Shefali Ranganathan – Rising through the ranks

Shefali Ranganathan, 38 has been named the deputy mayor of the US city of Seattle. She had already earned a lot of appreciation as a smart policymaker in the field of transportation. Ranganathan is the executive director of Transportation Choices Coalition, a nonprofit that lobbies for transit, walking and biking infrastructure in Seattle. Mayor-elect Jenny Durkan selected Ranganathan to head her transition team. Speaking about her success, her father Pradeep Ranganathan reminisced that Shefali was always ahead of her peers in school and college. He attributes her success to her outstanding work in the field of transportation which has got recognized. He hopes this acts as an inspiration for all young girls in the country and abroad. Ranganathan did her schooling at Good Shepherd Convent, Nungambakkam, and went on to pursue a BSc in zoology at Stella Marris. She also studied environmental science at Anna University where she was a gold medallist. She moved to the US in 2001 and went on to study at an American University. She was offered a job by the government to work in the area of environmental conditions in Washington DC even before she had completed her course. In 2014-15, she joined the Transportation Choices Coalition as a mid-level executive and went on to become the executive director. She was commended for her work on the light rail project for which she was selected as one of the business leaders who were part of the '40 under 40' awards programme compiled by the Puget Sound Business Journal. In her new role as deputy mayor, Ranganathan, along with Ron Sims and Paul Lambros, will serve as co-chair of Durkan's transition committee and develop ideas on housing, homelessness and transportation for the new mayor to act on immediately after taking office.  May she achieve great success in her new endeavour.