Aaryaman Singhal – Youth Organizer & Advocate

Most recently, Aaryaman resigned from his full-time job to become an unpaid youth organizer and advocate as part of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. Previously, as Chief Operating Officer for Groundwork Dallas, Aaryaman led a team responsible for the organization’s fundraising, Green Team youth initiatives, and financial tracking, while working with the Executive Director and Board of Directors to set strategic goals for the organization. He is most proud of developing a year-round, paid work program in which youth received job training in sustainability fields.

Prior to joining Groundwork Dallas, Aaryaman Singhal gained 3 years of formative experience as a Technology Analyst at Southwest Airlines. While there, he saw the value of putting people first and operated a governance process through which Vice Presidents and C-level executives approved over $100 million of projects each year. He also led the technology department’s effort to implement project management practices that would be standard company-wide. Earlier at World Resources Institute, Aaryaman supported a team researching how the world could sustainably feed 9.5 billion people by 2050. Aaryaman is also passionate about mentorship and people development. In college, he started a seminar to help freshman conduct research, and later he partnered with college hires and all levels of management to more than quadruple the size and budget of Southwest Airlines' Technology College Hire Program. Aaryaman's education also reflects his diverse interests. He completed the Plan II Honors and Business Honors Programs at The University of Texas at Austin, earning bachelor’s degrees in liberal arts and business administration, respectively.

Aaryaman's interest in sustainability grew out of his experience traveling and living abroad as a child. He noticed that in some countries his family had to boil water to drink it. Through these experiences, Aaryaman saw how the environment affected the quality of people's lives. Throughout his life, he has continually invested more time into ensuring a livable future for himself and others.