Arun Ganguly the New York based financier is to announce the launch of the AD Foundation. The Arup and Dolly Ganguly is private family foundation solely backed by Arun Ganguly himself in remembrance of his parents.
Arup Kumar Ganguly passed away at age of 64 in September 2003. In marking the 20th year of his death, the AD foundation will be launched to build schools in rural Kolkata, a passion of his late father, who believed in strong education, and it will also give to charities of orphans, a passion of his mother.
Arup Ganguly immigrated to the US in 1964 after studying at Jadavpur University and the Technical University of Berlin. He joined IBM in 1967 as a Senior Engineer. Arup went on to leading the OEM Division at IBM.
Dolly Ganguly married Arup in 1967 and the two lived a major part of their life in the Bay Area.
The Ganguly family was a pioneer in investing; they were one of the largest real estate syndicators, owning property through Silicon Valley.
Arup and Dolly’s passion was giving, they helped people buy their first homes, and were always helping people in the Indian community. Arun will continue the family legacy.
Everyone from his assistant to his peers call him “AG”. 46 years old Ganguly is an individual who many fear and some consider affectionate. For more than 25 years he has been a man quietly advising prominent financiers, venture capitalists, CEOs of fortune 500 companies and individuals worldwide. He is one of the most connected human beings on the planet and he has the respect of his peers. Many like to talk about him negatively, but he has one of the toughest jobs in the world convincing people to back people he works with. Whether it’s working with a leader of SPAC’s to advising some of the world’s wealthiest family offices or advising the head of a prominent venture, AG gets the job done.
His work ethic is unlike any other, starting at 4 am every morning and ending at the wee hours of the evening. He works every time zone and travels more than 280 a year. His ethic in working has even made his partners work harder. Ganguly comes from strong family roots his parents Arup and Dolly Ganguly both now deceased came from Kolkata, his father a former IBM Executive was a prominent Silicon Valley businessman in 80-90’s the family was one of the largest owners of properties in the Bay Area and he was angel investor. His mother Dolly worked with her husband in the valley business.
Growing up in Silicon Valley gave him early access to meet some of the top investors in the Valley and Ganguly himself was an entrepreneur early on. Though he didn’t think he was going to initially be in business, he wanted to be in politics. His parents were early backers of former President Clinton and Ganguly grew up wanting to make a difference. So, while in high school he joined the Santa Clara County Youth Commission which he eventually chaired under the leadership of Supervisor Mike Honda (later Congressman Honda). Ganguly had a passion to make the United States go tobacco free, so he launched the Student Coalition against Tobacco (SCAT). His foundation allowed San Jose to be the first city in the United States to go tobacco free and eventually his campaign led to the 1997 Olympic Games in Atlanta being tobacco free. Ganguly was a fighter from day one of his career and because of him the United States now has tobacco ads.
After graduating from college in Washington DC, Ganguly worked with Lazard Technology Partners and eventually became actively raising money for technology companies in the Northeastern Part of the United States. His success caught the attention of Carlyle Co-Founder who he went on to work for.
It was during this period Ganguly built his extensive relationships in the Middle East and he eventually founded two merchant banks, Graystone Capital and Atreus Advisors with Paul Pelosi, Jr.
Over the last 10 years Ganguly has been quietly working in building two new platform firms which have invested in block chain, life sciences and the tech sectors. Ganguly quietly advises firms and individuals worldwide, but a lot has changed for him, his best friend his mother Dolly passed away 2022 and Ganguly remains focused on building a lasting legacy. Ganguly would not comment on who his clients are, but he will say they are high profile groups.
(Advertorial)