Gita Irawan Wirjawan (born 21 September 1965) is an Indonesian investment banker, entrepreneur, philanthropist, musician, and podcaster. Previously, he served as Minister of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Kabinet Indonesia Bersatu II (

Second United Indonesia Cabinet The Second United Indonesia Cabinet ( id, Kabinet Indonesia Bersatu II) was inaugurated on 22 October 2009, two days after the inauguration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as President of Indonesia for the second term. The cabinet consists of members ...

). He is the founder of Ancora Group and Ancora Foundation. He was the head of

Badminton Association of Indonesia The Badminton Association of Indonesia or Persatuan Bulutangkis Seluruh Indonesia ( id, Persatuan Bulutangkis Seluruh Indonesia; sometimes translated as ''All Indonesia Badminton Association'') is the sport governing body, governing body of badmint ...

from 2012 to 2016.

Personal life

Gita Wirjawan was born in Jakarta to Paula Warokka and Wirjawan Djojosugito. He has

Minahasan The Minahasans (alternative spelling: Minahassa) are an ethnic group native to the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia, formerly known as North Celebes. The Minahasa people sometimes refer to themselves as Manado people. Although the Minahasan p ...

and Javanese ancestry. The youngest of five children, Wirjawan attended Budi Waluyo Elementary School and Pangudi Luhur Junior High School in Jakarta before moving to

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, and later to India, at the age of thirteen as his father was serving as a

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

officer in Bangladesh.Umbas, Michael (2013). Gita Wirjawan, Sebuah Perjalanan. Jakarta: Penerbit Perahu. Wirjawan earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the

University of Texas, Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1988, a master's degree in Business Administration from

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...

in 1989, and a master's degree in Public Administration from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

as a Mason Fellow in 2000. He also qualified as a Certified Public Accountant in the U.S. state of Texas and holds a

Chartered Financial Analyst The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the American-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and fina ...

designation. An avid musician, Wirjawan met his wife, Yasmin Stamboel, while teaching piano lessons during his college summer break. The couple got married in 1993 and have three children.

Business career

Wirjawan began his career as an auditor at the firm of Morrison Brown & Argiz in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in 1989. He joined Citibank in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

in 1992 in the Consumer Banking department, becoming a vice president in 1997. From July 1997 to May 1999 Wirjawan was a Director of Corporate Finance at Bahana Securities, Indonesia. He joined Goldman Sachs,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

in July 2000 as a Vice President in the Investment Banking Division, followed by a stint at Singapore Technologies Telemedia as a Senior Vice President, International Business Development from 2003 until 2004. From 2004 to 2008 Wirjawan served as a Senior Country Officer and President Director

JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in City of New York, New York City and Delaware General Corporation Law, inco ...

Indonesia. After leaving JP Morgan in April 2008, Wirjawan established the Ancora Group, focusing on investments in Indonesia. Ancora Capital, a private equity arm of the Group, invests primarily in growth companies in the middle market segment across the consumer and natural resources sectors. Wirjawan left the Ancora Group in October 2009 to begin his public service until the early part of 2014.

Public service

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appointed Wirjawan as Chairman of Indonesia's Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) in October 2009. Under his leadership, foreign direct investments in Indonesia almost doubled from US$11bn in 2009 to $19bn in 2011. Wirjawan was appointed as Minister of Trade of Indonesia in October 2011. One of his biggest accomplishments in this role was, as Chairman of the Ninth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2013 held in Bali 37 December 2013, leading the 159 members of the

WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...

to agree to a package to ease international trade barriers.Bali Ministerial Declaration and decisions
at WTO official website. Accessed 2 May 2015 Also notable was that under his leadership, Trade Law was finally passed by the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

on 11 February, a new milestone for the country after 80 years of using the previous Dutch-era law. In February 2014, Wirjawan resigned from his position as Minister of Trade to participate in the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Convention as a Presidential Candidate. In July 2014, Wirjawan decided to return to Ancora Group.

Board memberships

Wirjawan currently sits on the international advisory board of ACE Group and at

Singapore Management University The Singapore Management University (SMU) is a public autonomous university in Singapore. The university is the only city campus in Singapore. It ranks third in Asia as a specialist university, behind Hong Kong University of Science and Techn ...

(SMU).Speakers and Moderators
at The Singapore Forum official website. Accessed 2 May 2015 Previously, he served as a Commissioner of state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, an Independent Board Director of

Axiata Group Berhad Axiata Group Berhad, commonly known as Axiata, formerly known as TM International Berhad, is a Malaysian multinational telecommunications conglomerate with extensive operations in Asia. The group Axiata's primary business is in investment h ...

, and Independent Commissioner of Axiata Excelcomindo. Wirjawan is a senior fellow at the

Zbigniew Brzezinski Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński ( , ; March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), or Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was President Jimmy Carter' ...

Institute on Geostrategy at the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...

in Washington D.C. He is also a member of the Dean's Leadership Council for the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University.

Philanthropy

Wirjawan has keen interest in education and the important role it could play to propel Indonesia into the ranks of developed nations. He established Ancora Foundation with the mission of helping both early stage education and graduate studies for talented Indonesians. Ancora Foundation has sponsored the training of teachers at 450 kindergartens serving underprivileged children throughout Indonesia, the beneficiaries of which are called "Sekolah Rakyat Ancora". Wirjawan has endowed scholarships for Indonesians to attend top universities around the world, including

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, Stanford University,

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

Universiti Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public university, public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian i ...

, Nanyang Technological University, and Sciences Po. Since its establishment, the scholarship programme has sent 42 Indonesians to these leading universities . An avid golfer since he was ten years old, Wirjawan set up Ancora Golf Institute and Ancora Sports to groom future Indonesian golfers. Through its programmes, Ancora Sports has scouted and sponsored young talents such as George Gandranata, Rory Hie, and Jordan Irawan to become top golfers in Indonesia.

Music

Learning piano since the age of 6, Wirjawan is an ardent jazz musician. He has performed in concerts (such as Java Jazz and Bob James Concert) and written songs for several albums. His musical passion prompted Wirjawan to establish Omega Pacific Production/Ancora Music to help young talented musicians. He has produced, composed, distributed, and/or played on fourteen albums, with different musical genres including jazz, pop, lounge, boy band and world music (Cherokee, Bali Lounge, Nial Djuliarso at

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

, Tompi, Asia Beat, Bali Lounge 2, Ken, Nial - New Day New Hope, Miss Kadaluarsa, Elvyn Masassya - Titik Balik, Smash and Dewi Lestari - RectoVerso).

Badminton Association of Indonesia

On 14 December 2012, Wirjawan was elected as the Chairman of Indonesian Badminton Association (Persatuan Bulutangkis Seluruh Indonesia, "PBSI") for the 2012-2016 period. Wirjawan set the goal of returning Indonesia to the top ranks of badminton, as the country was in the 1970s and 1980s. To ensure the athletes can still get formal education while in training, Wirjawan set up a 'home-school' for athletes inside the training camp. Under his chairmanship, Indonesia has so far won three gold medals at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, 4 titles at the All England Championships, overall champion at the Southeast Asian Games in 2013 and 2015, 2 titles at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea and 1 titles Summer Olympic 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Honours and awards

In July 2013, Wirjawan was awarded an honorary designation of 'Sangaji Gam Ma Lamo' from the Sultan of

Ternate Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the ...

, North Molucca, Indonesia, for his role in preserving Indonesia's local customs and heritage. In December 2013, he received an honorary doctorate in business administration from Naresuan University in

Phitsanulok Phitsanulok ( th, พิษณุโลก, ) is an important, historic city in lower northern Thailand and is the capital of Phitsanulok Province. Phitsanulok is home to Naresuan University and Pibulsongkram Rajabhat University, as well a ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

in recognition of his role in developing the economy and supporting the future of youth in Indonesia. He was awarded a knighthood of 'KRT Djojonegoro' from Pakualaman Palace,

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

, in January 2014 for his active contribution in maintaining the Pakualaman cultural heritage. In October 2014, President Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono awarded him Bintang Mahaputra Adipradana in recognition of his extraordinary contribution, as a cabinet member, to his respective field that benefits the country and the nation.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wirjawan, Gita 1965 births Living people Javanese people Minahasa people Indonesian businesspeople Trade ministers of Indonesia Badminton in Indonesia CFA charterholders Harvard Kennedy School alumni Baylor University alumni McCombs School of Business alumni Citigroup people Goldman Sachs people Directors of JPMorgan Chase Mason Fellows