Category Archives: NRI’s / PIO’s

First Indian-American & First South Asian to be Confirmed Key U.S. Pivotal Post in South Asia. October 2013 .

Nisha Desai Biswal was unanimously confirmed by the U.S.Senate, as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.

This makes Nisha Biswal the first South Asian American to hold that diplomatic position. She is the first Indian-American to hold a top diplomatic position in the bureau, which overseas US foreign policy and relations with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan.

She was earlier assistant administrator for Asia at the U.S.Agency for International Development (USAID).

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British Mission in India, gets its First Indian-Origin Diplomat. July 2013 .

In a first Kumar Iyer, a Diplomat of Indian-origin is appointed as the British Deputy High Commissioner for Western Region. He will have responsibility of all aspects of diplomatic engagement in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.

He will also simultaneously be Director General India for UK Trade & Investment (UKTI),for the whole of India – a new top-level post that has been created to reflect the increasing importance of the UK-India business ties.

He will be take up both positions based in Mumbai at the British Mission on August 05th, 2013.

Kumar Iyer has a MPhil in Economics from Cambridge University, where he was a Bank of England scholar. He was an undergraduate tutor in Microeconomics. He was also a Kennedy Scholar and Teaching Fellow in International Capital Markets at Harvard University.

He joined the British Government in 2008 as Deputy Director, Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. In 2010 he moved to the Treasury, first as Deputy Director, Strategy Plannig & Budget and then as Head of Financial Sector Intervention. Prior to that he was at the Boston Consulting Group where he worked mainly in the Financial Services Practice.

Kumar Iyer was born in London to parents of Indian origin. He spent his formative years in India, including time in Mumbai. He is married to Kathryn, a barrister practicing criminal law and they have 2 children a son and a daughter. He is a keen cricketer and chess player.

First Indian Crowned ‘ Miss New York 2013 ‘ at Staten Island, NY . July 2013 .

Nina Davuluri, a Syracuse, NY native was crowned as ‘ Miss New York 2013 ‘ making her the first Indian to be crowned ‘ Miss New York ‘.

The 24-year old winner Nina Davuluri was crowned by Miss America Mallory Hagan and her predecessor Miss New York Shannon Oliver during a specatular production at the stately St.George Theatre in Staten Island, New York on Saturday July 13th, 2013. Nina Davuluri was attired in a floor length evening gown of light yellow.

Davuluri embraced her culture performing a bollywood dance as her talent. In overcoming her obstacles Nina lost 60 pounds in the last 2 years and did it all with the help of her sponsor and trainer Tia Falcone. ” Just to be on that stage and show everyone how hard I’ve worked to achieve this, just meant the world to me ” says Davuluri. She plans to use the $10,000 she won in scholarship money to achieve her goal of becoming a doctor.

Nina is working closely with the ‘Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ to raise funds for the local children’s hospitals.

As Miss New York she will now represent the Empire State, at the forthcoming ‘ Miss America pageant ‘ at the Atlantic City. Th final night of the Pageant competition and the crowning of ‘ Miss America ‘ is scheduled for September 15th. The event will be broadcase at 9pm ET/PT on ABC television network.

www.missny.org/missny2013/ – Miss New York Organization., Inc.

Anmol Rajan appointed ‘ The Independent ‘s Editor and becomes first non-white Editorial head of a UK national newspaper . June 2013 .

In a bold move Evgeny Lebedev the Russian owner of The Independent named, Anmol Rajan, a  29-year old Indian-origin journalist,as the newest editor of  The Independent newspaper on June 17th, 2013. He was the editor of The Independent Voics section. Rajan takes over from Chris Blackhurst who became Group Content Director.

Anmol Rajan one of the youngest ever at 29, makes Fleet Street history by becoming first non-white newspaper editorial head of a UK national newspaper creating ripples in London’s all-white Oxbridge media elite. And also the first- ethnic minority editor, a first-British Asian editor of a British national newspaper.

Rajan was born in Calcutta (Kolkata)on July 04th, 1983 , before moving to London as a three year old. He grew up in Tooting, South London and went on to read English literature at Downing College, Cambridge University and edited the prestigious student magazine ‘Varsity’. He spent his gap year working at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

After graduating, Rajan worked briefly for the ‘Evening Standard’ and ‘Channel 5’ before moving to ‘The Independent’ in August 2007 where he rose through the ranks from being a news reporter , columnist, comment editor and editor of Independent Voices. He is also a devoted foodie, writing a restaurant column for The Independent on Sunday and appeared as a judge on BBC1’s Masterchef in April. Rajan was the secondary presenter on ‘The Wright Stuff’ the daytime talk show on the Five Network during its 2006-07 season. A former columnist of ‘The Salisbury Review’.

Anmol Rajan is also a volunteer youth worker with Prospex, a charity based in Islington.

Books: Anmol Rajan is a keen cricket fan and has even written a well regarded book ‘Twirlymen: Unlikely History of Cricket’s Greatest Spin Bowlers’ published by Random House in 2011.

NBA’s first India-born majority owner. May 2013 .

Vivek Ranadive became NBA’s (National Basketball Association) first India-born majority owner of ‘Sacramento King’. NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale of Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, May 28th, 2013.

Vivek Ranadive a minority owner with the Warriors joined a team led by health-club financier Mark Mastrov and billionaire Ron Burkle to bid for the Kings to help keep them in Sacramento. Ranadive emerged as the leader, which also included the Jacobs family from San Diego, another Indian-born businessman Raj Bhathal and Australian Silicon Valley entrepreneur Katrina Garnett. The Investment Group led by Ranadive succeeded in competing and beating the $406 million bid led by Steve Ballmer ,Microsoft Chief Executive Officer. The deal was concluded from the team’s existing majority owner since 1999 – the Maloof family of Las Vegas Hotel fame. A new stadium is part of Ranadive’s package. Sacramento City Council now has a public-private deal in place to build a new 18,500 seat arena and retail centre downtown.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA and Cal Berkeley star says of Ranadive ” He’s a visionary. He understands technology and startups, he’s built businesses “.

Vivek Ranadive was born in Juhu October 07th, 1957. With $50 in his pocket he left Bombay bound for the U.S. at the age of 17. He went on to complete his Bachelors and Masters degree in Electrical Engineering at MIT. Subsequently pursued an MBA at Harvard University in 1983 where he was a Baker Scholar.

Ranadive a slight and unassuming man, worked his way turning his enterprises as Founder and CEO of a multi-billion dollar real-time computing company of Palo Alto’s TIBCO Software.He is a Tae Kwon Do Black Belt and a sports buff. Ranadive has 3 children.

Awards: 1)2002: Info World’s 2002 Top Ten Technology Innovators (2) 2002: Ernst & Young Software Entrepreneur of the Year (3)2005: Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award (WIBTA): North America Technology Change Agent Award (4) 2008: South Asian CEO of the Year – by the South Asian MBA Association (SAMBAA)

Books: Vivek Ranadive has authored the following books. (1) ‘The Power of Now’- 1990 ( a New York Times best seller) (2) ‘The Power to Predict’- 2006 (International best seller and was profiled in Forbes, Harvard Business School and the Wall Street Journal’s – Smart Money (3) ‘The Two Second Advantage – How We Succeed by Anticipating the Future Just Enough’ – 2011 (the book was New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today best seller).

 

Sacramento, is the capital of State of California, USA.

First Indian American lawyer confirmed as U.S. Court Judge . May 2013 .

Srikanth Srinivasan (widely known as Sri) scripted history as the first South Asian judge confirmed to America’s second highest court. He is the first new judge to be confirmed to the DC circuit in 7 years.

Described as a “trailblazer” by the US President Barack Obama, Srinivasan’s nomination to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia Circuit, was unanimously approved by the bi-partisan voting of the Senate by 97 in favour.

Srinivasan began his legal career by serving as a law clerk for Judge J Harvie Wiekinson on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth circuit from 1995-1996. He was a very successful litigator for close to two decades prior to serving as the Principal Deputy Solicitor in the US.

Srikanth Srinivasan received his BA with honours and distinction in 1989 (Stanford University) and his JD (Juris Doctor) with distinction in 1995 from Sanford Law School. He was elected to ‘Order of the Coif’ and served as editor of the Stanford Law Review.He also holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

For his work he received recongnition – the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in ‘Furthering US National Security in 2003’ and the Office of the Secretary of Defence ‘Award for Excellence’ in 2005.

Chandigarh born, 46 years old legal luminary Srinivasan grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. He immigrated to the US at the age of four and his family settled in Lawrence, Kansas. His father was a mathematics Professor at the University of Kansas and his mother taught at the Kansas City Art Insititute. His father hails from Mela Thiruvenkatanathapuram (near Thirunelveli), Tamil Nadu.

India’s first ‘ Miss World ‘ . 1966 . First Asian to win the ‘ Miss World ‘ title. 1966

Reita Faria was the first Indian to be crowned ‘Miss World’ in 1966. She was also the first Asian to win the ‘Miss World’ title in 1966.

The red sari with golden zari work bagged the ‘Best Evening Gown’ prize.

The brown eyed beauty Reita Faria made the whole world sit up and look at India. By winning the crown, she showed the way for later competitors giving them confidence that they too could take the world by storm. She could be the first international beauty queen to qualify as a doctor during her reign.

Reita Faria was a student at the Grant Medical College and Sir J.J.Group of Hospitals.  Born 1945 she hailed from Mumbai with ancestral ties to Tivim, Goa. After winning the crown, she turned down offers of modelling and films, fame and fortune, instead chose to focus on her medical studies.

She won the Miss Mumbai crown and subsequently won the Eve’s Weekly ‘Miss India’ contest. Dr.Reita Faria was a judge at ‘Femina Miss India’ 1996. She adjudicated the ‘Miss World’ competions 3 times and attended the 25th and 50th anniversary of the contest.

Dr.Reita Faria married endocrinologist Dr.David Powell and lives in Dublin, Ireland. She has 2 Daughters,both in the medical profession and 5 grandchildren.

First Indian American and First Asian American elected to U.S. Congress. 1957 .

Dalip Singh Saund PhD., an American – created history by becoming the first Asian American, the first Indian American, the first Punjabi, the first Sikh to become a U.S. Congressman in 1957.

Saund ran for election as a ‘ Justice of the Peace ‘ in 1950 for Westmoreland township in California and won. As a Democrat, he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, serving the 29th District of California from January 03, 1957 to January 03, 1963. Dalip Singh Saund served almost three terms in Congress.

Obtained his Bachelors degree in Mathematics, Prince of Wales College (Jammu), University of Punjab in 1919. Subsequently went to the US for higher education. Obtained his Masters degree (1922) and PhD (1924) both in Mathematics at University of California, Berkeley. He became an American citizen in 1949.

Saund married Marian Kosta. Dalip Singh Saund (born Chhajulwadi, Punjab, India  September 20th, 1899 – April 22nd, 1973) aged 73, Hollywood, California.

http://wwww.saund.org