Ishu Gupta

Ishu is deeply committed to building sustainable and equitable cities by working at the intersection of government policy, politics, and processes. Leveraging his insights and expertise in people-centric policymaking, public leadership, and governance transformation, he aims to work with cities and states to promote efficient and effective governance. He holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Technology in electrical engineering from Aligarh Muslim University.

With over a decade of experience working with state and city governments, Ishu specializes in data governance, capacity-building, policy campaigns, ensuring the fulfillment of citizens’ rights, and supporting policy implementation. In addition, he is the founder of two nonprofit organizations that empower young adults by providing access to education and opportunities to explore their passions.

At Harvard, Ishu contributed to projects at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government. He also served as Vice President of the Kennedy School Student Government and collaborated with the mayor’s offices of the city of Providence and city of Gainesville.

In his free time, Ishu enjoys reading poetry, writing letters, cooking, exploring diverse cuisines, and traveling to experience local cultures.

Initial Fellowship Focus: The fellow will contribute to the development of key performance measures and identification of relevant use-cases for applying analytics to improved service delivery and resident outcomes.