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Susmita Gongulee Thomas
Consul General of India, San Francisco
Bio-Profile


Susmita Gongulee Thomas is an experienced and senior Indian bureaucrat with over 32 years of experience in international and foreign affairs. She joined the prestigious Indian Foreign Service in 1976. During her last 32 years she has served in widely differing diplomatic assignments in Spain, Japan, USA, Cote d’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Chile. Her assignment as the Indian Ambassador to Cote d’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast) was a very challenging one. During her tenure, she survived three successive coups and despite rebel fire, successfully repatriated thousands of stranded Indians from these war torn countries. She recognized the opportunity for helping people amidst the challenges; while 48 other embassies chose to close, she courageously decided not only to keep the Indian embassy open but also supported the needy with timely help, food supplies and medicines, keeping alive the relations between her country and these two countries.

Following such a challenging assignment she was posted as the Ambassador of India to Chile, with the mandate to build up bilateral relations which have been low-key for over 65 years. She has achieved her mandate, in that for the last two years India and Chile have experienced a meteoric rise in their bilateral relations. Ambassador Gongulee Thomas successfully organized the first ever visit by a Chilean President to India. Also other high level visits. She has been the driving force behind the negotiations for the Preferential Trade Agreement between the two countries. During the first two years of her current tenure, the trade between the two countries has grown by 196%. Chile is now an important strategic partner for India in Latin America and the second largest trade partner after Brazil. Both countries are poised on the brink of a growth spurt in fields as diverse as pharmaceuticals, IT, research in alternative medicine, distance education, space and Antarctica.

India and Chile have developed shared vision and strategies for promoting democracy all over the world, tackling terrorism and improving the living standards of their people. Ambassador Gongulee Thomas has played a crucial role in identifying, designing, planning, executing and consolidating the relationship between our two countries which have many common needs and developmental levels, even though they are miles apart.

Ambassador Gongulee Thomas holds a Masters Degree in Organic Chemistry. She has also successfully completed a Ford Foundation Scholarship program on US Foreign Policy Process from University of Maryland, USA. She is an ardent supporter of utilizing the best practices of new management fields like Project Management and is today recognized by the Project Management Institute USA as an influential diplomat who has contributed substantially to spreading the message about the importance of Project Management especially for developing countries. She has helped to create the discipline of Project Management in the University of Santo Tomas and in the University of Desarollo, Santiago.

Ambassador Gongulee Thomas has two school-going children: a son and a daughter. While Ambassador Gongulee Thomas has dynamically developed the international relations between our two countries, she has also ably fulfilled her role as a mother and a wife, successfully consolidating and developing strong family values. She is ably supported by her husband Thomas P. Thomas, an entrepreneur, a PMP, and a management graduate from Wharton Business School.

 


Susmita Thomas New Consul General at SF Date Submitted: Thu Sep 04, 2008

BY A STAFF REPORTER

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Susmita Gongulee Thomas an experienced and senior Indian bureaucrat with over 32 years of experience in international and foreign affairs has taken over as the new Consul General of India in San Francisco.

She joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1976. During the last 32 years she has served in differing diplomatic assignments in Spain, Japan, USA, Cote d’ Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Chile.

During her tenure as the Indian Ambassador to Cote d’ Ivoire, she survived three successive coups and despite rebel fire, successfully repatriated thousands of stranded Indians from these war torn countries. She recognized the opportunity for helping people amidst the challenges; while 48 other embassies chose to close, she courageously decided not only to keep the Indian embassy open but also supported the needy with timely help, food supplies and medicines, keeping alive the relations between the two countries.

Following such a challenging assignment she was posted as the Ambassador of India to Chile, with the mandate to build bilateral relations which have been low-key for over 65 years. Fr the last two years India and Chile have experienced a meteoric rise in their bilateral relations. Ambassador Thomas successfully organized the first ever visit by a Chilean President to India. She has been the driving force behind the negotiations for the Preferential Trade Agreement between the two countries. During the first two years of her tenure, the trade between the two countries grew 96%. Chile is now an important strategic partner for India in Latin America and the second largest trade partner after Brazil.

Ambassador Thomas holds a Masters Degree in Organic Chemistry. She has also successfully completed a Ford Foundation Scholarship program on US Foreign Policy Process from University of Maryland, USA. She is an ardent supporter of utilizing the best practices of new management fields like Project Management and is today recognized by the Project Management Institute USA as an influential diplomat who has contributed substantially to spreading the message about the importance of Project Management especially for developing countries. She has helped to create the discipline of Project Management in the University of Santo Tomas and in the University of Desarollo, Santiago.

She has two school-going children: a son and a daughter. She is ably supported by her husband Thomas P. Thomas, an entrepreneur, a PMP, and a management graduate from Wharton Business School.