Padmasree Warrior

She built Motorola’s tech, led Cisco’s strategy, and took NIO to IPO.

Meet Padmasree Warrior, an engineer-turned-CEO who has shaped the future of Motorola, Cisco, NIO, and now, Fable.

Padmasree joined Motorola in 1984, rising through the ranks to become CTO in 2003.

She led the company’s push into seamless mobility, envisioning a world where mobile devices connected effortlessly.

Under her leadership, Motorola won the 2004 U.S. National Medal of Technology, marking the first time the company had received this honor.

In 2007, she left Motorola to become CTO at Cisco, overseeing corporate strategy, acquisitions, and venture investments.

She managed over $2B in acquisitions and spearheaded Cisco’s transition to cloud computing, AI, and IoT.

Years before these technologies became mainstream.

In 2015, she became CEO of NIO U.S., the American arm of the Chinese electric vehicle startup.

She helped scale NIO from a startup to a successful IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: NIO) in just three years, making it one of the first Chinese EV companies to go public in the U.S.

In 2019, Padmasree shifted gears again.

This time to digital well-being.

She founded Fable, a curated reading and book club platform designed to help people build healthier screen habits and improve cognitive fitness.

The app uses AI to recommend books and facilitate deep, meaningful discussions.

Applying technology to mental wellness instead of just productivity.

Beyond her executive roles, Padmasree serves on the board of Microsoft (since 2015) and Spotify (since 2017), helping shape the strategies of two of the world’s largest tech companies.