Navrina Singh, Indian American Founder and CEO of Credo AI, is among the winners of Wisconsin Alumni Association’s 2026 Luminary Award recognising alumni who serve as aspirational examples for others through their accomplishments.
Singh, a University of Wisconsin-Madison electrical and computer engineering major, is focused on unlocking the potential of artificial intelligence by helping organizations to assess and manage AI’s risks and ensure that their use of AI is trustworthy, according to her profile.
It’s the next step in a career that’s been shaped by relentless curiosity and a self-described “renegade” spirit. “I always wanted to create my own world where I could make change happen,” Singh says.
When she was growing up in India, she was inspired watching her mother reinvent her own career, from teaching to fashion design. Singh’s father served in the Indian military for four decades and instilled in her a deep sense of service and community.
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With the help of her parents and a scholarship, Singh was able to leave her home in India to pursue her dream of higher education in the United States and quickly felt at home at UW–Madison.
Singh made the most of her time at UW–Madison, assisting professors with research and becoming a teaching assistant while earning her master’s degree in electrical engineering. Drawn to STEM by the ability to turn her ideas into reality, Singh initially focused on hardware, earning her master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering.
She spent more than a decade at Qualcomm in research and development engineering, contributing to wireless technologies and infrastructure that remain central to smartphones and mobile devices today.
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She was recruited to work at Microsoft to focus on the software and cloud computing side of technology. It was there that a new set of questions began to take shape around artificial intelligence: What does responsible AI look like? What is our responsibility? How do we ensure that these systems serve humanity?
Singh founded Credo AI in 2020 to help answer those questions. The company’s platform provides organizations with a centralized way to govern, measure, and monitor AI systems while keeping pace with emerging global regulations and standards.
She also serves on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee, is an AI expert at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and serves as an adviser to the UN AI Advisory board.
“The question I always pose is not, ‘What can go wrong with this technology?’ but, ‘What will humanity look like when we get this right?’ ” Singh says. “We’re excited about what’s next, and from where I stand, it’s going to be beautiful, prosperous, and human-centered.”