Three Americans also presented with awards.
AB Wire
Four Indian Americans and three Americans were awarded by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston (IACCGH) for their outstanding and tireless work as entrepreneurs and for “building bridges” between India and America, at a gala event in Houston, Texas, last week.
The ‘Young Professional of the Year’ was presented to Malisha Patel, 36, who is the chief operating officer of Memorail Hermann Hospital Sugarland.
The ‘Woman Entrepreneur’ award was presented to Revati Puranik, CFO, Worldwide Oilfield Machine, a company that specializes in manufacturing oil and gas equipment.
Bhavesh (Bob) Patel, CEO LyondellBasell, was awarded ‘Business Leader of the Year’ award, while the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award was given to Abezaar S. Tayabji, founder and CEO, Shipcom Wireless.
Lifetime Achievement awards were presented to three Americans – Marvin Odum, former Shell USA president, Richard Huebner, former president of Houston Minority Supplier Development and Dr. John Mendelsohn, former president, M D Anderson Cancer Center, reported the Press Trust of India.
A gala event, themed “Building Bridges”, was attended by over 700 guests, comprising top business leaders, prominent community members, Counsel General of India Dr. Anupam Ray, University of Houston chancellor and president Dr Renu Khator.
Various elected officials like Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Congressman Al Green and Pete Olson, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, Mayor of Houston Sylvester Turner, Council member Jack Christie, City of Houston Controller Chris Brown, were also present at the meet.
The chief guest and keynote speaker was Bruce Culpepper, President, Shell USA.
“When you do business in India you are essentially doing business with a country that is more like the US than many countries in the world”, Ray said, speaking at the meet.