Mala Gaonkar
{{Short description|American businesswoman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mala Gaonkar
| image =
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| birth_date = {{Birth year and age |1969|11}}
| birth_place = United States
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| education =
| alma_mater = Harvard College
Harvard Business School
| occupation = Businesswoman
| known for =
| title = Investor, SurgoCap Partners LP
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| children = 2
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Mala Gopal Gaonkar (born November 1969) is an American businesswoman, former portfolio manager at investment firm Lone Pine Capital, and the head of investment firm SurgoCap Partners.{{cite web |url=http://www.tate.org.uk/about-us/board-trustees/mala-gaonkar |title=Tate - Board of Trustees - Mala Gaonkar |publisher=Tate |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306001440/http://www.tate.org.uk/about-us/board-trustees/mala-gaonkar |archive-date=6 March 2018 |url-status = dead}}{{cite news |date=3 January 2023 |title=Hedge Fund Debuts With $1.8 Billion in Biggest Female-Led Launch |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-03/hedge-fund-debuts-with-1-8-billion-in-biggest-female-led-launch |access-date=5 January 2023 |work=Bloomberg.com |language=en}}
Early life and education
Gaonkar was born in November 1969{{cite web |url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/0e51NW4En2jYsn0LZyOcrsuW3gE/appointments |title=Mala Gopal Gaonkar - Personal Appointments |accessdate=20 February 2018 |publisher=Companies House}} in the U.S. and mostly raised in Bengaluru, India.{{cite news |url=https://www.wmagazine.com/story/mala-gaonkar-sema-sgaier-surgo-foundation |title=Meet Mala Gaonkar and Sema Sgaier, the Women Troubleshooting the World's Crises |first=Jenny |last=Comita |date=24 May 2017 |publisher=W Magazine}} She earned a degree from Harvard College in 1991, then an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1996.{{cite web |url=https://www.alumni.hbs.edu/stories/Pages/story-bulletin.aspx?num=9027 |title=ALUMNA LEADS BIGGEST EVER DEBUT FOR A WOMAN-LED HEDGE FUND |date=9 January 2023 |accessdate=7 February 2023 |publisher=Harvard Business School}}
Career
After graduating from Harvard College, she worked for Boston Consulting Group and completed her MBA at Harvard Business School. She briefly worked as an analyst at Chase Capital Partners before joining Lone Pine Capital in 1998.{{Cite web |last=Saacks |first=Bradley |title=Lone Pine's Mala Gaonkar took a unique route to the top of the hedge fund world. Here's how she's rewriting the traditional investing playbook — and crossing paths with the likes of Malcolm Gladwell and David Byrne along the way. |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/lone-pine-mala-gaonkar-profile-mandel-team-performance-foundation-arts-2021-5 |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}} Gaonkar was a founding partner of the firm and worked there for 23 years and was a portfolio manager.
In 2015, Gaonkar founded the Surgo Foundation alongside Sema Sgaier, a veteran of the Gates Foundation, and the author Malcolm Gladwell. The foundation focused on the use of AI and data science to solve public health problems like sanitation issues in India. In 2020, Gaonkar expanded the idea to Surgo Ventures, which developed partnerships with similar groups seeking to help solve global health issues.{{cite web|url=https://www.lifestyleasia.com/ind/culture/people/mala-gaonkar-the-businesswoman-who-made-the-biggest-launch-of-a-hedge-fund/|title=Getting to know Mala Gaonkar, the woman behind the biggest launch of a hedge fund|website=lifestyleasia.com|date=4 Jan 2023|access-date=22 May 2023}}
In 2022, she left Lone Pine Capital and started SurgoCap Partners, a hedge fund which was launched on January 3, 2023, managing $1.8 billion. This was the largest-ever debut of a hedge fund run by a woman.{{Cite web |last=Jafar |first=Bilal |title=From Mala Gaonkar’s SurgoCap to Divya Nettimi’s Avala: The top women-led hedge fund launches |url=https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/mala-gaonkar-surgocap-to-divya-nettimis-avala-here-are-some-top-female-led-hedge-fund-launches-20240411 |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=www.fnlondon.com |language=en-GB}}
By 2024, SurgoCap had grown its assets to over $3 billion. The fund’s diverse portfolio includes major tech stocks like Nvidia, along with significant holdings in companies such as healthcare conglomerate McKesson and energy firm GE Vernova. Additionally, SurgoCap participated in Figma's fundraising round in 2024, following the collapse of Figma's acquisition by Adobe in late 2023.{{cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/lone-pine-spinouts-struggle-except-mala-gaonkar-surgocap-tiger-cubs-2024-10 |title=Alums of $16 billion Tiger Cub Lone Pine have struggled to hack it on their own — with one notable exception |author=Bradley Saacks |date=October 10, 2024 |publisher=Business Insider |access-date=November 7, 2024}}
As an author, she collaborated with David Byrne in 2016 to create a guided immersive theater performance, "Theater of the Mind".{{cite web |url=https://playbill.com/article/david-byrne-will-debut-new-immersive-theatrical-experience-neurosociety | title=David Byrne Will Debut New Immersive Theatrical Experience, Neurosociety| date=October 5, 2016}}[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/david-byrnes-theater-of-the-mind-180980778/ Take a Trip Through David Byrne’s Mind] Smithsonian Magazine. Access February 9, 2023.
She is a published short story writer and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.{{cite journal |journal=American Short Fiction |title=Contributors |date=Fall 2021 |volume=24 |issue=74}}
She is a member of the boards of directors of Surgo Ventures and Surgo Health and a trustee of Tate Foundation and the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. She previously served as a trustee of Ariadne Labs, Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), RAND, and as a member of Harvard’s Global Advisory Council.{{Cite web|url=https://qeprize.org/trustees/mala-gaonkar/|title=Mala Gaonkar - Trustee|website=Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-09-27}}
Personal life
Gaonkar was formerly married to businessman Oliver Haarmann.[https://www.lifestyleasia.com/ind/living/people/mala-gaonkar-the-businesswoman-who-made-the-biggest-launch-of-a-hedge-fund/ Getting to know Mala Gaonkar, the woman behind the biggest launch of a hedge fund] Lifestyle Asia. Access February 9, 2023. They have two sons.{{cite news |url=https://www.wmagazine.com/story/mala-gaonkar-sema-sgaier-surgo-foundation |title=Meet Mala Gaonkar and Sema Sgaier, the Women Troubleshooting the World's Crises |first=Jenny |last=Comita |date=24 May 2017 |publisher=W Magazine}}{{cite web |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/77694/PA_Tate_Gaonkar.pdf |title=Tate: Appointment of Mala Gaonkar |date=8 March 2010 |publisher=Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport}} Gaonkar has taken the Giving Pledge. She is currently in a relationship with David Byrne, frontman of the band Talking Heads, with whom she has collaborated on several artistic projects.
References
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Category:Harvard College alumni
Category:Harvard Business School alumni
Category:People from Bengaluru
Category:American women in business
Category:Boston Consulting Group people