Ritu Narayan, founder and CEO of Zum, a leader in modern student transportation, has been named an EY U.S. Entrepreneur of The Year 2026 Bay Area Award winner.
Narayan was selected among hundreds of entrepreneurs and business leaders recognized for their vision, innovation, and ability to create long-term value, Redwood City, California based company announced.
Zum is transforming one of the nation’s most critical yet overlooked public infrastructure systems: student transportation, it stated. Under Narayan’s leadership, Zum has grown from a personal mission to solve a transportation challenge she experienced as a parent into a leading technology platform serving school districts across the country.
Today, Zum supports transportation for more than 4,500 schools across 18 states, helping districts improve reliability, increase operational efficiency, and expand access to education for millions of students.
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Narayan is being recognized not only for building a category-defining company but for reimagining student transportation as critical infrastructure that drives educational access, equity, and opportunity.
By combining technology, operations, and electrification, Zum is helping school districts modernize a system that affects millions of students every day.
“When I started Zum, I simply wanted to solve a problem that I experienced firsthand as a parent,” said Narayan. “I never imagined the scale of impact this journey would have.”
Now in its 41st year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors business leaders for their ingenuity, courage, entrepreneurial spirit, and commitment to creating long-term value.
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A Delhi Institute of Technology Computer Engineering graduate, Narayan has an MS in Management from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Under her leadership, Zum has pioneered a technology-first approach to student transportation, helping school districts improve service quality while reducing costs and modernizing operations.
The company is also leading the transition to electric school buses, including the nation’s largest electric school bus deployment and largest bidirectional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) school bus fleet in partnership with San Francisco Unified School District.
Through its Connected Mobility Experience (CMX) platform, the company is helping districts improve attendance, increase transparency for families, strengthen operational performance, and create more equitable access to education.
As a Bay Area award winner, Narayan will now be considered for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2026 National Awards, which will be presented in November at EY’s Strategic Growth Forum, one of the nation’s premier gatherings of entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders.