Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist, HeyMath!
Chennai, India
Nirmala Sankaran (Nimmi) is an entrepreneur, a cheerleader for women and a fiercely protective mom. She co-founded HeyMath! in 2000, with the mission to upskill teachers and enable success for every student in math. HeyMath! has impacted more than a million students and 10,000 teachers globally and was quoted as an example of Globalisation in Education in Tom Friedman’s ‘The World is Flat.’ Nirmala was featured as one of the top 50 STEM women in India (2021). She is passionate about community building and mentoring fellow entrepreneurs and students.
Prior to HeyMath! Nirmala was Vice President at Citigroup, where she worked from 1989 to 2000 in operations, sales and product management in Mumbai, Bahrain and the UK.
Nirmala received her MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and completed her bachelor’s degree at Delhi University.
In 2019, Nimmi completed the one year Stanford Seed Transformation Program, an initiative of Stanford GSB, targeted at entrepreneurs looking to scale their ventures. The program was a game-changer and inspired Nirmala to expand her leadership capacity. She was elected Vice President of the Seed Network for South Asia (a community of 200 founders) in 2020 and has since served as President and Past President of the Network. Read more about her work at Seed www.stn-southasia.com
Nirmala enjoys cricket, badminton and cycling. She is an avid traveler and has visited 40 countries. She has two lovely daughters; one a doctor in Ireland and the other an artist in Newcastle,UK. Learn more about her interests at www.nirmalasankaran.com