Aalok Kanani

Aalok Kanani is Asia Society’s first Chief Digital and Communications Officer, overseeing the organization's marketing and communications efforts and leading its transformation into a digital first institution.

Aalok joined Asia Society in February of 2022, after leading marketing and digital strategy for a range of public, private, and nonprofit organizations. In 2020 he was the Director of Digital Communications for the Biden-Harris general election campaign. Before that he held the same role for Pete Buttigieg’s primary campaign.

Aalok served in the Obama administration overseeing digital strategy for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Prior to that, he was the Confidential Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Education. He left the Obama administration to join the UN’s Ebola Response Mission, working as a Public Information Officer across Sierra Leone and Liberia, and subsequently worked as a consultant advising the African Development Bank, FIFA, and nonprofits across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Prior to Asia Society, Aalok was on the public affairs team at Lyft. Early in his career, he worked for a start-up accelerator in Bangalore and a technology policy think tank in San Francisco.

Aalok has a BA in International Relations from Tufts University and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.