Dr. Gita Rao

Biography

Gita R. Rao is a Senior Lecturer in Finance and Associate Faculty Director of the Master of Finance program at the MIT Sloan School of Management. With decades of experience in global investing and asset allocation, Rao has provided services to major institutional clients. She possesses deep expertise in ESG impact investing, focusing on the integration of ESG factors into investment portfolios. Rao has managed global ESG portfolios in the United States and has developed and taught courses on impact investing at MIT Sloan. She is also the Faculty Director of the MIT Sloan Impact Investing Initiative and has served as a portfolio manager responsible for $15 billion in assets. Furthermore, Rao held leadership roles as a director of quantitative equity research at major investment firms like MFS Investment Management and Wellington Management Company. Prior to portfolio management, she worked as a senior research analyst at Fidelity Management & Research Company and was a vice president at Kidder, Peabody & Co. in New York. Rao has published in the Review of Accounting Studies and has been featured in media outlets such as Bloomberg and CNN. She has served as president of the Society of Quantitative Analysts and is on the editorial board of the Financial Analysts Journal. She also sits on the board of trustees for the Research Foundation of the CFA Institute. Rao obtained her PhD in Finance from the University of Rochester, her MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and her BA in Economics (Honors) from St. Stephen's College at Delhi University, India.

Research Interests

Experience