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== Personal life ==
== Personal life ==
Ramaswamy met his wife Apoorva, an Assistant Professor and clinician at the [[Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center]], when they lived near each other at [[Yale University]], where they were studying law and medicine, respectively.<ref name="NYdec12" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Apoorva T Ramaswamy, MD |url=https://cancer.osu.edu/find-a-doctor/search-physician-directory/apoorva-t-ramaswamy#education-training |access-date=February 22, 2023 |website=cancer.osu.edu |publisher=[[Ohio State University]]}}</ref> Together, they have two sons.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zito |first=Salena |date=February 21, 2023 |title=Vivek Ramaswamy runs for president: 'Unapologetic pursuit of excellence in this country' |work=[[Washington Examiner]] |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/vivek-ramaswamy-runs-for-president-unapologetic-pursuit-of-excellence-in-this-country |access-date=February 22, 2023}}</ref> Ramaswamy is [[Hindus|Hindu]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ramaswamy |first=Vivek |date=March 23, 2021 |title=The Pluralism Within |work=Fort Bend Independent |url=https://fbindependent.com/the-pluralism-within-p14709-89.htm |access-date=February 22, 2023}}</ref>
Ramaswamy met his wife Apoorva, an Assistant Professor and clinician at the [[Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center]], when they lived near each other at [[Yale University]], where they were studying law and medicine, respectively.<ref name="NYdec12" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Apoorva T Ramaswamy, MD |url=https://cancer.osu.edu/find-a-doctor/search-physician-directory/apoorva-t-ramaswamy#education-training |access-date=February 22, 2023 |website=cancer.osu.edu |publisher=[[Ohio State University]]}}</ref> Together, they have two sons.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zito |first=Salena |date=February 21, 2023 |title=Vivek Ramaswamy runs for president: 'Unapologetic pursuit of excellence in this country' |work=[[Washington Examiner]]|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/vivek-ramaswamy-runs-for-president-unapologetic-pursuit-of-excellence-in-this-country |access-date=February 22, 2023}}</ref> Ramaswamy is [[Hindus|Hindu]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ramaswamy |first=Vivek |date=March 23, 2021 title=The Pluralism Within |work=Fort Bend Independent|url=https://fbindependent.com/the-pluralism-within-p14709-89.htm |access-date=February 22, 2023}}</ref>


''[[Forbes]]'' estimates Ramaswamy's net worth at $600 million. He currently resides in [[New York City]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Profile - Vivek Ramaswamy|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/vivek-ramaswamy/?sh=6bf7071f54cd|work=[[Forbes]]|access-date=23 February 2023}}</ref>
''[[Forbes]]'' estimates Ramaswamy's net worth at $600 million. He currently resides in [[New York City]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Profile - Vivek Ramaswamy|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/vivek-ramaswamy/?sh=6bf7071f54cd|work=[[Forbes]]|access-date=23 February 2023}}</ref>

Revision as of 04:28, 24 February 2023

Vivek Ramaswamy
Ramaswamy speaks at AmericaFest 2022
Born (1985-08-09) August 9, 1985 (age 39)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
EducationHarvard University (AB)
Yale University (JD)
TitleCo-founder and Executive Chairman, Strive Asset Management
Political partyRepublican
SpouseApoorva Tewari Ramaswamy
Children2
Websitevivekramaswamy.com

Vivek G. Ramaswamy (born August 9, 1985) is an American entrepreneur, author, and conservative political activist.

After working as an investment partner, he founded the biopharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences in 2014. Since 2020, he has been writing and speaking out against stakeholder capitalism, big tech censorship, and critical race theory.[1][2] He left Roivant in 2021 and published Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam in August 2021. In 2022, he co-founded Strive Asset Management, an investment firm opposed to environmental, social, and corporate governance, where he currently serves as the Executive Chairman,[3] and published Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence in September 2022.

Ramaswamy was dubbed "The C.E.O. of Anti-Woke, Inc." in a 2022 New Yorker profile,[4] and has been described as "one of the intellectual godfathers of the anti-woke movement" by Politico in 2023.[5] On February 21, 2023 Ramaswamy announced his decision to run in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries on Tucker Carlson Tonight.[6]

Early life and education

Ramaswamy was born in 1985 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and raised there.[4][7] His parents immigrated from Vadakkencherry, Palakkad, Kerala, India. His father graduated from a regional engineering college in Kerala, and worked for General Electric as an engineer and patent attorney, while his mother graduated from Mysore Medical College and worked as a geriatric psychiatrist.[4][8] Ramaswamy has argued that American-style capitalism provides an antidote to the caste system in India by offering lower-caste citizens more economic opportunities.[9]

Ramaswamy graduated from St. Xavier High School, a Jesuit high school in Cincinnati, in 2003.[10] In high school, he was class valedictorian and a nationally ranked junior tennis player.[4]

In 2007, Ramaswamy graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with an A.B. in biology. He wrote his senior thesis on the ethical questions raised by creating human-animal chimeras. His thesis was awarded the Bowdoin Prize for Natural Sciences, and a precis was published in The New York Times and The Boston Globe in 2007.[11][12][13] In 2011, Ramaswamy was awarded a post-graduate fellowship by the The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.[12] In 2013, Ramaswamy received a J.D. from Yale Law School.[14]

Business career

In 2007, Ramaswamy and Travis May co-founded Campus Venture Network, a technology company that provided software and networking resources to university entrepreneurs.[15] The company was acquired in 2009 by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.[16] Ramaswamy worked at QVT Financial from 2007 to 2014, where he was a partner and co-managed the firm's biotech portfolio, while simultaneously attending Yale Law School from 2010-2013.[17]

Roivant Sciences

In 2014, Ramaswamy founded the pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences, a company that focuses on applying technology to drug development, for which he served as CEO until 2021. Ramaswamy appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine in 2015 for his work in drug development.[18] The story was about Ramaswamy raising $360 million for a Roivant subsidiary Axovant Sciences to try and save an Alzheimer's drug that had failed at GlaxoSmith Kline. In 2017, the drug also failed at Axovant, and as of June 2018, Axovant had a market value of $276 million[4][19]

In 2020, Ramaswamy co-founded Chapter Medicare, the only consumer-first Medicare navigation platform.[20][21]

In early 2021, Ramaswamy stepped down as CEO of Roivant Sciences to publish Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam, which debuted at #2 on The New York Times bestseller list.[22]

Strive Asset Management

Ramaswamy is currently co-founder and executive chairman of Strive Asset Management, an Ohio-based asset management firm that was backed financially by Peter Thiel and J. D. Vance, among others.[4] Strive was established to offer an alternative to larger asset managers like BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard, which Ramaswamy has criticized for engaging in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities, and mixing business with politics to the alleged detriment of shareholders.[23]

Strive's total assets under management surpassed $500 million on November 11, 2022, three months after the launch of its first fund.[24] In January 2023, Strive launched a proxy advisory service to compete with such mainstream firms as Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services.[23] Ramaswamy has been described by Axios and Bloomberg as "the leading anti-ESG crusader."[25][26]

Nonprofit work

Ramaswamy has served on the board of directors of The Philanthropy Roundtable, an organization that aims to "foster excellence in philanthropy, protect philanthropic freedom and help donors advance liberty, opportunity and personal responsibility." He has also served on the board of directors of The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FreOpp), a nonprofit think tank focused on expanding economic opportunity to those who least have it.[27][28] In 2021, he became a member of the Board of Trustees of St. Xavier High School.[29]

Political involvement

Ramaswamy has proposed repealing a law that forces presidents to spend all the money Congress appropriates. He rejects the diversity, equity, and inclusion and environmental, social, and governance movements.[30]

In 2022, Ramaswamy considered a candidacy in the 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio.[31] In 2023, it was reported that Ramaswamy might run for President of the United States in the 2024 election. According to a profile in Politico, Ramaswamy was inspired by Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election, and wants to run "with an entrepreneurial spirit, unorthodox ideas, and few expectations" in the hopes of building "a major following that will carry him to the presidency.[5]

2024 United States presidential election

Main article: Vivek Ramaswamy 2024 presidential campaign
Presidential campaign logo

Ramaswamy announced that he would run in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries on the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight on February 21, 2023.[6] Ramaswamy is a self-described conservative.[32]

Published works

  • — (August 17, 2021). Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam. New York, NY: Center Street. ISBN 978-1-5460-9078-6. OCLC 1237631944.

Woke, Inc. debuted at #2 on the New York Times Best Sellers list on September 5, 2021.[33] A critique of "stakeholder capitalism," it argues that corporations' "woke" efforts to advance social causes "robs us of our money, our voice, and our identity."[34] Ramaswamy calls environmental, social, and corporate governance investing the most serious threat to American democracy.[4]

Reviewers cited Ramaswamy's "spot-on analyses of corrosive corporate duplicity"[35] and "important points about the misguided nature of ESG investing [and] the folly of attempting to inject politics into business."[36] Russell Greene, writing on Real Clear Markets, applauded the book’s timeliness and said that "the problems Ramaswamy describes are real and likely to get worse," while also arguing that the author "[did] not permit his ample experience to inform his theory," leading him to present "a vision for business that overlooks how corporations, and corporate law, actually work."[37] Joe Berkowitz, on Fast Company, observes that Ramaswamy "often seems more concerned with so-called wokeness itself than with woke corporations."[38] The book significantly raised Ramaswamy's profile, leading to frequent talk show appearances, especially on Fox News.[39]

  • — (September 13, 2022). Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence. New York, NY: Center Street. ISBN 978-1-5460-0296-3. OCLC 1546002960.

In Nation of Victims, Ramaswamy critiques what he sees as the victimhood culture that is at the heart of America’s decline. Using examples from history, and incorporating themes from Western philosophy and Eastern theology, Ramaswamy suggests that the disappearance of excellence and exceptionalism, which he identifies as being at the heart of American identity, has left a deep moral and cultural vacuum in the nation. In his review for The Wall Street Journal, Tunku Varadarajan says that Nation of Victims makes a "passionate, persuasive case" for "closing off victimhood as a path to success." Comparing it to the work of Shelby Steele and John McWhorter’s Woke Racism, Varadarajan writes

Nation of Victims—always vigorous, in places uncompromising—offers a surprisingly wistful, even docile, solution to America’s problem of victimhood. We’re locked in a "grievance-fueled race to the bottom," where the very language we use—including basic words like "woman" and "equality"—have [sic] paralyzed dialogue across partisan lines. How do we emerge from this civic hell of mutual incomprehension? Mr. Ramaswamy’s answer is that we must "find a way to forgive each other instead of trying to win at the game of playing the victim." That sounds like a very fine idea.[40]

Personal life

Ramaswamy met his wife Apoorva, an Assistant Professor and clinician at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, when they lived near each other at Yale University, where they were studying law and medicine, respectively.[4][41] Together, they have two sons.[42] Ramaswamy is Hindu.[43]

Forbes estimates Ramaswamy's net worth at $600 million. He currently resides in New York City.[44]

References

  1. ^ Ramaswamy, Vivek (August 5, 2020). "Antitrust Can't Bust a Monopoly of Ideas". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  2. ^ Creitz, Charles (July 13, 2021). "Ramaswamy: 'Secular religion' of critical race theory now taught in schools violates Civil Rights Act of 64". Fox News. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  3. ^ O'Donnell, Kathie (May 12, 2022). "Manager backed by Thiel, Ackman to launch ETFs emphasizing excellence over politics". Pensions & Investments. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Kolhatkar, Sheelah (December 12, 2022). "The C.E.O. of Anti-Woke, Inc". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Lippman, Daniel (February 13, 2023). "The 'CEO of Anti-Woke Inc.' Has His Eye on the Presidency". POLITICO. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  6. ^ a b "A Wealthy 'Anti-Woke' Activist Joins the 2024 Presidential Field". New York Times. February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  7. ^ "A Look At the Race for Portmans Senate Seat". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  8. ^ "Indian-origin biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy raises $1 billion". The Times of India.
  9. ^ Kolhatkar, Sheelah (December 12, 2022). "The C.E.O. of Anti-Woke, Inc". The New Yorker.
  10. ^ Schulte, Becky (July 25, 2015). "July 2015". St. Xavier High School E-news (Mailing list). St. Xavier High School. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  11. ^ "Opinion | The chimera question". The New York Times. July 16, 2007. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Vivek Ramaswamy, 2011". The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  13. ^ Yumpu.com. "Faculty of Arts and Sciences 2006-2007 Student Prize ... - iSites". yumpu.com. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  14. ^ Vardi, Nathan. "The 30-Year-Old CEO Conjuring Drug Companies From Thin Air". Forbes.
  15. ^ Lynch, Brendan (March 20, 2008). "Harvard Student Alum Launch Social Biz Site". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  16. ^ "Campus Venture Nework Overview". PitchBook. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  17. ^ Vardi, Nathan. "The 29 Year Old Behind The Giant Biotech IPO That Rose By 90% Speaks". Forbes.
  18. ^ "Forbes September 28, 2015 Vivek Ramaswamy Boy in the Bubble (Magazine: Finance, Business)". IndigoMistBooks. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  19. ^ Herper, Matthew (July 9, 2018). "Vivek Ramaswamy's Enzyvant Asks FDA To Approve Treatment For Dying Babies". Forbes. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  20. ^ "Chapter Announces $17 Million Series A Round, led by Narya Capital and Peter Thiel with participation from existing investors". bloomberg.com. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  21. ^ "Chapter - Medicare Made Simple". askchapter.org. Memoir, Inc. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  22. ^ "Roivant Sciences founder to step down as CEO". Reuters. January 25, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  23. ^ a b "The asset manager fighting ESG orthodoxy". Politico. February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  24. ^ "The US's Strive Asset Management raises half a billion in AUM in three months". Reuters. November 16, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  25. ^ Ramaswamy has been described by Axios and Bloomberg as "the leading anti-ESG crusader."Holzman, Jael; Freedman, Andrew (February 3, 2023). "The right's anti-ESG crusader". Axios. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
  26. ^ Brush, Silla, Kishan, Saijel (September 1, 2022). "The Anti-ESG Crusader Who Wants to Pick a Fight With BlackRock". Bloomberg. Retrieved February 10, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ "Our Leadership | The Philanthropy Roundtable". Philanthropy Roundtable. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  28. ^ FREOPP (September 21, 2021). "FREOPP Leadership: Vivek Ramaswamy". Medium. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  29. ^ "Board of Trustees - St. Xavier High School". www.stxavier.org. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  30. ^ IBJ, Curt Smith / Special to. "Curt Smith: Vivek Ramaswamy is a rising conservative star". Indianapolis Business Journal. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  31. ^ Wetterich, Chris (January 26, 2021). "COMMENTARY: A look at the race for Portman's Senate seat and a new name emerges". Cincinnati Business Courier. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
  32. ^ Varadarajan, Tunku (June 25, 2021). "Can Vivek Ramaswamy Put Wokeism Out of Business?". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  33. ^ "Hardcover Nonfiction". New York Times. September 5, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  34. ^ "Woke, Inc". centerstreet.com. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  35. ^ "This former tech CEO takes down woke capitalism but misses the point on wokeness". fastcompany.com. August 25, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  36. ^ "Review of Vivek Ramaswamy's Woke, Inc". cei.org. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  37. ^ Greene, Russell (September 21, 2021). "Vivek Ramaswamy's Disappointing 'Woke, Inc.'". RealClearMarkets. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  38. ^ Berkowitz, Joe (August 25, 2021). "This former tech CEO takes down woke capitalism but misses the point on wokeness". fastcompany.com. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  39. ^ Sewell, Dan (January 17, 2023). "Anti-woke crusader mulls political future". cincinnati.com. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  40. ^ Varadarajan, Tunku (September 23, 2022). "'Nation of Victims' Review: The Blame Game". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
  41. ^ "Apoorva T Ramaswamy, MD". cancer.osu.edu. Ohio State University. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  42. ^ Zito, Salena (February 21, 2023). "Vivek Ramaswamy runs for president: 'Unapologetic pursuit of excellence in this country'". Washington Examiner. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  43. ^ Ramaswamy, Vivek (March 23, 2021 title=The Pluralism Within). Fort Bend Independent https://fbindependent.com/the-pluralism-within-p14709-89.htm. Retrieved February 22, 2023. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Missing pipe in: |date= (help)
  44. ^ "Profile - Vivek Ramaswamy". Forbes. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
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