For Aarti Borkar, every challenge is an invitation—to innovate, to collaborate, and to lead with purpose. A self-described “data geek” with a passion for math and systems thinking, Aarti has spent her career turning complexity into clarity across some of the world’s most critical technology frontiers.
Now Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Security’s Customer Success and Incident Response team, Aarti brings decades of industry experience, an eye for scalable solutions, and a commitment to empowering both customers and communities. Her impact is felt in boardrooms and breach response centers alike.
Before joining Microsoft, Aarti’s journey included transformative roles at IBM, where she led product and growth strategy across more than a dozen acquisitions—including multi-billion-dollar deals that reshaped several Data and Application businesses. Her ability to bridge business strategy with technical execution sparked growth across global portfolios and accelerated digital transformation for customers worldwide.
At Microsoft, Aarti has doubled down on customer impact. Since stepping into her leadership role, she has grown the Global Customer Success Security team from 120 to over 1,000 professionals in just three years—empowering more than 4,500 organizations to secure their digital environments in the past year alone. Under her direction, Microsoft’s Incident Response team has also launched a new proactive motion: hundreds of customers now engage Microsoft to be their primary incident response provider, a move that has changed the dynamics of the industry.
Aarti’s teams deliver more than services—they deliver business resilience. Her strategy team converts frontline feedback into product enhancements, technical enablement, and community insight, making security both scalable and deeply human. Her personal sponsorship of key strategic accounts across the globe further illustrates her commitment to co-creating value with customers.
But Aarti’s influence doesn’t stop at strategy decks or security protocols. As executive sponsor for the Microsoft Women in Cybersecurity ERG, as well as sponsor of the Executive Women CISO Community, a group of more than 50 industry women CISOs, she’s mentoring the next generation of cybersecurity talent and nurturing a thriving ecosystem of women leaders in tech. “Every action contributes to building a cognitively diverse workforce,” she says. “If we don’t share our stories, we miss the chance to inspire others to rise.”
Her philosophy is simple, but powerful: “If we focus on finding problems, they tend to become larger than life blockers. But if we focus on meaningful outcomes, we tend to find more doors and pathways.”
That mindset has not only unlocked innovation at enterprise scale—it’s opened new doors for women in tech, across industries and around the world.
About #empowHER50 campaign
This campaign celebrates women leaders at Microsoft, past and present, who have been instrumental in democratizing access to technology, opportunity, and growth. By honoring their contributions over the last half-century, this campaign highlights stories of resilience, innovation, and inclusivity. Through digital spotlights, a commemorative coffee table book, live recognition events, and more, the campaign inspires collective action toward achieving equitable societal goals. To learn more about empowHER50, please visit https://womenincloud.com/empowHER50
To learn about Microsoft 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/
