Nine Indian American women achievers featured on Forbes 50over50 list

The Forbes annual 50over50 list, dedicated to spotlighting successful women over the age of 50 who are shattering age and gender norms, across the categories of lifestyle, investor, impact and innovation; which was released earlier this week, features nine Indian American achievers.

Author Alka Joshi, 65; who features on the list in the lifestyle category, published her debut novel, The Henna Artist, in 2020 and is now an internationally bestselling writer translated into 29 languages. Within a year and a half of publication, Netflix announced it would develop The Henna Artist into a television series starring Frida Pinto. Four decades after immigrating to the US, Joshi says her passion to inform the world about India through historical fiction took root in her 50s, when she travelled back to her birth country with her mother, according to Forbes.

No surprise that Nikki Haley, 51, who is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination finds a place on the Forbes list in the impact category. In February of 2023, Haley announced her intent to become the Republican party's candidate for US president. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley became the first Indian American to serve in a presidential cabinet when she was sworn in as US ambassador to the United Nations in 2017. She served as governor of South Carolina from 2010 to 2014. Of the 117 governors in South Carolina’s history, she is the only woman and only person of colour to have led the state.

Sarita Mohanty, 53, president & CEO, The SCAN Foundation and S. Mona Sinha, 58, global executive director, Equality Now, too, have found a place in the list in the impact category. The SCAN Foundation is a California-based healthcare non-profit focused on improving care for older adults through policy, impact investing and grant-making while Equality Now is an NGO that has advocated for the rights and protection of women and girls around the world since 1992. Sinha grew up in Kolkata, India, and developed an interest in humanitarian efforts while volunteering at Mother Teresa's orphanage in the city. She went to the US in 1985 to attend Smith College.

In the innovation category, Monica Jain, 60, founder, Fish 2.0 Ventures; has been recognised by Forbes. In 2013, Jain merged her passion for the ocean with her expertise in finance to co-found Fish 2.0 Ventures and grow the blue economy--businesses that improve the health of the world’s seas and marine life.

Purnima Puri, 51, governing partner and head of liquid credit, HPS Investment Partners; Ranji Nagaswami, 59, chief strategy and chief commercial officer, Strategic Value Partners; Mala Gaonkar, 53, founder, SurgoCap Partners and Geeta Aiyer, 65, president & founder, Boston Common Asset Management, have all been included in the list in the investment category. Puri is a governing partner at HPS Investment Partners, a $100 billion-assets under management global investment firm and leads the company's $22 billion liquid credit business.

Nagaswami is the chief strategy and chief commercial officer of Strategic Value Partners, a global investment firm managing nearly $18 billion in private credit, distressed debt and private equity investments. Gaonkar, who grew up in Bengaluru, founded SurgoCap Partners, a New York investment firm focused on disruptive technologies across broad industry categories in 2022. In January 2023, SurgoCap Partners began trading with an estimated $1.8 billion in trading under management. This marked the largest hedge fund launch led by a woman ever.

Aiyer, a finance executive with over 30 years of experience and a passion for social justice, founded Boston Common Asset Management, a majority women- and employee-owned sustainable investment firm, in 2003.

IIT Delhi alumni Padmasree Warrior, who has served as CTO of Cisco and Motorola and is currently the founder-CEO of Fable, a platform for social reading and book clubs, was one of the judges who selected the women featured on the list.