CNN’s ‘Champions for Change’ Recognizes Zum Founder and CEO Ritu Narayan for Modernizing Student Transportation

CNN has selected Ritu Narayan, Founder and CEO at Zum, as one of its 2025 Champions for Change.

Now in its ninth year, the annual programming highlights eight leaders who demonstrate “how simple humanity can make profound, positive changes in communities and businesses.” CNN will air profiles of the honorees from Sept. 7-12. An hourlong Champions for Change special airs Sept. 13 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. 

“You can track your pizza, you can track your packages — but you have no idea where your children are,” Narayan tells CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir. “(I thought), why is the technology not applied, and how can I revolutionize this whole thing? It is a problem hidden in plain sight.”

Watch CNN’s profile of Zum here.

In the piece, Weir also meets a family that has been positively impacted by Zum’s technology and visits Zum’s state-of-the-art facilities in Oakland, California. In 2024, Zum launched the nation’s first fully electric fleet of school buses in Oakland. All 74 EV buses are equipped with groundbreaking vehicle-to-grid technology that allows them to send energy back to the grid when not in use.

“The 74 buses in Oakland are giving 2.1 gigawatt hours of energy, which is equal to powering 400 homes annually,” Narayan says. 

Adds Weir: “School bus by day, power plant by night.”

Zum manages and operates safe, reliable and equitable student transportation in more than 4,000 schools across 14 states nationwide. In addition to highly trained drivers and state-of-the-art school buses, Zum integrates data-driven routing, driver tracking and enhanced safety measures, offering families real-time updates through the Zum mobile app.

Thank you to CNN for this honor — and to all of the families and schools nationwide who support Zum’s mission to deliver safe, reliable student transportation!Learn more about CNN’s Champions for Change here.