Marketing Director
Jharna brings 15+ years experience in product planning and marketing. Her previous work history includes over 7 years at Microsoft, where she held diverse positions ranging from program management for Microsoft’s multimedia products to product planning for Word and ending as a group product manager running a marketing team for an introductory financial product.
As a program manager, Jharna drove the design and functional specifications of a line of CD-ROM products, managed the development schedule and established content partnerships with the NBA and MLB. As a product planner for Microsoft’s Word business, she played a key role in defining the product vision, running market/competitive analysis and research to evaluate product strategy and served as the champion of customers, making sure the product met and exceeded their expectations. As a group product manager in the Desktop Finance division, she managed the complete mix of the traditional "4 Ps" of marketing for an introductory personal tax product, owned a $5M marketing budget, managed the P&L, and was responsible for allocating the budget and headcount.
After leaving Microsoft, Jharna was a consulting Senior Associate for SS+K, a strategic communications agency, where she specialized in positioning and messaging for a wide range of industries including aviation, healthcare, gaming and software. She has also consulted for start-ups and volunteered for a non-profit think tank, providing strategic advise on short and long term planning.
Jharna is a magna cum laude graduate from Brandeis University where she received a dual degree in Computer Science and Economics. She was a recipient of the prestigious Wien International Scholarship and received the Goldfarb award for outstanding leadership.