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 [email protected].