Pak Gita Wirjawan is an Indonesian entrepreneur, investment banker, and philanthropist. He is also the Chairman of ANCORA Group, an Indonesian business group with interests in private equity investing, natural resources, real estate, and sports which he founded in 2008. As a businessman, he has held key positions including the Vice President of Citibank Indonesia in 1997, the Vice President of the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, Singapore in 2000, and the Senior Country Officer and President Director of JP Morgan Indonesia in 2004-2008.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appointed Pak Wirjawan as Chairman of Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board (BPKM) in 2009. Afterward, Pak Wirjawan became the Minister of Trade of Indonesia in 2011. One of his biggest accomplishments in this role was Chairman of the Ninth Word Trade Organization Ministerial Conference held in Bali in December 2012. He chaired 159 WTO member countries in consenting to a set of policies to ease international trade barriers. In October 2014, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono awarded him Bintang Mahaputra Adipradana in recognition of his extraordinary contribution as a cabinet member to his respective field, benefitting the country and the nation.
As a philanthropist, Pak Wirjawan established Ancora Foundation with the mission of promoting quality education ranging from early stage to graduate studies, as well as emerging issues relating to sustainable development goals. Ancora Foundation has enabled the training of teachers at close to 500 kindergartens serving underprivileged children throughout Indonesia. Pak Wirjawan has also endowed scholarships for Indonesians to attend the world’s top universities including Harvard University, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Stanford University. The foundation is also actively advocating the adoption of a more circular and sustainable economy in Indonesia, through education.
Pak Wirjawan is also a member of the International Advisory Board of Chubb, the Indonesia Advisory Board of Singapore Management University, the International Council of Yale School of Management, and the Advisory Board of the School of Government and Public Policy (SGPP) – Indonesia. Previously, Pak Wirjawan also served on the Dean’s Leadership Council at the Harvard Kennedy School.
A huge believer in soft power, Pak Wirjawan’s passions for sports, music, and arts led to some of the nation’s historic achievements. He was the Chairman of the Indonesia Badminton Association between 2012-2016, during which Indonesia won 3 gold medals at the World Championships, 4 titles at the All England Championships, and 1 gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Currently, Pak Wirjawan is also the host of Endgame with Gita Wirjawan, a Podcast by the School of Government and Public Policy (SGPP) – Indonesia, co-produced by Visinema Pictures, that can be listened to whenever the podcast is available or viewed on YouTube. Through Endgame, he is on a mission to find the best narrators to help tell the story of Indonesia’s bright future.
Pak Wirjawan holds a B.Sc from the University of Texas at Austin, an MBA from Baylor University, and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. He has an honorary doctorate in business administration from Naresuan University, Thailand.
