Past Honorees
2005 Award Winners
2006 Award Winners
2007 Award Winners
Keynote Speakers
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2006 Award Winners
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO COMMUNITY
SERVICE
Dr. Subroto Kundu, MD. Neurologist
Professionally, a Neurologist practicing in the San Francisco East Bay. During school and college, he won many national honors, Gold Medals, awards, scholarships, fellowships, national talent search scholarships and ranked in the top ten positions in India. In the US, he was ranked at the 98th percentile of Neurology residents. He is known for his independent thinking, pointed opinion pieces and editorial skills. His ready wit can be a weapon, as some have found out in public debates.
He takes an active interest on issues of policy in the Indo-American community and in his field of medicine. He is shy of holding organizational positions, but will do so occasionally only for developing organizational infrastructure. He believes that the role of the physician is to "Treat and to Teach", the first being incomplete without the other. In this context, as the President of AAPIO, he started “Community Medical Education Seminars", for which the city of Milpitas and Congressman Pete Stark commended him and put it on congressional record. His last presentation on September 10, on health insurance policies and the Single Payer Initiative, left a significant impression on the audience, particularly given the complex topic.
A champion of the Common Man, he is a frequent opponent of corporate interests, particularly in his field of medicine. He wears his democratic credentials on his sleeves, and has involved himself in interacting with elected representatives at the highest levels, in the Congress, Senate and even at presidential candidates level. Nominated to the technical advisory body called the Indo-American Leadership Council created by Leader Nancy Pelosi, he has been invited to write “white papers” in presenting their position to the Democratic National Committee, where he also made presentations on healthcare issues and the Indo-US Nuclear Cooperation Treaty. He has been recognized by other Indo-American organizations for his contribution in raising political awareness in the community.
OUSTANDING PROFESSIONAL
ACHIVEMENT
Naresh Nigam, Senior Vice President, Sanmina
"The Pratt Institute of Brooklyn has among its alumni John Travolta, Robert Redford and Naresh Nigam. Nigam was never one for the movies. He had other dreams, like being a CEO. And today he is just that" Business Standards, New Delhi, April 1997.
Born in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, India Naresh Nigam graduated from Agra University with a M.Sc. in Chemistry. He came to the US in 1974 and graduated in 1976 with Masters in Computer Engineering from Pratt Institute. Nigam worked for Unisys as Vice President of Engineering, managing several development centers around the world. In 1996, he became President and CEO of Duet Technologies, a physical library and memory compiler company. Currently he is working as Senior Vice President & GM, New Technologies and Ventures division at Sanmina-SCI, the 6th biggest company in the Silicon Valley.
Nigam has been an entrepreneur since early in his career, founding CyberTech Systems that had a successful IPO in India in the mid-90s. In 1999 he co-founded Force10 Networks, a Silicon Valley-based 10GbE switch & routers company. His current and past Board and advisory board memberships include: Phothena Optics, Concerto Communications, PhotonAge, Optim Networks, Variel Corporation, and CoVisible.
Nigam is an angel investor and limited partner in VC Funds. He is married and lives locally with his wife, Neelu..
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE
ARTS AND HUMANITIES
Ms. Vasanthi Bhat, Yoga Instructor, Vasantha Yoga Founding Director
Vasanthi Bhat is an established Yoga instructor in the Bay Area with international reputation. She is the founding director of Vasantha Yoga for Health and Fitness, San Jose, California. She has been teaching Yoga for over 31 years and has published 3 books and 18 DVD’s on Yoga. She has developed a gentle and caring style that suits all ages from 3-95. Her dream is to help people maintain balanced health, and prevent and heal stress related ailments through the practice of yoga. She is a mother of two and currently has three grandchildren.
In her therapeutic Hatha Yoga class, she follows her Guru, Swami Sivananda. She teaches warm ups, asana, pranayama, meditation, pranic healing, and deep relaxation to help students prevent and heal stress-related ailments. Cardio and weight resistant asanas using the body are taught to condition the body. Her specialty is that she gives individual attention to people to help them derive maximum benefit from her classes.
Vasanthi’s classes are proven to help people manage stress, develop flexibility, improve concentration, memory, productivity, and to achieve a peaceful state of mind. She helped people relieve chronic back pain, insomnia, anxiety, nervousness, headaches, allergy, asthma, hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, eye disorders, arthritis, CTS, and many other abdominal, heart, and lungs related symptoms. She has also helped people recover from severe conditions such as ruptured disc, depression, thyroid disturbance, breathlessness, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibroids, tumors, and cancer.
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