Several Indian Americans among finalist to White House Fellows

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Mar 5 (PTI) Eight Indian Americans are among
the 108 regional finalists to the prestigious White House
Fellows for the year 2009-2010 programme for leadership and
public service in the US.

The regional finalists would be interviewed for the
final list of about 30 outstanding women and men, who would
then be appointed as a White House Fellow for one year by US
President Barack Obama. The list was released Wednesday.

While the White House did not disclose the names of the
regional finalists based on the ethnicity of the successful
candidates, the Press Trust of India (PTI) has identified at
least eight of them as Indian Americans, based on their names.

These outstanding Indian Americans who have made it to
the list of 108 regional finalists, are Komal Bazaz Smith from
Arlington in Virginia; Sudip K Bose (Chicago); Sreekanth K
Chaguturu (Boston); Amar A Desai (Westlake Village,
California); Anish P Mahajan (Los Angeles); Manish K Sethi
(Brookline, Massachusetts); Minesh Shah (Bronx, New York) and
Raj M Shah (Philadelphia).

Among the alumni of this prestigious fellowship are
former Secretary of State Colin Powell, CNN Chief Medical
Correspondent Dr Sanjay Gupta, Travelocity CEO Michelle
Peluso, and Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert.

White House Fellows spend a year working as full-time,
paid special assistants to senior White House Staff, Cabinet
Secretaries and other top-ranking government officials.

Fellows also participate in an education program
consisting of roundtable discussions with renowned leaders
from the private and public sectors and trips to study US
policy in action both domestically and internationally.

The fellowship was founded in 1964 by President Lyndon
Johnson.

There are a few other South Asian Americans in the list
released by the White House. Prominent among them include
Aysha A Chowdhry (from Chevy Chase in Maryland) and Moushumi M
Khan (from Ann Arbor in Michigan). Both of them are of
Bangladeshi origin. PTI LKJ
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