Kavita Ramdas

Kavita Ramdas was appointed as Ford Foundation India Country Representative in June 2012. Founded in 1952, the New Delhi office has the distinction of being the foundation’s first office outside of the United States and has cultivated a rich history of empowering the citizens of India and the region. Kavita previously served as the Executive Director of Ripples to Waves, a program at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University focusing on social entrepreneurship and development. Prior to that, she was a visiting scholar at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and Rule of Law and at the Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society. During her tenure at the Global Fund for Women, where she served as President and CEO from 1996 to 2010, the assets of the fund increased from $3 million to $20 million while the number of countries that received grants tripled. Currently, Kavita serves as a Trustee of Princeton University, Mount Holyoke College and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and serves on the board of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the African Women’s Development Fund USA. She also Chairs the Women in Public Service Initiative, a joint effort by the U.S. State Department and an alliance of women’s colleges, and the Expert Working Group of the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health of the Aspen Institute. She is the recipient of numerous philanthropic and leadership awards and is a respected and prolific commentator, writer, and speaker on issues related to human rights, development, environment and population, gender equality and justice, and philanthropy. Kavita was born and raised in India and educated at Delhi University, Mount Holyoke College, and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She is a member of the 1999 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.