citizens. The first of these partnerships was with the City of Sacramento which provided solutions to drive innovation, youth job creation, bridging the digital divide, and providing smart city solutions.

Lani has been a leader in developing the Smart Communities and IoT industry for over a decade beginning with her leading Cisco's Smart + Connected Communities Strategy and Business Development team. She worked closely with governments, ISVs/developers, enterprises, and service providers on business architectures and business models that wove together people, services, community assets, and information into pervasive solutions. Lani has enabled Smart City initiatives through joint ventures, alliances, investments, and other business engagements across the globe including such countries as Korea, India, Malaysia, Australia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, and the US.

Prior to her focus on Smart Communities, Lani spent over 21 years in finance, the last four years as the CFO for Cisco's Globalization Center in India, where she was part of the initial pioneer team that created Cisco's second headquarters and launched the company’s global IoT and Smart Communities initiatives. She was also responsible for $1.8b of investment activities into the region.

Lani is was president of the board of directors for Silicon Valley Talent Partnership, a non-profit created with the former Mayor of the City of San Jose to drive joint solutions between enterprises and governments on cities most pressing issues. She also served on the board of directors for DialSource, a telecommunications software company designed to drive sales efficiency. Lani is also a frequent speaker, giving a TEDx talk on the power of connecting people.

Lani stays active in her community and advocates for diversity and empowerment, speaking at several women in business conferences in several countries. She is an active member of the HBS Community Partners organization in the Silicon Valley and has served as the parent treasurer for both Bellarmine College Prep and Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton where she managed a combined $2m worth of annual charitable contributions.

Lani earned her CPA while working for PriceWaterhouse Coopers and holds a B.A. from Gonzaga University and an executive MBA from Harvard Business School, where she is also an elected class officer.