Recognising the growing influence of Indian-Americans in public life, several top politicians, including three women members of the US Congress, attended the 18th biennial convention of the National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA).
The three-day March 6-8 meeting of the largest umbrella organization in the US, representing over 3.5 million Americans of Indian origin, in Cerritos, California was inaugurated by Indian Consul General Venkatesan Ashok and California State Treasurer John Chiang.
Besides US House members Judy Chu, Loretta Sanchez, Linda Sanchez, the convention was attended by the Mayor of Cerritos, Mark Pulido, according to a media release.
Speakers included Long Beach vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, former Anaheim Councilman Harry Sidhu, Stem cell therapy practitioner Dr Gaurav Goswami, and Attorney Sunny Kalara.
Ashok Madan from Southern California was elected as president unopposed. Sudip Gorakshakar from Washington State was elected as Executive Vice President.
The position of the NFIA secretary went to Dr Yogendra Gupta from Maryland and Joint Secretary to Vasu Pawar from Southern California. Makam Subbarao from Southern California was elected as the Treasurer.
The six Regional Vice Presidents (RVP) elected unopposed were: Dr. Om Sharma (National Capital Region), Vandana Jhingan (Illinois), Mihir Patel (New York), Raj Razdan (Georgia), Lavanya Reddy (Washington State), and Kewal Kanda (California)
Angela Anand was appointed to chair the taskforce on Women's Affairs.
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