Ritu Sharma, MPH, is the Vice President for US Programs and Policy Advocacy at CARE USA. She guides the organization's advocacy towards the US Government, international institutions and across 42 national governments.

In addition, Ritu leads CARE's nascent work across the United States providing emergency response to disasters and economic opportunities for women.

Prior to CARE, Ritu was a Regional Director at the International Youth Foundation working on young women's economic opportunity, and a Senior Fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies leading the joint CSIS-IYF Youth, Prosperity and Security Initiative.

Ritu also founded Women Thrive Worldwide in 1998 to give women and families living in the poorest countries around the world a voice in the U.S. Congress and before executive branch agencies. Over 17 years Women Thrive grew into a broad, inclusive and impactful coalition that successfully altered numerous U.S. policies to benefit women and girls and promote locally-led development. These include the Millennium Challenge Account’s Gender Policy (2007), the White House Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally (2012), and the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy (2012), to name only a few. She is also the author of Teach a Woman to Fish: Overcoming Poverty Around the Globe.

Ritu holds a BSFS from Georgetown University and an MPH from Johns Hopkins University.