Ms. Rajaraman is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. As USAID/Colombia's Mission Director, Anu oversees a team of 145 professionals and a diverse suite of projects to achieve a more peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable Colombia.
Previously, Anu was Mission Director in Guatemala where she led the mission to strengthen partnership with Indigenous Peoples and promote more inclusive, locally led development. She has also served as the Agency’s USAID Forward Coordinator and lead on the Journey to Self-Reliance initiative. While serving in the U.S. Global Development Lab, Anu led agency efforts to integrate science, technology, innovation, and private sector partnership into mission operations and programs. While in India, Anu and her team helped transform USAID’s development model to better harness India’s entrepreneurship and innovation to strengthen development outcomes. Anu served previously in Colombia from 2007-11, and has managed development initiatives across South Asia, Latin America, and Southern Africa.
Anu joined USAID as an Urban Management Fellow assigned to USAID’s Regional Urban Development Office in South Africa in 2001, and later as a Presidential Management Fellow (Democracy & Governance Officer) in 2003. Raised on Galveston Island, Texas, Anu earned her BA in Government from the University of Texas at Austin and holds an MPA from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Anu enjoys movies and popcorn, biographies, squarely defeating her husband at tennis, and promoting animal welfare.