Ankur Vora, President of the Africa and India offices of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will represent the organisation at the India AI Impact Summit on Thursday. This came after Bill Gates withdrew from delivering the keynote address amid a row over his name appearing in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The foundation said Gates would not speak at the summit in the national capital. “After careful consideration, and to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit's key priorities, Mr Gates will not be delivering his keynote address,” the foundation said.
Who Is Ankur Vora?
Ankur Vora grew up in India and pursued higher education in economics and engineering. He is now based in Seattle, Washington, as per his LinkedIn.
Vora earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and a Master of Science in Economics from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan. He later completed a PhD in Economics at the University of Chicago.
He served as a lecturer in economics at the University of Chicago from 1998 to 2003. In 2001, he worked briefly as an Associate in Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC) at Goldman Sachs.
In 2003, he joined the Boston Consulting Group as a Principal, where he worked for six years. In 2009, he moved to the development sector as Director of Programmes at The Children's Investment Fund Foundation in London, overseeing investments in Africa and South Asia until 2013.
He joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2013 as Deputy Director, Strategy. In 2015, he became Director, Strategy, Innovation & Impact, leading strategy, measurement and evaluation, and special initiatives. In 2020, he was appointed Chief Strategy Officer, advising the Chair and CEO on priorities, resource allocation and long-term planning.
In January 2026, Vora became President of the foundation's Africa and India Offices, overseeing work across six offices in the two regions. He also serves on the boards of GH Labs and the Gates Medical Research Institute.
