Venkat Eshwara

Venkat Eshwara is Vice President, Development and Alumni Relations at Ashoka University. He has been with Ashoka since its inception and works closely with its Founders, Board of Trustees and Governing Body. Venkat’s responsibilities include fundraising, developing and implementing strategy, providing leadership and heading alumni relations at the institution. He formed and led the team that has raised the largest collective philanthropic fundraise in India. Venkat also ideated and helped create the Ashoka Archives for Contemporary India, which now possesses a formidable collection of documents and papers from eminent people across the world. Prior to joining Ashoka, he spent 21 years in building and growing startups in financial services and related sectors. Ashoka is his fifth association with a startup and early stage venture. His core strengths lie in building, growing and managing geographically diverse operations. Venkat is an alumnus of St. Xaviers College, Calcutta and is fluent in four languages. He has a deep and abiding interest in wide-ranging musical genres and writes a blog on fundraising, organisation building and strategy.