Former Microsoft India Chairman Ravi Venkatesan has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of The Rockefeller Foundation.
The century-old American philanthropic organisation, which primarily works in the areas of education and health, also has a strong presence in India.
"With our commitment to catalyze new ideas and innovations at The Rockefeller Foundation, I am delighted to welcome Ravi Venkatesan, a proven leader with strong business and technology backgrounds," Board Chair David Rockefeller, Jr said.
Venkatesan's experience will be help the Foundation's commitment of scaling innovations that expand opportunity, realise shared prosperity, and create jobs for more people globally, he added.
"Our century of investment in Asia has focused on addressing our dual goals of promoting more inclusive economies and building greater resilience against shocks and stresses," The Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin said.
As Chairman of Microsoft India between 2004 and 2011, Venkatesan helped build the country into Microsoft's second-largest presence in the world and one of its fastest growing markets.
He was also instrumental in creating Microsoft India's Project Shiksha, a computer literacy programme which has so far trained over 40 million school children in India.
Prior to Microsoft, Venkatesan was the Chairman of Cummins India, a leader of power solutions and engines.
He is also the author of an acclaimed book "Conquering the Chaos: Win in India, Win Everywhere," published by Harvard Business Review.
"The Rockefeller Foundation's history of supporting the ingenuity of innovators who have transformed and improved billions of lives of poor or vulnerable people is unparalleled and I very much look forward to contributing to its legacy," Venkatesan said.
Venkatesan is also the Founder and Chairman of Social Venture Partners India, a network of philanthropists addressing social problems. Besides, he is a venture partner at impact investor Unitus Seed Fund.
