KV Kumar among 6 Indian Americans awarded Ellis Island Medal of Honor

Los Angeles, May 20, 2015
NRIpress-Club/GS/Ramesh

“I have dedicated over a third of my life to serving the community as a volunteer, starting with taking care of my grandparents at an early age to helping the senior citizens of Washington, DC area in the late sixties then turned to helping the needy individuals, NGO's, small businesses, entrepreneurs and other worthy causes,”  Kumar told NRIpress on telephone and later sent email as requested. “ I have been actively in the business world for over three decades and have been a staunch advocate of small and minority owned businesses.”

 As KV Kumar writes: " On May 9th 2015, I received a very prestigious honor of my life, "Ellis Island Medal Honor".  As an American of Indian Origin, this is a great honor bestowed upon me for my dedication to volunteer work for which I have so far spent more than one third of my working life. I have been a volunteer in the community for about 47 years. I have been actively in the business world for over three decades and have been a staunch advocate of small and minority owned businesses."

It was a two day celebrations starting with the dinner at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in NYC, followed by black tie events the next day starting with guarded ferry visit to Ellis Island with red carpet and Marine escort to the Great Hall of Ellis Island with Honor of Medal bestowed on the honorees, followed by a banquet dinner. They had also arranged special fireworks on the Hudson Bay for the honorees and their guests on the Hudson Bay.

 KV Kumar from Bangalore, India, started his career at the World Bank, is a management consultant to entrepreneurs, NGOs and small and large businesses. KV is the Managing Partner at Kumar & Talvadkar, LLC, and serves on the boards of several companies. He is a strategist, negotiator, turnaround and connectivity expert, who has turned around many companies and organizations. KV is founder of many organizations including US Indian American Chamber of Commerce, India Club of the World Bank and IMF, U.S. India Foundation (a think-tank, in- organization).  He was President & CEO of American Systems International, successfully negotiated strategic partnership with NELCO of the TATA Group, India.

KV serves on California State Bar Board of Governor's Committee of Bar Examiners; Small Business Council of U.S. Chamber of Commerce; California State District Appeals Board, U.S. Selective Service: Advisory Boards of the Latino Coalition and Hispanic 100 and Board of Trustees, International Women’s Think-tank Organization.

He has served all Presidents from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama; He was the first Indian American appointed as Member of the Executive Committee, U.S. Small Business Administration. KV facilitated the signing of a MoU between SBA and Government of India. Frederick Schoenhut, former Chairman of NY Board of Trade & Intercontinental Exchange, who has worked with KV on several boards, says, KV is a truly selfless, dedicated volunteer.

KV is recipient of  many awards for his outstanding  volunteer work: 2009 Most Influential Multi-Cultural Business Leader; Honored Patriot and Bronze Medal for Meritorious Service, U.S. Selective Service; Brain Injury Association (USA) honored KV for 'Unheralded Advocacy' on Behalf of Victims of Brain Injury which led to U.S. Congress passing "1996 TBI Act" to help over 50 million Americans with brain injury; Distinguished Service Award to the Business Community, Secretary of U.S. Department of Energy; Distinguished Recognition Award for Advocacy to Small Businesses; U.S.  Department of Commerce; Featured in the "Notable Asian Americans", a publication of 250 Notable Asian Americans; Six awards from US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for dedication and service to minority businesses; Distinguished Service & Strategist Par Excellence, Asian American Leadership Council.

 Former Ellis Island Medal of Honor recipients include: Former Presidents, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon; Joseph Biden, William Rehnquist, Sandra Day O'Connor, Tony Blair, Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright,  Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf, Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, Ed Royce, John McCain, Henry Kissinger, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Deepak Chopra, Walter Cronkite, Art Buchwald, Paul Volcker, Rupert Murdoch, Bill Marriott, Donald  Trump, Roberto Goizueta and Jack Welch.  

• 6 Indian Americans awarded Ellis Island Medal of Honor.....Click here
  

Read More