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27
JAN: INDIAN
BORN MOHAN GYANI
CFO OF AT&T WIRELESS
|
AT&T
appointed India-born Mohan Gyani as the Executive Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer of its newly formed Wireless Services
Group.
Gyani, 48, joined the
group to lead the Financial Strategy, Planning and Business Development
functions. AT&T President John D Zeglis said, "Mohan adds a powerful
extra dimension to our senior management team. His broad financial
skills and in-depth wireless industry experience uniquely equip Mohan
to lead the wireless services growth".
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28
JAN: INDIANS
AT TOP
POSTS IN WORLD BANK
|
|
Two Indian Nationals
were appointed to senior positions in the World Bank Group. Mumbai-born
Farida
Khanbata, former Director of Treasury Operations at the International
Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank lending arm, was promoted
to the post of Vice-President of Portfolio management at the corporation. |
|
Khanbata, former Director of Treasury Operations at the International
Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank lending arm, was promoted
to the post of Vice-President of Portfolio management at the corporation.
Kerala-born Vinod Thomas,
former Director of the World Bank Institute (WBI), was promoted as
Vice-President of the institute.
|
6
FEB: PIO
HEADS UK
PANEL FOR RACIAL EQUALITY
|
 |
Gurbux Singh, a Person
of Indian Origin (PIO),was appointed as the Chairman of the Commission
for Racial Equality (CRE) in Britain.
Announcing the appointment,
the British Home Secretary Jack Straw said, "I am delighted that Gurbux
Singh will be leading the CRE as we look forward to an era of working
together for change.
|
|
16
FEB: 'SIXTH
SENSE' GETS
SIX OSCAR NOMINATIONS
|
Manoj
Night Shyamalan was nominated as best Director for his Film 'Sixth
Sense', which was also nominated for five other academy awards, including
one for the best film.
Apart from best Director
and best Film, the movie (about a tale of a child who can see ghosts)
was also nominated for best supporting actor, supporting actress,
screenplay and editing.
|
 |
|
4
MARCH: PIO's CLOUT
STRENGTHENS INDIA IN US
|
 |
In a short span of time,
Indian-Americans have been catapulted to the front pages of prominent
US newspapers. This time around, it's their sharp political acumen
that is making the headlines.
Indian-Americans who
are said to hold 40 per cent of hi-tech jobs in Silicon Valley and
the Washington area, are making substantial campaign contributions
and thereby helping change the shape of US relations with India.
According to 1990 census
data, Indian-Americans have the highest average household income $
60,903 - of any Asian-Pacific ethnic group, a ategory that includes
Chinese-Americans and Japanese-Americans.
|
|
12
MARCH: KUMAR BIRLA NAMED TO
LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL BOARD
|
| Aditya Birla group Chairman
Kumar Mangalam Birla was appointed on the London Business School's
Asia-Pacific advisory board. |
|
|
23
MARCH: US BASED INDIAN SELLS
SOFTWARE TO CANADIAN FIRM
|
 |
Rishi Bhat, a Chicago
based Indian American high school student, made $ 3 million by selling
his software to Rocca Resources which operates out of the Canadian
city of Vancouver.
Rishi Bhat,15, a student
of the Chicago Laboratory School, turned around the fortunes of Rocca
Resources, whose traditional mining business was going down.
|
|
23
MARCH: PIO TAKES THE
LEAD; TO INVEST $ 8 MILLION
|
Chairman of the Indian
American Political Foundation (IAPF) Chander Mittal said that he would
take a lead role in bringing investment in India by putting in $ 8
million to set up a high-tech automotive plant and an LPG storage
facility.
Chander Mittal, who accompanied
the US President, Bill Clinton, during his historic visit to India,
said that he plans to invest $ 4 million for setting up a production
facility near Delhi for Central Tyre Inflation (CTI) systems.
The Institute will have
six chapters in India.
|
23
MARCH: PIO GROUP LINES
UP $ 1 BILLION TECH INSTITUTE
|
Purnendu Chatterjee and
a clutch of wealthy non-resident Indians like Gururaj Deshpande, former
HCL Chairman Arjun Malhotra, Kleiner Perkins' Vinod Khosla and InfoUSA's
Vinod Gupta set up a $1 billion Indo-US institute of science and technology
in India.
The autonomous and multi-campus
intellectual enterprise aims at creating a world-class institute to
help unleash the potential of Indian talent. The institute, which
has managed to get University of California, Berkeley, as its first
foreign collaborator, has been christened the Global Institute of
Science and Technology.
"We want to be a global
player with world-class faculty, students and research programmes,"
Chatterjee said. "Remember, all this is complete philanthropy," he
added.
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26
MARCH: RUPALI MAKES
HISTORY IN ROBBEN ISLAND
|
Mumbai based marathon
swimmer, Rupali Repale, made history by becoming the first woman and
the youngest ever to cross the Robben Island Channel in South Africa.
The 17-year-old Indian,
who has already entered the Guinness Book of World Record as the youngest
to swim six of the world's straits or channels, swam from Three Anchor
Bay, Sea Point to Robben Island and then to Blouberg Strand covering
a distance of 19.5 km.
Rupali, who had earlier
conquered the English Channel and the Strait of Gibralter in 1994,
Mumbai-Dharamtar-Mumbai (a distance of 78 kms) and the Palk Strait
between Sri Lanka to India in 1995, Bass Straits (from Philipa Bay
to Melbourne in Australia in 1996) and Cook Straits (1998), became
the third person to cross the Robben Island Channel.
|
30
MARCH: KNOWLEDGE GIVES
PIO PROFESSOR £ 116 MILLION
|
A
professor of the Institute of Science and Technology, at the University
of Manchester found himself £ 116 million richer after floating his
software company.
Professor Madan Singh,
who 21 years ago became the youngest professor in Britain, developed
software that enables retailers to adjust prices for maximum profits.
The company he founded, called Knowledge Support Systems, was worth
more than £ 262 million on the first day of trading.
