Avny Lavasa is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service since 2013 batch and has worked primarily in Jammu and Kashmir. She is presently posted as Secretary of the Transport department in the government of Jammu & Kashmir, working on transportation policy. She has worked on various public transport projects and is an ardent advocate of enhancing public transport and walkability in cities and towns. She has held various roles that have helped her gain experience of large urban infrastructure and mobility projects as the CEO of JK Economic Reconstruction Agency, Municipal Commissioner and CEO of Jammu Smart City. In her role as Deputy Commissioner of Jammu and Leh districts, she has dealt with land administration and governance extensively. Avny has a Masters in Urban Planning degree from Harvard University, as a Fulbright fellow, with a concentration in Transportation and Infrastructure where she graduated with Distinction. Her bachelor’s degree (honours) is in Economics from Lady Shriram College, Delhi University. Her academic and research experience focuses on transportation, land and urban governance, and infrastructure. At MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, she supported research on ‘successes’ in Indian urban governance, worked with the World Bank’s South Asia Climate Change Practice on climate adaptation needs of infrastructure in secondary cities and conducted a research study in her Masters program on land use regulation in India. She is also a keen sports and fitness enthusiast herself and participates in marathons regularly.