Obama selects Indian-American women to his administration

The US President, Mr Barack Obama, has nominated two Indian-American women to his administration, according to a White House statement.

Chicagoan Ms Deepa Gupta was nominated as member of National Council on the Arts, while Ms Nisha Desai Biswal has been named as member, Congressional-Executive Commission on the People's Republic of China, it said.

The release also announced nomination of seven others to key administration posts.

“I am grateful these accomplished men and women have agreed to join this administration, and I'm confident they will serve ably in these important roles. I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years,” Mr Obama said in a statement.

Ms Gupta is a Program Officer for Media, Culture and Special Initiatives at the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation in Chicago. In this role, she manages the foundation's grant making in arts and culture in Chicago and the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

Ms Gupta — who earned her MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University — previously served as a senior associate at McKinsey and Company. Ms Gupta is a board member of the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois and an advisory board member of the Cure JM Foundation.

Ms Biswal currently serves as Assistant Administrator for Asia at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which she would continue to hold, the statement said.

Prior to this position, Ms Biswal served as the Majority Clerk for the State Department and Foreign Operations Sub-committee on the Committee on Appropriations in the US House of Representatives which has jurisdiction over the State Department, USAID and other aspects of the international affairs budget.

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