Shantanu Narayen, Anand Mahindra, Arne Sorenson, Chip Kaye and Marc Allen among new board members.
The newly launched US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) has expanded its board of directors by adding 17 new members, among them business leaders and foreign policy experts.
Business leaders newly inducted into the Washington-based advocacy group’s board include top Indian American executives Shantanu Narayen of Adobe Systems, Sanjay Bhatnagar of Waterhealth International and Rajesh Subramaniam of FedEx; top Indian business leaders such as Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, IREO Management Chairman Anurag Bhargava and KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar; and prominent American business executives such as Arne Sorenson of Marriott International, Chip Kaye of Warburg Pincus and Marc Allen of Boeing International.
With the addition of the new members, the number of the board members has increased to 26. The USISPF was launched on August 1, at an event attended by India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
The mission of the group is to stimulate “business relations between the U.S. and India, and enhancing the strategic relationship between the two countries.”
Most of the leadership team of the USISPF was part of the leadership of the US-India Business Council. The USISPF was formed after the then-USIBC board, led by Chambers, broke away from the USIBC in a highly publicized split.
The new members join other business and foreign policy luminaries such as Indra Nooyi (Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo), Ajay Banga (President & CEO, MasterCard) and Tim Roemer (a former US ambassador to India and Senior Counselor at APCO Worldwide). (See the full list of board member below.)
“It is an exciting time for the future of the U.S.-India relationship,” USISPF Chairman and Executive Chairman of Cisco John Chambers said in a statement welcoming the new board members. “The new additions to the USISPF Board, which include global industry leaders across various industries, will help further solidify the organization’s vision of creating and strengthening partnerships between the two countries. Promoting bilateral trade is an important part of our work, but the USISPF mission reaches far beyond this. It is about business and government coming together in new ways to create meaningful opportunities that have the power to change the lives of citizens.”
In a statement, Kaye said that he was “honored to be a part of USISPF’s journey and vision.” The Warburg Pincus Co-CEO added: “There are many exciting opportunities to collaborate that will positively impact the advancement of U.S.-India relations.”
“The USISPF plays a critical role in fostering the dynamic relationship between the US and India,” said Punit Renjen, USISPF Vice-Chairman and CEO of Deloitte Global. “The industry leaders that have recently joined the board share in the vision that USISPF has for strengthening the relationship between two great nations and the tremendous opportunities that exist for both countries.”
“We are pleased to welcome these industry leaders to our board,” said, Dr. Mukesh Aghi, President of USISPF. “We have appointed a powerful team of corporate leaders who will strive towards fostering strategic partnership opportunities between the U.S. and India. All of our board members embody the spirit of community and bring talent, expertise to the table. Each board member’s experience in their respective fields will bolster US- India trade relations.”
Headquartered in Washington D.C., USISPF has offices in New York, Silicon Valley, Mumbai and New Delhi.
Full list of USISP board members:
John T. Chambers, Chairman, Executive Chairman, Cisco
Punit Renjen, Vice-Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte Global
Edward Moser, Vice-Chairman, President, Emerson Electric
Ambassador Susan Esserman, Partner, Steptoe & Johnson
Ajay Banga, President & Chief Executive Officer, Mastercard
William Cohen, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, The Cohen Group
Purna Saggurti, Chairman of Global Commercial & Investment Banking, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Indra Nooyi, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo
Ambassador Frank Wisner, International Affairs Advisor, Squire Patton Boggs
Amit Midha, President of Asia Pacific and Japan Commercial, Dell EMC
Anand G. Mahindra, Executive Chairman, Mahindra Group
Anurag Bhargava, Co-Founder and Chairman, IREO Management
Arne Sorenson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Marriott International
Bhavesh Patel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, LyondellBassell
Charles R. Kaye, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Warburg Pincus
John A. Luke, Chairman, WestRock Company
John Rood, Senior Vice President, Lockheed Martin International
Bertrand-Marc Allen, President, Boeing International
Nelson Cunningham, President and Co-Founder, McLarty Associates
Rajesh Subramaniam, Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, FedEx Corporation
Robert Nelson, Jr., Partner, Shearman & Sterling LLP
Sanjay Bhatnagar, President and Chief Executive Officer, Water Health International
Sanjay Nayar, Chief Executive Officer, KKR India
Shantanu Narayen, President and Chief Executive Officer, Adobe Systems
Ambassador Tim Roemer, Senior Counselor, APCO Worldwide
Vijay Advani, Chief Executive Officer, Nuveen TIAA