Speaker Profile

Sonia Raman is the head coach of the 4x WNBA champions, the Seattle Storm. Raman brings a winning pedigree built across the NBA, WNBA and collegiate ranks to one of the league’s most storied franchises.

Prior to joining Seattle, Raman served as an assistant coach with the New York Liberty. Before entering the WNBA, Raman spent four seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies as an assistant coach, contributing to three postseason appearances while playing a key role in player development, scouting and analytics.

Raman’s coaching foundation was built at the collegiate level, where she spent two decades shaping programs and student-athletes. As head coach of the MIT women’s basketball program, she captured two conference championships, led the Engineers to their first NCAA Tournament appearances and established the program as a perennial contender, earning multiple Coach of the Year honors. Raman was named MIT’s head coach on July 9, 2008, after six seasons as an assistant coach at Wellesley College. Her early coaching career also included time as an assistant at Tufts University from 1996–1998, her alma mater.

A native of Framingham, Massachusetts, Raman was a four-year basketball student-athlete at Tufts before earning her Juris Doctor from Boston College in 2001. She began her professional career in law, working for the U.S. Department of Labor and later at Fidelity Investments. In 2008, she made the decision to leave her legal profession to pursue coaching full-time.

Raman is a trailblazer in the sport, becoming the first Indian American woman to serve as an NBA assistant coach and later the first Indian American to be named a head coach in the WNBA. Known for her analytical approach, player-centered development style and impactful leadership, Raman continues to break barriers while building winning cultures at every level of the game.

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