Anuja Sonalker

Anuja Sonalker is the founder and CEO of autonomous vehicle software company, STEER Tech and has been recognized as Automotive News’ Top 100 Leading Women in the North American Automotive Industry (2020), and Distinguished Alumni of University of Maryland. Dr. Sonalker draws two decades of experience from both the automotive industry and the US cybersecurity defense sector. Most recently she was appointed to the Board of the US DOT National Center for Transportation Cybersecurity and Resiliency. Under her leadership, STEER was awarded the Best Emerging Business Model (Automotive News) and Fast Company’s Ideas that Change the World. Prior to STEER she held executive leadership positions at global organization Battelle and Parsons. At Battelle she led the automotive cybersecurity practices, GTM and successfully franchised the Battelle Cyberauto Challenge to SAE. At Parsons she was branch chief of Cybersecurity. She holds several chairperson positions leading global, pan-industry efforts in Automotive Cybersecurity at SAE and ISO Organizations. Apart from these, Dr. Sonalker serves on the following esteemed boards:

Board of the US DOT National Center for Transportation Cybersecurity and Resiliency (established by the President’s Order)
Executive Board Member of Center for Automotive Research (CAR), Michigan, USA
Board of Visitors for the University of Maryland College Park and Dean’s Advisory
The Board of PAVE (Partners for Automated Vehicle Education)
Economic Development Board of Howard County, MD.

She holds a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park and enjoys mentoring women and high school students in STEM in her spare time. She lives in Maryland with her husband and her two sons.