Swapna Bapat is the Vice President and Managing Director for the India and SAARC region at Palo Alto Networks, based in Bengaluru. In this role, Swapna is responsible for driving profitable growth, expanding the technology footprint across all customer segments, fostering strategic go-to-market alliances, and scaling the partner ecosystem. She is also focused on building and developing talent within the organization across the region.

Before taking on this role in November 2024, Swapna served as Vice President of Product Management, where she led product definition,  market analysis, and the execution of product strategy for Asia Pacific and global markets. She played a key role in defining and guiding the product roadmap to enable meeting the cybersecurity needs of the Asia Pacific and Japan region. She fostered strong engagement with local customers and partners in the region.

With more than 25 years of experience as a technology leader, Swapna has led top-performing teams at companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Brocade  and Automation Anywhere.

Before joining Palo Alto Networks, Swapna spent six years at Microsoft as Senior Director for Data Analytics and AI, working closely with customers in India, to enhance their business insights and advance their AI adoption. She also held the role of Senior Director of Sales Engineering at Automation Anywhere, where she managed a team of Sales Engineers across India, the Middle East, and Africa, helping customers implement Robotic Process Automation. Earlier in her career, Swapna worked at Cisco where she was responsible for the DPI product roadmap in the cellular networks division after which she  led the development and execution of go-to-market and product strategies in India.

Swapna holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science with a specialization in telecommunications (patent holder in BGP Route Target Definition) from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.