vivek ramaswamy

Vivek Ramaswamy is an Indian-origin politician and businessman, who is contesting to become the Republican Party’s nominee for the 2024 United States presidential elections. If Ramaswamy clinches the nomination, his likely opponent will be the Democratic Party’s Joe Biden, the incumbent President.

Born on August 9, 1985, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ramaswamy comes from a family that hails from Palakkad in the southern Indian state of Kerala; his father, V Ganapathy Ramaswamy, graduated from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Calicut, also in Kerala, and has previously worked for General Electric (GE). The Republican’s mother, Geetha Ramaswamy, on the other hand, graduated from the Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (in the neighbouring Karnataka), and worked as a geriatric psychiatrist.

He is married to throat surgeon Apoorva Ramaswamy, an Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University. The couple, who have two sons, met at Yale, where he was pursuing law, and she was studying medicine. The family resides in Columbus, Ohio.

Outside of politics, the 38-year-old has been a nationally-ranked tennis player. Ramaswamy is also an author, having penned The New York Times’ bestseller, ‘Woke, Inc: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam.’ His other books are: ‘Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence,’ and ‘Capitalist Punishment: How Wall Street is Using Your Money to Create a Country You Didn’t Vote For.’

His works have brought him sobriquets such as ‘one of the intellectual grandfathers of the anti-woke movement’ (Politico), ‘right’s leading anti-ESG crusader’ (Axios, Bloomberg), and ‘The CEO of anti-woke’ (The New Yorker).

The politician’s business ventures include Roivant Sciences (‘Roi’: return on investment), a biotechnology firm (2015); Chapter Medicare, a Medicare navigation platform (2020); and Strive, an asset management firm (2022).

According to Forbes, Ramaswamy’s current net worth is more than $950 million (approx. Rs 7600 crore), making him one of the youngest billionaires in the United States.