About Seemantini Godbole
Seemantini Godbole, Executive Vice President and Chief Information & Digital Officer at Lowe’s, has discussed the company’s approach to cybersecurity, technology investment, and artificial intelligence. In a December 2023 interview, Godbole stated that cybersecurity and organized retail theft are significant issues for the retail industry and Fortune 500 companies, and said Lowe’s focuses on preparedness through its asset protection team and technology such as RFID-based Project Unlock. She noted that the company has deployed more than 50 AI products into production at scale and has been experimenting with generative AI since the release of ChatGPT. Godbole described her role as growing Lowe’s business, including having P&L responsibility for lowe.com, and said the company invests heavily in technology under CEO Marvin Ellison, who she described as a “true believer” in technology.
In a 2019 profile, Godbole shared personal reflections on her career and advice for women in technology. She said she was drawn to math and science because they allow for experimentation and immediate results. Godbole advised women in tech to “hang in there,” continuously learn, and believe in themselves. She also described her approach to navigating being a woman in the workplace: not taking advantage of being a minority while not allowing others to write her off.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Seemantini Godbole's recent appearances.
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Transcript (3 segments)
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Seemantini Godbole0:14
Subjects where I felt like you can touch it, feel it, and you can actually experiment with something and see results immediately. I'm not talking about things like history, but for example, if you wanted to make a change in history, that takes phenomenal effort. My mom was a huge example, a really courageous woman. She had discipline in the house, but also compassion. The way she encouraged us to do our best. I bought this fire pit in anticipation of spring, and now I can't wait. It was clearly an impulse buy.
Where I would be on the other extreme, but what I did throughout that job and always in my career is to come in the middle, to not take advantage of the fact that there are a few women, and at the same time not allow anybody to write me off. When I'm kind of stressed and I'm at work and I'm thinking about something and I haven't quite solved the puzzle, just making something for my family for dinner, loading the dishwasher, that really unlocks some of those puzzle pieces and helps me relax. I'm a big proponent of doing something different but equally engaging and involving, which releases your stress.
I'm now at Lowe's, and I'm like, my god. Advice to all women in tech would be: hang in there. My second advice would be to continuously learn, find time for that. And my third advice would be, believe in yourself.
