Ruth Gao

Ruth serves as Associate General Counsel for Impact Investments at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Ruth brings a wealth of knowledge to her role, with experiences spanning private equity, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings. Ruth also spearheads the Foundation's engagement with the issue of heirs' property, which supports the Impact Investment's overall strategy around homeownership preservation.

Inspired by a vision to empower social entrepreneurs, Ruth spent a year in Jakarta working for a microfinance institution before attending NYU Law with the goal of understanding how the law may be used to enable change and impact. In 2019, she returned to NYU Law as a Fellow at the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship where she supported the International Transactions Clinic. Her Fellowship deepened her knowledge of the impact investing field and led her to serve as Associate General Counsel at Calvert Impact, a global non-profit investment firm.

Previously, Ruth was in private practice as an associate at Ropes & Gray LLP and O’Melveny & Myers LLP, where she counseled fund managers and limited partners in the forming and raising of and investment in private equity funds. She also maintained an active pro bono practice for various not-for-profits and small businesses.