The US Senate today confirmed Indian-American Puneet Talwar to a key diplomatic position in the State Department.

So far a key aide of President Barack Obama on the Middle East, Talwar would now serve as the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.

After being sworn-in, Talwar would be the second Indian American serving as assistant secretary in the State Department after Nisha Desai, who is the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.

It was in September last year that Obama had nominated Talwar, who played a key role on negotiations with Iran, to this top diplomatic position in the State Department.

Talwar would provide policy direction in the areas of international security, security assistance, military operations, defense strategy and plans, and defense trade.

The Bureau of Political-Military Affairs is the Department of State’s principal link to the Department of Defense.

Since 2009, Talwar has been a Special Assistant to the US President and Senior Director for Iran, Iraq, and the Gulf States on the White House National Security Staff.

Prior to this, Talwar served as a Senior Professional Staff Member on the Committee on Foreign Relations of the US Senate (SFRC) from 2001 to 2009 and from 1997 to 1999, and was the chief advisor on the Middle East to then Senator Joseph R Biden in his capacity as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He served as a member of the Department of State’s Policy Planning Staff from 1999 to 2001.

From 1992 to 1995, he served as a foreign policy advisor to Representative Thomas C. Sawyer, and from 1990 to 1992 as an official with the United Nations.

He received a B.S. From Cornell University and an M.A. from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Source: Business Standard

WASHINGTON: Indian-American attorney Vince Chhabria, who has represented San Francisco in defence of its health insurance law, adoption rights of same-sex couples and other major cases, has won Senate confirmation for a federal judgeship.

Chhabria, 44, who presently serves as the deputy attorney of San Francisco City, will become California’s first federal judge of South Asian descent and one of only a few South Asian federal judges across the US.

The Senate vote on Wednesday was 58-41, with four Republicans joining Democrats in approving President Barack Obama’s nomination of Chhabria.

A University of California Berkeley Law School graduate, he fills the last of three vacancies on the Bay Area’s 14-member US District Court.

Born to Indian parents, who are Mumbai natives, Chhabria is currently visiting family in India.

“I am thrilled to begin this new chapter of my career in public service, and to set up shop down the hall from my greatest mentor, Judge Charles Breyer,” he said in a press statement.

“While I had high expectations when I started here nine years ago, I never dreamed I would be lucky enough to work on so many exciting cases, for so many dynamic clients, with so many dedicated and high-calibre public lawyers.”

Chhabria also thanked the members of the South Asian legal community saying: “The fact that I have been confirmed while travelling in India with my family makes this an especially proud moment for me.”

He began his legal career by clerking for Judge Charles R. Breyer of the US district court for the Northern District of California from 1998 to 1999.

The South Asian Bar Association of North America and the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California have applauded Chhabria’s historic confirmation to the US district court.

The lone Indian-American member of the US House of Representatives, Ami Bera,the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus chair, Judy Chu, and CAPAC chair emeritus, Mike Honda, also applauded Chhabria’s confirmation.

“Vince Chhabria will make an excellent judge for the US district court. I’m delighted that he was confirmed,” Bera said.

“As the first South Asian to serve on the federal bench in California, he has also made California’s Indian-American and South Asian community proud.”

Source: Times of India

A high powered delegation consisting of large US investors visited Delhi and Mumbai in the month of February 2014. The delegation comprised of investors from various sectors like logistics infrastructure, roads, power and energy, engineering, smart cities, manufacturing, and private equity.  In its 3-day visit, the US trade mission had meetings with corporate leaders, and attended events and conferences in Delhi. One of the events that the delegation attended was the economic convention at Delhi that was addressed by BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi.

Press Release 1: http://tinyurl.com/ooxbpsc

Press Release 2: http://tinyurl.com/prlfusa

Aditi Chattopadhyay was one of four Arizona State University professors who have been named Regents’ Professors for their extraordinary scholarly contributions.
Chattopadhyay is an Ira A. Fulton Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, within the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, and the director of the Adaptive, Intelligent Materials and Systems Center at ASU.

The Indian American and the other three awardees were honored Feb. 6 at an induction ceremony.

Chattopadhyay is an internationally renowned expert on composite materials, structural health monitoring, multidisciplinary design optimization and their application in a range of important problems central to the aerospace industry and a growing variety of applications in civil/structural industries.

Due to her achievements, she has been elected to the grade of Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Georgia Institute of Technology Hall of Fame. She has also received several NASA Tech Brief awards, which is among NASA’s most prestigious awards.

Source: IndiaWest

Indian-origin Ashok Varadhan has been appointed co-head of the Goldman Sachs’ securities division, the largest and most profitable of the global investment bank’s four units.

Varadhan, 41, is currently the head of macro trading in Goldman’s Securities Division and will join Isabelle Ealet and Pablo Salame as co-head of the securities division.

In an internal memo, Goldman’s chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, on Monday had said that Varadhan has been an “effective voice on a number of firmwide, regional and divisional committees”, including the management committee, growth markets operating committee and firmwide risk committee.

“As a long-tenured leader in the securities division, Ashok has demonstrated dedication to our clients and a deep understanding of our business,” Blankfein said.

As co-head of the securities division, which generates the most revenue and profit for Goldman, Varadhan would build on Goldman’s client franchise across its fixed income, currency and commodities and equities businesses.

A Duke University graduate, Varadhan joined Goldman Sachs in 1998 in Swaps Trading and after heading the dollar derivative trading, he ran North American interest rate products and became global head of foreign exchange in 2007.

He was named managing director in 2000 and partner in 2002.

He is the son of eminent Indian-American academician Srinivasa Varadhan, a Chennai native who is professor of Mathematics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University.

The senior Varadhan was awarded the Abel Prize, considered equivalent to the Nobel Prize and awarded for outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics.

The securities unit is the largest of Goldman’s four divisions and people who have co-headed the unit previously have gone on to assume top-ranking positions at the bank.

It includes the bank’s fixed-income, currency and commodities operations as well as its equities unit.

Varadhan serves as vice chairman of the US Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee. He also serves on the board of directors of DUMAC, which manages Duke University’s endowment.