Bina Venkataraman is an executive leader, journalist, and author who has led mission-driven teams at The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Broad Institute of Harvard & MIT, and in The White House. She currently serves as chief investment impact & strategy officer at a global philanthropic fund investing in truth and trust in the information ecosystem.
Until August 2025, she served as the inaugural columnist of the future and editor-at-large on the opinions side of the masthead of The Washington Post. Previously, she was the editorial page editor of The Boston Globe. overseeing the news organization’s opinion coverage and its editorial board, including two Pulitzer finalist series in editorial writing.
Venkataraman formerly served in the Obama White House as senior advisor for climate change innovation, as director of global policy initiatives at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, as a policy advisor to President Obama’s science advisory council, and as a reporter for The New York Times and The Boston Globe. Her 2019 book, The Optimist’s Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age (Riverhead), was named a top book by The Financial Times and a best book of the year by National Public Radio.
Venkataraman is a frequent public speaker & moderator whose appearances have included the TED mainstage, the Aspen Ideas Festival, CNN, NPR, and the University of Southern California’s Commencement. An alumna of Brown University and the Harvard Kennedy School, she has taught courses in the program on science, technology, and society at MIT and at the Kennedy School; she currently teaches courses for the Pulitzer Center for editors around the globe to cover artificial intelligence from an accountability perspective. She serves on the Getty Museum’s PST ART advisory council, the board of CoGenerate, and on the MIT Corporation’s Visiting Committee on the Humanities.