Aneesh
Aneesh Raman is Microsoft's Chief Economic Opportunity Officer, where he is focused on the question that has run through his career and now sits at the center of the AI era, which is how do we emerge from this moment of great disruption to work with more economic opportunity for more people in more places than before? His answer, built on his work at LinkedIn and as co-author of the New York Times bestseller Open to Work, is that AI will make human capability more valuable, not less, and so the disruption ahead is best met by empowering people and organizations with the mindset and agency to adapt in real time and shape what comes next. Alongside working with companies on how best to manage their business transformations, he also helps Microsoft’s Engineering organization connect insights from workers and companies with the teams building the AI powered tools that will help usher in a new era for work.
Prior to LinkedIn, Aneesh served as a Senior Economic Advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom, helping shape and communicate the growth agenda for one of the world’s largest economies as well as supporting the state’s response to the global pandemic. He joined the Governor’s Office after five years in the technology sector, including as Head of Economic Impact at Facebook. From 2009 to 2013, he held multiple roles in the Obama Administration, including serving as a speechwriter to President Barack Obama and as speechwriter to the U.S. Treasury Secretary during a global financial crisis.
Aneesh began his career as a CNN correspondent, first in Southeast Asia and then across the Middle East, where he spent two years as a war correspondent in Iraq. A graduate of Harvard College and a former Fulbright Scholar, he serves on the boards of College Futures Foundation, which expands access to postsecondary education for underserved learners in California, and Shanti Bhavan, an education nonprofit serving children from some of the most economically disadvantaged communities in India. He is a former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and former member of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library’s New Frontier Award Committee.