American journalist
Aneesh Raman
|
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Book Event for 'West Wingers' in Boston
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Alma mater
| Harvard College
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Occupations
|
- Tech Executive
- Policy Advisor
- Speechwriter
- Newscaster
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Spouse
| Dr. Haley Naik
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Aneesh Raman
is currently a vice president and workforce expert for
LinkedIn
.
[1]
[2]
A former
CNN
war correspondent
and
speechwriter
to President
Barack Obama
,
[3]
[4]
Raman has focused his career in recent years on the expansion of economic opportunity. He first wrote about that issue in a 2016 guest essay for
Fortune Magazine
.
[5]
In January 2024, he co-authored an opinion piece for
The New York Times
entitled
The AI Economy Will Make Jobs More Human.
[6]
Raman has contributed to two books. He recounted his experience as the first Indian-American Presidential Speechwriter in
West Wingers: Stories from the Dream Chasers, Change Makers, and Hope Creators Inside the Obama White House
[7]
and authored a chapter in
My Life: Growing Up Asian in America
, which was the first title released by the relaunched
MTV
Books.
[8]
A graduate of
Harvard College
and a former
Fulbright
scholar, Raman is a Board Member at
Shanti Bhavan school
.
[9]
He is a former member of the
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
's New Frontier Award Committee
[10]
as well as a former term member at the
Council on Foreign Relations
.
[11]
Focus on Economic Opportunity
[
edit
]
At
LinkedIn
, Raman is leading an effort to help build a more efficient and equitable labor market by engaging with leaders from the public and private sector. His work centers around making skills-first thinking mainstream in talent management, which is a priority for LinkedIn.
[12]
[13]
Prior to joining LinkedIn, Raman was a Senior Economic Advisor to
California Governor
Gavin Newsom
[14]
and, before that, was Head of Economic Impact at
Facebook
.
[15]
[16]
Raman also was VP of Growth at
RaiseMe
, a since acquired social impact startup expanding access to higher education.
[17]
Obama Administration
[
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]
After joining the presidential campaign of
Barack Obama
as part of the communications team set up for vice presidential nominee
Joe Biden
, Raman became speechwriter to
Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner
during the
2008 financial crisis
and ensuing recession.
[18]
Raman subsequently worked on strategic communications at
The Pentagon
before joining the White House staff as a Presidential Speechwriter,
[19]
where he focused on domestic policy and was the main speechwriter on immigration reform. He wrote about that experience in 'West Wingers' and 'My Life: Growing Up Asian in America'
CNN career
[
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]
Raman was
CNN
’s first correspondent based in the
Middle East
responsible for region-wide coverage. At the time of his departure, Raman was based in
Egypt
but was largely responsible for coverage out of
Iran
. Over the course of a dozen trips, Raman reported extensively on Iran's nuclear ambitions and the growing frustration of the people towards their government.
From 2005 to 2006, Raman was CNN's
Baghdad
Correspondent, living in
Iraq
during an exceptionally volatile period in the
Iraq War
. In addition to embedding with US forces across the country, he provided some of the most comprehensive reporting on Iraq's National Assembly and the efforts to ratify a new constitution. Raman also provided in-depth coverage of the
Saddam Hussein
trial and was notably the first American television journalist to announce
Saddam Hussein
's execution.
[20]
[21]
In 2014, Raman appeared on television a number of times to discuss the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
's offensive in Iraq.
[22]
[23]
Raman's initial international posting was in
Bangkok, Thailand
, where he was the first Western reporter to go live from
Phuket, Thailand
after the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
. Raman spent weeks covering the aftermath of the resulting tsunami and was part of the CNN team that won a 2005
Alfred I. duPont?Columbia University Award
.
While at CNN, Raman reported from a number of countries including
Iran
,
Iraq
,
Egypt
,
Lebanon
,
Syria
,
Saudi Arabia
,
Turkey
,
England
,
Spain
,
Nicaragua
,
India
,
Japan
,
Thailand
,
Cambodia
,
Singapore
,
Philippines
and
Indonesia
. In July 2007, he gave a speech at the
Clinton School of Public Service
about his experiences as a foreign correspondent and the changes taking place in cable news.
[24]
Raman first appeared on CNN in 2004, when he profiled the younger generation and their involvement in the
American 2004 presidential election
. In June 2008, Raman left CNN and later joined the U.S. presidential campaign of Democrat
Barack Obama
.
[25]
He began his television career while in college, earning a local
Emmy Award
for anchoring
Kids Talk Sports
, a weekly sports talk show that aired on
New England Cable News
.
[26]
Personal life
[
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]
Raman graduated from
Harvard College
magna cum laude
and was a
Fulbright Scholar
. He grew up in
Wellesley, Massachusetts
and went to
Wellesley High School
.
[27]
Raman married Dr. Haley Naik in 2012 after they were introduced to one another by a mutual friend.
[28]
References
[
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]