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 5^th 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.