Born in Kerala, Kumar was earlier a software entrepreneur.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Time to add yet another name to the list of Indian-Americans appointments made by President Barack Obama.
Arun M. Kumar has been nominated to the position of Assistant Secretary and Director General of the US and Foreign Commercial Service, which is part of the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration.
Kumar’s appointment is yet another in an increasingly long line of Indian-Americans that President Obama has nominated to key posts, though those have been largely in the judicial branch. The closest appointment to Kumar’s that Obama has made was that of Puneet Talwar to the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs last month.
Talwar’s nomination has yet to be confirmed by Congress, which just entered the second week of its partial government shutdown. The shutdown also means that Kumar’s nomination – as well as other recent nominations such as Indira Talwani and Manish Shah, will have to wait until Congress passes a federal budget and the government resumes normal functions.
Kumar earned his BS from the University of Kerala, in physics. He then received his Master’s degree in Management from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Kumar was the CFO of Elite Microelectronics from 1990-1991. In 1993, he founded software company Planning & Logic, Inc. and stayed with it until 1995, at which point he joined KPMG as a Finance Management Leader. He led the firm’s US-India practice from 2007-2013, and also its West Coast Finance Management Consulting Practice.
Regarding President Obama’s appointment, Kumar said “I am grateful they have agreed to serve in this Administration and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.â€
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com