Ramya Venkataraman

Ramya Venkataraman is Founder and CEO of CENTA Pvt Ltd (Centre for Teacher Accreditation), which is the world’s largest professional platform for teachers and a growth stage start-up, serving close to 2 million teachers, from 100,000+ schools and 100 countries. 70% of the community is from India, with the rest mostly from across Asia and Africa. In a fully tech-enabled manner, CENTA certifies teachers on their competencies, supports their upskilling and provides them with tools including AI-based assistants. CENTA provides employers from across the globe with teachers for a range of requirements. As a result, CENTA creates career growth and livelihoods for teachers, making teaching a more aspirational profession and fundamentally impacting quality of education. Ramya has been widely recognized for her work, e.g. among 15 Women Transforming India by NITI Aayog and UN, among 50 Leaders Reviving India’s Education by EducationWorld, as an Ashoka Fellow, by CNBC Awaaz, by Economic Times and others.An alum of IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta, she is among ‘Distinguished Alumni Awardees’ of IIM Calcutta and was recognized for ‘Outstanding Contribution to National Development’ by IIT Delhi. Prior to founding CENTA, Ramya had a 15-year career with global major McKinsey & Company, serving some of India’s biggest conglomerates across sectors and also having stints in North America, Europe and SE Asia. She has been recognized with a global entrepreneurship award at McKinsey.