India-born technology executive Henna Karna has been selected as a senior fellow in Harvard University’s 2026 (ALI) cohort.
With the 18th fellowship cohort coming to Cambridge, another group of accomplished leaders joins the campus community over an academic year in residence committed to develop and implement strategies and solutions to address some of society’s most urgent challenges, according to the Harvard Gazette.
Henna Karna brings to ALI expertise in technology including data, analytics, and artificial intelligence, it said. She has formally held leadership roles at large technology focused companies including Google, AXA XL, and AIG.
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Karna has built and transformed billion- dollar businesses by developing and stewarding first-in-class, sophisticated products leveraging artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, language models, and genetic algorithms.
She serves as a mentor, advisor, and board member for select public and private boards including Creative Destruction Lab, AAA (The Auto Club), Atsign (Tech-Identity), Essent Guaranty, and Hamilton Insurance.
As a champion for elevating under-represented people including the economic diversity, neurodiverse, military, and returning parents, she is committed to an AI enablement approach that is people-first, according to Harvard Gazette.
Curated to ensure broad sector diversity, the 2026 ALI cohort includes notable, executive-level participants with deep experiences in government, military, social entrepreneurship, consumer products, energy, financial services, healthcare, professional services, manufacturing, entertainment, and technology.
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These diversified experiences assist cohort members in the formulation of multi-sector approaches to solving societal challenges at scale, it said.
The 2026 ALI cohort is also distinctly global in scope: 19 members were born outside the United States, and collectively cohort participants have lived in 23 states throughout the U.S. and 45 countries across six continents.
These perspectives and experiences will further enrich both the peer-to-peer learning within ALI and the learning throughout the campus community during the fellowship year, according to the Gazette.
Founded in 2009, ALI each year brings extraordinary leaders to Harvard who are ready to redirect their talents and experiences toward next chapters of service and purpose, and this new cohort again embodies the program’s mission to help prepare highly accomplished individuals to serve as catalysts for lasting social impact.