Aarathi Krishnan, RAKSHA’s
Executive Director & Founder

Aarathi Krishnan is an experienced and well-respected international aid expert. In addition to experience working directly in fragile crisis contexts, Aarathi has worked for almost two decades with senior decision-makers across governments, the UN system, and international organizations on all aspects of risk intelligence, foresight, strategy, and governance. 

Aarathi’s work has always pushed the boundaries of what is possible. Her published work is known to be standard-setting and has been incorporated in the pedagogy of the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC), International Committee of the Red Cross Red Crescent (ICRC), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Brandeis University, and Cornell Tech.  

Aarathi is widely known and trusted in multilateral, humanitarian and academic spaces. She has been published widely, and is a sought-after expert public speaker. Her TED Talk has been viewed more than 1.6 million times by TED viewers and translated into five different languages beyond English. She has been featured by Fast Company, The Saturday Paper Australia, ABC Radio Australia, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies amongst many others. Aarathi has advised governments from Bhutan, Maldives, Cambodia, Botswana, and many more. She is a trusted advisor for philanthropic organizations and think tanks, including the World Economic Forum.

Aarathi is currently an Affiliate with the Cambridge Centre of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge and has previously been a dual Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Berkman Klein Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard University as well as a 2020-21 and 2021-22 Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Harvard Carr Centre for Technology and Human Rights.