Raja Krishnamoorthi, 41, has a unique understanding of the challenges facing the U.S. economy and their implications for families and future workers. With successful experience in both the public and private sectors, he will go to Congress with clear ideas to help more Americans find good jobs and economic security in a changing world.

Raja currently serves as President of Sivananthan Labs and Episolar, Inc., small businesses that develop and sell products in the national security and renewable energy industries. He is a co-founder of InSPIRE, a non-profit organization that provides training to Illinois students and veterans in solar technology, and was formerly Vice-Chairman of the Illinois Innovation Council, whose mission is to promote innovative technologies that support economic growth and job creation in Illinois.

Raja previously served as Illinois’s Deputy Treasurer, where he helped revamp the state’s unclaimed property system by using technology to increase the amount of property returned to taxpayers while cutting the program’s costs. He also helped run the state’s technology venture capital fund, assisting in the creation of hundreds of good-paying jobs in Illinois. In 2006, Raja was appointed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to serve as Special Assistant Attorney General in her Public Integrity Unit. He also served as a member of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, where he was Chairman of the Audit Committee.

The son of Indian immigrants to the U.S., Raja was raised in Peoria, Illinois, where he attended public schools and graduated as a valedictorian of his high school class. Raja earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in mechanical engineering from Princeton University and graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. Following law school, Raja clerked for a federal judge in Chicago, served as issues director for Barack Obama’s successful United States Senate campaign in 2004, and became a partner at an Illinois law firm.

Raja is married to Priya, a doctor at a local hospital. They live in Schaumburg with their sons Vijay, 9, and Vikram, 5, who attend public schools in District 54.

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES:  Having excelled in America in their respective fields, there are tremendous opportunities for Indian-Americans to contribute to the development of India and its ties with the US, India’s envoy in Washington has said.

“The relationship between India and the US is very strong across a whole range of sectors in the economic field, in technology and in the defence where we are making tremendous progress,” Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh told members of the Indian Diaspora at a reception in Washington.

“I believe, there is opportunity for all of you, who have excelled after coming to the United States to now also engage with the processes in India and make contribution not just to the US but also to the India-US relationship,” Mr Singh said at the reception hosted in his honour by the Indian American communities of the Greater Washington Area.

Addressing the gathering, Noble laureate Kailash Satyarthi hoped India-US relationship would strengthen further during Singh’s tenure as the Indian Ambassador in America.

Senior BJP leader Kiran Bedi, who is visiting the US to attend a family wedding, said about Mr Singh, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has sent his best diplomat to the US.

It is time to strengthen hands of the Prime Minister.

Some 400 eminent Indian-Americans from Greater Washington Area were present at the reception for Mr Singh.

Source: NDTV