Arshad Zakaria is the Chief Executive and Founder of New Vernon Capital LLC. New Vernon Capital was founded in 2004 and has approximately $2 billion under management, with a focus on emerging markets, particularly India. Prior to forming New Vernon Capital, Mr. Zakaria was an Executive Vice President of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. and President of the Global Markets and Investment Baking Group (GMI) from October 2001 to August 2003 and Chairman of that group from August 2003 to December 2003. As President of GMI, he was responsible for investment banking, debt and equity markets, and private equity on a global basis. From May 2000 until October 2001, Mr. Zakaria served as head of Corporate Risk Management. He also served as a member of Merrill Lynch’s Executive Management and Operating Committees.
Mr. Zakaria received his B.A. degree, summa cum laude, in applied mathematics, from Harvard University I 1985. He received his M.B.A. with high distinction from Harvard Business School in 1987 where he was a Baker Scholar and a recipient of the Loeb-Rhoades Fellowship for Finance.
Mr. Zakaria was selected by Crain’s New York Business Magazine as one of 100 most influential minority business leaders (April 2003) and was on their 40 under 40 business leaders list (January 2002). He is currently on the Board of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey Foundation and the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India.