“Incredible honor”: Islam.
AB Wire
Prominent Indian American entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Islam will receive the UP Ratna award from the government of Uttar Pradesh.
The award, which was instituted earlier this year to recognize the achievements and outstanding contributions of NRIs from the state, will be conferred by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav at the inaugural UP Pravasi Diwas in Agra on January 4, 2016.
“I am profoundly grateful to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and the Uttar Pradesh government for this honor,” Islam said in a statement.
“This award has a special significance for me, coming from Uttar Pradesh, the place where my journey began,” he told The American Bazaar. “I am humbled and delighted to receive this honor.”
Islam, who was born in Azamgarh, said he feels “a strong connection to the past and future of UP” and “a reaffirmation of purpose to strive to improve the educational conditions for those who are less fortunate and underprivileged.”
The Potomac, MD, resident also thanked former Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav “for his leadership and his service to Azamgarh.”
Islam came to the United States in the early 1970s to study at University of Colorado. In 1994, he founded the information technology company QSS, with him as the sole employee. When he sold it in 2007, the company had more than 2,000 employees and sales of $300 million.
After selling QSS, he started an investment company, Frank Islam Investment Group. Since then, Islam has engaged in philanthropic activities, mainly through a foundation he set up along with his wife, Debbie Driesman. The Frank Islam and Debbie Driesman Foundation supports civic, educational and artistic causes and institutions in the United States and India.
Earlier this year, the foundation pledged $2 million to Aligarh Muslim University, Islam’s alma mater, for the construction of a new school of management named after him and his wife.
“I feel a sense of cautious optimism that, we as concerned Indian Americans, can make a positive and a meaningful difference by working together,” he said about his philanthropic work in India.
Besides AMU, the foundation has supported a number of institutions, including University of Colorado, Montgomery College, and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, USIP and Brookings Institution.
Over the years, Islam has received dozens of national and international awards. In January, he became the first South Asian American to receive the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Award for International Service. Other awards he received include the Tie Legends Award (2014), the American Bazaar Philanthropy Award (2015), Ross Masood Lifetime Achievement Award (2015) and the Pride of India Award (2015).
Islam serves on many boards and advisory councils including: the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Brookings Institution, the Woodrow Wilson Center, USIP, Johns Hopkins University, George Mason University and Marymount University.
Islam is also a prolific writer, who has authored two books: Working the Pivot Points: To Make America Work Again (2013) and Renewing the American Dream: A Citizen’s Guide for Restoring Our Competitive Advantage (2010). He blogs regularly for The Huffington Post and has written columns for publications such as The Economic Times of India, International Business Times and Deccan Herald.