Vivek Ramaswamy is the co-founder and executive chairman of Strive Asset Management. He is the founder and former CEO of Roivant Sciences. ¹ He is the author the 2021 book Woke Inc. about environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) business practices. ²

Roivant Sciences

In 2014, at age 29, Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the application of technology to drug development. He took the company public with an initial public offering in 2015. ^{3 4}

In 2019, he entered a partnership with Japan’s Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma in a $3 billion deal. As a result, the Japanese firm acquired an equity stake of more than 10% of Roivant shares. ⁵

Ramaswamy stepped down as CEO of Roivant in 2021 after writing commentary for the Wall Street Journal arguing that Twitter and Facebook were bound by law not to engage in selective political censorship. Ramaswamy, a critic of corporate managers using their business positions for political advocacy, wrote that by stepping down “I decided to practice what I preached.” ⁶

Commentary

Ramaswamy is the author of Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam and Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence. ⁷ Woke, Inc. was on the New York Times bestseller list. ⁸

In 2020 he wrote op-eds in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, National Review, Newsweek, and Harvard Business Review. He has also been a Fox News contributor. ⁹

Strive Asset Management

In 2022 he co-founded Strive as an Ohio-based asset management firm to encourage companies to focus less on politics. ¹⁰

In establishing Strive, he said part of “excellence capitalism” is “We’re going to call oil companies great oil companies, and coal companies great coal companies, and solar companies great solar companies. … A majority of Americans want companies to stay out of politics.” ¹¹

He said that Americans “want iconic American brands like Disney, Coca-Cola and Exxon, and US tech giants like Twitter, Facebook, Amazon and Google to deliver high-quality products that improve our lives, not controversial political ideologies that divide us.” ¹²

Board Memberships

Ramaswamy has sat on the board of directors of the Philanthropy Roundtable, the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, and St. Xavier High School. ¹³

1. “Invest in Excellence.” Strive Asset Management. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://striveassetmanagement.com/
2.  Morris, Joe. “Peter Thiel-Backed Start-Up Targets ‘Stakeholder Capitalism’.” Financial Advisor IQ. May 10, 2022. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://www.financialadvisoriq.com/c/3603424/462404/peter_thiel_backed_start_targets_stakeholder_capitalism
3. “About.” Vivek Ramaswamy. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://www.vivekramaswamy.com/about
4. Terry, Mark. “Vivek Ramaswamy Comes Out Pushing His Book Attacking Woke Culture and Corporations.” BioSpace. August 16, 2021. Accessed July 16, 2022.  https://www.biospace.com/article/vivek-ramaswamy-comes-out-pushing-his-book-attacking-woke-culture-and-corporations/
5. Terry, Mark. “Vivek Ramaswamy Comes Out Pushing His Book Attacking Woke Culture and Corporations.” BioSpace. August 16, 2021. Accessed July 16, 2022.  https://www.biospace.com/article/vivek-ramaswamy-comes-out-pushing-his-book-attacking-woke-culture-and-corporations/
6. Ramaswamy, Vivek. “The Woke-Industrial Complex.” Introduction. In Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam, 9–10. New York: Center Street, 2021.
7.  “Vivek Ramaswamy.” MarketWatch Best New Ideas Money Festival. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://moneyfestival.marketwatch.com/person/vivek-ramaswamy/
8. “About.” Vivek Ramaswamy. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://www.vivekramaswamy.com/about
9. “About.” Vivek Ramaswamy. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://www.vivekramaswamy.com/about
10. “Vivek Ramaswamy.” MarketWatch Best New Ideas Money Festival. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://moneyfestival.marketwatch.com/person/vivek-ramaswamy/
11. Hoffman, Liz and Grant, Charley. “‘Woke, Inc.’ Author’s Startup to Take On BlackRock.” The Wall Street Journal. May 10, 2022. https://www.wsj.com/articles/upstart-money-manager-gets-billionaires-to-back-the-anti-blackrock-11652134919?mod=mhp
12. Barrabi, Thomas. “Bill Ackman, Peter Thiel back investment firm taking on ‘woke’ capitalism.” New York Post. May 10, 2022. https://nypost.com/2022/05/10/bill-ackman-peter-thiel-back-investment-firm-taking-on-woke-capitalism/
13. “About.” Vivek Ramaswamy. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://www.vivekramaswamy.com/about