Ramdas M. Rao, CFA, CAIA

Ramdas is a senior investment professional with over 25 years’ experience, working in the US, GCC, and Asia. He is a trusted advisor of several Single Family Offices, and previously served as a CIO of two family offices in the Middle East & Asia region. He currently sits on the Board of technology startups focused on AI, asset management, clean-tech, and defense sectors. 

From 2016 to 2024, Ramdas led the investment office of an international Single Family Office in the UAE. From 2011 to 2016, Ramdas was instrumental in establishing and leading the investment function at Aujan Group Holding in the UAE, and KSA, achieving asset growth through multi-strategy investments & acquisitions in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, in addition to rationalizing existing suboptimal portfolio assets via turnaround, redevelopment, or exit. 

Prior to his work at Aujan, Ramdas was the Chief Investment Officer at Ascorp Holding in Abu Dhabi from 2009 to 2011, having originally moved from New York to Dubai in 2008 as a Senior Investment Manager with Dubai Holding, a global investment company. In the US, Ramdas had an accomplished tenure as an Investment Banker with Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch covering the technology sector. 

His expertise extends to distilling and communicating value proposition of innovative technologies, building growth ecosystems, establishing operations oversight, and managing stakeholder relationships. His wealth of experience in technology and investments, coupled with expertise in synergy creation, enables him to structure investment portfolios covering both traditional and alternative asset classes. 

Ramdas received an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and a Bachelor of Engineering with Honors in Computer Engineering from Bombay University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) charter holder. He also volunteers as a Chapter Executive for the Middle East Chapter of the CAIA.