Prashanthi Raman has over 15 years of experience navigating challenging, highly charged, and complex political environments. As Vice President of Global Government Affairs for Cruise, an all-electric, autonomous vehicle company, she oversees public policy and regulatory issues for the company worldwide. Prior to Cruise, Prashanthi served as Head of State and Local Government Relations at Lyft, where she played a pivotal role in creating and expanding the ridesharing industry across North America.
She started her career as a healthcare attorney, which ultimately led to her appointment as associate chief of staff for healthcare and human services by then governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn. Throughout that time, Prashanthi worked with a diverse set of decision-makers to advance the governor’s agenda, negotiate multiple legislative bills, and led major policy initiatives, which included medical marijuana, Medicaid expansion, and ridesharing. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and Chicago-Kent College of Law and received her Masters in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
As a woman of color and mother of two, Prashanthi is breaking glass ceilings and leading in an emerging tech space where senior leadership positions are particularly underrepresenting women and people of color. In furthering impact to these communities, Prashanthi serves on the Board of Directors of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the PowHerful Foundation, and is a recent appointee by Secretary Buttigieg to the US Department of Transportation Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity.
