New York: Indian-American investment banking and financial management expert Ritu Kalra has been appointed Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Harvard University. Kalra currently serves as Harvard’s Assistant Vice President for Finance and Treasury and Special Projects Advisor. In her new role beginning in July, she will oversee all aspects of financial management, including long-term planning, annual budgeting, endowment fund spending policy, treasury and financial accounting and reporting.
Overall, she will lead several financial departments with a full-time workforce of more than 200 people, said a university statement released Tuesday. Harvard’s ability to forge collaborations across disciplines, both within and outside the university, is not found by chance, Kalra said. It requires a rare and sustained marriage of strategic leadership and execution excellence. In her Treasury Management role, Kalra oversees and advises on the capital structure of the University, which includes a key role in forecasting debt and liquidity needs and managing cash operations and investments.
Since joining Harvard in 2020, she has provided exceptional leadership and has been a trusted advisor on financial matters and university priorities, said Executive Vice President Meredith Wenick. His Harvard experience, combined with his track record as an innovator in private sector banking and finance, positions him well as a leader, looking to build on the strong management of university finances in recent years. Will continue Prior to joining the university, Kalra spent 18 years at Goldman Sachs, where he held a number of progressive roles as managing director and head of public sector and infrastructure finance for the western region and higher education finance nationally. Worked as head of
In its infrastructure financing practice, it provided strategic advisory services to public and private sector entities throughout the United States, including designing innovative financing strategies for managing climate-related risks, according to a university statement. He advised the state of California to capitalize on a $21 billion fund to mitigate the effects of devastating wildfires, and to restructure the Long Island Power Authority to create the financial capacity to strengthen the electrical grid after Hurricane Sandy. Led, and created debt financing strategies that leveraged philanthropic capital for land and forest conservation across the country. Kalra earned a Bachelor of Science in economics, summa cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in journalism from the New York University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, with a focus on business and economic reporting.
Read the Latest India News Today on The Eastern Herald.
