Deepa Prahalad

Deepa Prahalad is an author, business strategist and consultant specializing in opportunities at the intersection of consumer experience, technology and strategy. Passionate about emerging markets and innovation, she began her career researching how to improve efficiency in UN procurement and later moved to Singapore to become a commodities trader with Cargill. Prahalad has worked with firms from start-ups to large multinationals and has been RKS’s global insights leader since 2008.

Prahalad collaborated with RKS to research and co-author the upcoming book, Predictable Magic: Unleash The Power of Design Strategy To Transform Your Business (Wharton School Publishing). She has spoken at business schools such as USC and Harvard on design strategy using the EMPOWER framework she developed and conducts workshops for executives. More recently, she worked with Harvard Business School to develop a case exercise on the use of the RKS’ Psycho-Aesthetics® design philosophy.

Prahalad has a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Prahalad’s work as a management consultant includes writing the first business plan for MyOwn.MD, (now Anvita Health), a real-time clinical decision support system and Google Health partner. She has also written about the business case for design in Bloomberg Businessweek and other magazines.