Vanita Gaonkar

Vanita is director of Public Investments for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s $13 billion investment portfolio. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2016, she was the Director of Research at Ehrenkranz Partners, L.P., a New York-based multi-family office, where she was responsible for investments across asset classes, including fixed income, equities, hedge funds, private equity, and real assets. Before joining Ehrenkranz Partners, L.P. Vanita served as a director in alternative investments at Credit Suisse, where she was responsible for research and portfolio management across several hedge fund strategies. Prior to Credit Suisse, she held roles in asset management at The Blackstone Group and J.P. Morgan Chase.

Vanita serves on the Board of the Prison Law Office, a California-based organization that strives for fair and humane treatment of prisoners, and Neighbors Together, a New York City-based non-profit dedicated to fighting hunger and poverty in Central Brooklyn. She earned her BA in Mathematics and Economics from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.