Deepak Raj

Deepak Raj is the founder and managing director of the New Jersey-based private investment firm Raj Associates with investments in real estate and public and private securities.

He has extensive experience in the investment business. Deepak’s leadership positions during his 24 years with Merrill Lynch include senior analyst in research (and member of the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team); head of their Global Consumer Products Investment Banking practice; and senior vice president and member of the firm’s executive management committee. As director of Global Equity Research, he managed a staff of approximately 700 investment professionals located throughout the world.

He was elected chairman of the New Jersey State Investment Council in 2019. The Council formulates policies governing the investment of funds and supervises the $80 billion NJ Pension Fund.

Deepak has wide-ranging philanthropic interests. He previously served as chairperson of Pratham USA and continues to serve on the board. He is also the chair of the Indian Philanthropy Alliance. Deepak is the founder of the Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies at Columbia University (with his wife Neera) and is a co-founder of Indian American IMPACT.

A chartered financial analyst, Deepak graduated from IIT Kanpur with a BTech in electrical engineering and earned an MBA from Northeastern University. He and his wife, Neera, have two grown children and live in Princeton, New Jersey.