Kavita Ramdas (India/USA) is Senior Advisor to the Ford Foundation’s president on issues related to the foundation's work in changing contexts around the world. Prior to this post she served as representative for the foundation's office in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, focusing on issues of equity, inclusion, economic fairness, freedom of expression, human rights, sexuality and reproductive health and rights, transparency and accountable governance, and sustainable development; and worked to leverage relationships with government, civil society, and the private sector to advance social justice.
From 1996 to 2010, Ramdas served as president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, which grew under her leadership to become the world's largest public foundation for women's rights. She was founder and first executive director of the Program on Social Entrepreneurship (PSE), housed at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. She serves as a trustee of Princeton University, Mount Holyoke College, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and sits on the board of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the African Women’s Development Fund USA. She chairs the Women in Public Service Initiative, a joint effort by the U.S. State Department and an alliance of women’s colleges. Ramdas is a Henry Crown fellow of the Aspen Institute and chairs the expert working group of the Council of Global Leaders for Reproductive Health.