Whether in the field of politics or business, Gita Irawan Wirjawan leaves his marked trail of success. This entrepreneur and statesman founded the Ancora Group in 2008, a private equity fund, after serving JP Morgan Indonesia as its president director. He left the Ancora group in 2009 to become the Chairman of the Investment Co-ordinating Board of Indonesia, where he enabled the country's foreign investments to grow to almost double their value.

For Wirjawan’s extraordinary accomplishments as a cabinet member, former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono awarded him the Bintang Mahaputra Adipradana, a star given to outstanding state officials. Wirjawan then served the nation as the Minister of Trade during Yudhoyono's cabinet in 2011. Under his leadership, the Trade Law was passed, prompting a historic shift away from using 80-year-old Dutch-era law. He left politics and returned to the Ancora group in 2014.

Outside of the boardroom, Wirjawan carries a strong sense of philanthropy through education. He has provided many bright, under-privileged Indonesians with the chance to attend some of the world's top universities through access to scholarships. He is, after all, educated through some of the best institutions in the world.

Wirjawan graduated in Business Administration from the University of Texas, Austin in 1988; gained a Master's in Business Administration from Baylor University, Texas in 1989; and a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University's John F Kennedy School of Government, as a Mason Fellow, in 2000.