The Indian American Kerala Cultural and Civic Center
(http://keralacenterny.com) will
honor five Indian American Malayalees for their outstanding achievements in
their field of specialization or for their service to the society. The awardees
were selected by a committee consisting of four members headed by Kerala Center
Board Member and Trustee Dr. Thomas Abraham.
“Kerala
Center has been honoring outstanding achievers since 1991 and every year we
invite nominations and the committee has to make a unanimous choice for a
candidate in a category to be selected to receive the award and this year is no
different from previous years in terms of their achievements,” said Dr.
Abraham.
This
year’s honorees are: Arun M Kumar,
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the
U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service and leads the trade and investment
promotion efforts of the U.S. Government for Service to the US Govt.; Ram Menon is Partner at KPMG, a global network of
professional firms providing Advisory, Tax and Audit services and serves as
Global Head of KPMG’s Insurance Deal Advisory practice for Corporate
Leadership; Dr. Jay Radhakrishnan,
Professor of Medicine at Columbia University and Clinical Chief of the
Nephrology Division at the New York Presbyterian Hospital in Medicine; Dr. T.V. RajanBabu, Professor and
Kiberly Chair in Chemistry at Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) in Applied
Sciences and Manohar Thomas, a Malayalam
writer and community activist who has been very active for over 30 years in
promoting Malayalam language and literature of Kerala in US for Promoting Literary Work
and Community Service.
The
awardees will be honored at the Kerala Center's 23rd Annual Awards Banquet on
Saturday, November 5th starting
at 6.30 p.m. at World’s Fair Marina in Flushing (Queens,
New York City, address: 1 World’s Fair Marina, Flushing). The chief guest
is Consul for Community Affairs at the new York Indian Consulate K. Devadasan Nair and the keynote speaker is US Asst. Secretary of
Commerce Arun Kumar.
Kerala
Center President Thambi Thalappillil said that the Center had recognized 131
achievers in the last 23 years who have continued to become bigger achievers
and contributors to the society.
An
entertainment will follow after the award ceremony by Global Arts of New
York. Tickets for banquet can be reserved by
contacting Kerala
Center at 516-358-2000 or
e-mail at kc@keralacenterny.com.
PROFILES OF KERALA CENTER AWARDEES FOR 2015
Recognition for Outstanding Contribution in Service to the US Govt. – Arun
Kumar
Arun M Kumar is the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and
Director General of the U.S.
and Foreign Commercial Service and leads the trade and investment promotion
efforts of the U.S. Govt’, overseeing an organization with offices in over 72
countries and 100 U.S.
cities. Formerly a senior partner and member of the Board of Directors of KPMG
LLP, he also founded and led their US- India practice. Over the years he has
been an entrepreneur as well as a mentor and advisor to entrepreneurial
ventures in Silicon Valley and in India. An early charter member of
TiE Silicon Valley and serving on its Board, Arun has been a member of advisory
councils at Stanford Univ. and the Univ.
of California, Santa Cruz. He served on the Board of
Directors of the U.S. India Business Council for six years. An author of a book
of poetry, Plain Truths, Arun is co-editor
of Kerala’s Economy: Crouching Tiger, Sacred Cows. After completion of an undergraduate degree in physics
from the University
of Kerala, Arun received
a master’s in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management and started
his career as a member of TAS, the central management cadre of the Tata Group,
in Mumbai.
Recognition for Outstanding Contribution in Corporate
Leadership – Ram Menon
Ram
Menon is Partner at KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing
Advisory, Tax and Audit services and serves as Global Head of KPMG’s Insurance
Deal Advisory practice, and provides mergers, acquisition & divestiture
related advisory services to clients in the global financial services industry,
across the Americas, Asia, Europe & Middle East. During his 25 year career
with KPMG, Ram has worked at KPMG’s financial services industry practices in
leading financial centers worldwide, including New York,
London, Singapore
and Dubai. Ram
is qualified as a Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Global Management
Accountant, Chartered Accountant, and has a Bachelor’s degree in finance &
accounting from the University of Bombay in India.
Recognition for Outstanding Contribution in Medicine - Dr.
Jay Radhakrishnan, MD, MS
Dr.
Radhakrishnan is Professor of Medicine at Columbia
University and Clinical Chief of the
Nephrology Division at the New
York Presbyterian Hospital. In his capacity as a Global Education
Ambassador for the ISN, he has lectured extensively. His commitment to medical
education and patient care is exemplified by his numerous teaching awards and
his inclusion in the Who’s Who
among America’s Teachers
& Educators, America’s
Best Doctors and Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors and New York Magazine’s Best
Doctors.
Recognition in Applied Sciences – Prof. T. V.
(Babu) RajanBabu
Prof.
RajanBabu received his undergraduate degrees from Kerala
University (CMS
College, Kottayam) and The Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT, Madras).
After obtaining a Ph. D. degree in chemistry from The Ohio State University and
a research fellowship at Harvard
University, he joined
Dupont Central Research and Development becoming a Research Fellow. He
returned to Ohio State as a Professor in 1995 and
currently holds the Kimberly Chair in Chemistry. His research in organic
synthesis, supported by the US NSF and NIH, aims to discover more efficient and
environmentally benign methods useful for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals
and other such value-added chemicals. He is the author of over 150
publications and 13 US
patents. Among the many honors he has received, he is especially proud of
the Distinguished Alumnus award from IIT Madras.
Recognition for Promoting Literary Works and Community
Service – Manohar Thomas
Manohar Thomas is a Malayalam writer who
has been very active for over 30 years in promoting in the US the language
and literature of Kerala. Born in Piravom, Kerala, he was play-and-movie actor
before immigrating to the America
in 1984. He had learnt classical dance and had his ‘Arangettam’ and was also a
commercial model for businesses like Seematti. In the US, he
maintained his love of art and literature. He was one of the founders of
Sargavedi, an organization promoting Malayalam literature, meeting at the
Kerala Center every third Sunday and has
hosted many events featuring famous writers from Kerala. Serving as its
president for many years. Manohar also served as President of Literary
Association of North America (LANA), an umbrella organization of literary
associations including Sargavedi.