Chief Guest
Honorable VIJAY NAMBIAR
Special Advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
and former Permanent Representative of India to the UN.

Keynote Address
Dr. Ajay Menon
Dean of the College of Business at Colorado State University ,
Fort Collins , Colorado .

Guest Speaker
Honorable Madhu Yaskhi
First NRI Member of Lok Sabha
from Andra Pradesh and a resident of NJ

Mr. George Abraham

Dr. Ajay Menon

Dr. T.S. Dharmarajan

Dr. K.P. Ananthpadmanabhan

Dr. Prathibha Varkey

Mr. Samual Easo

Hon. John B. Pessala

Mr. George Abraham (Houston, TX) – COMMUNITY SERVICE

  In 2003, Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NORKA) Department of Kerala Govt. appointed George Abraham as Director of the ‘Southern Region’ division of the United States . IN the same year, through his efforts and hard work, he took a medical team to Kerala with 23 medical professionals in cooperation with a charitable organization called ‘House of Charity’ and assisted the needy people in Kerala. In 2004, two medical teams consisting of 46 medical personnel joined and conducted urological treatments and plastic surgeries. Between 2003-’06, Abraham took leadership to ship ten containers of medicine and medical supplies worth Rs. 80 Crores for needy people in Kerala. Abraham was involved in bringing ENFLEX (National Council of Nursing Board Exams) to India . By profession, George is a broker in the real estate industry and owns Abraham & Co. Realtors.

  Dr. Ajay Menon, ( Fort Collins , CO ) – EDUCATION

  Professor Ajay Menon is the Dean of the College of Business at Colorado State University , Fort Collins , Colorado and holds a Ph.D. in Marketing. Directing the College of Business ’ executive and academic programs for nearly seven years, Menon forged partnerships with several influential Colorado companies. He teaches International Marketing and Marketing Strategy in the College of Business . Professor Menon's research interests are Customer Care Management and Strategy Planning & Implementation. He has coordinated and participated in several discussion round-tables on customer service and marketing at national and international forums.

  Dr. K.P. Ananthpadmanabhan ( Troy, NY) – APPLIED SCIENCES

  Dr. K.P. Ananthapadmanabhan (Ananth) is a lead scientist / group leader at Unilever Research & Development in Trumbull , CT working on personal care research. Born and brought up in Wadakanchery, Kerala, Ananth received his B. Tech. from IIT Mumbai (1974) and Masters (1976) and Doctorate (1980) degrees from Columbia University , New York . Prior to joining Unilever, Ananth worked at the Surface Chemistry Skill Center of Union Carbide Corporation in Tarry Town , NY . Ananth is an author-editor of a book and has 20+ patents and 80+ publications. He is a recipient of several awards and is widely recognized for his contributions to surfactant-polymer physical chemistry and physiology of skin cleansing. Ananth is married to Meena and has two children, Priya and Mala.

  Dr. T. S. Dharmarajan MD, FACP, AGSF ( Scarsdale , NY ) – MEDICINE

  Dr. T. S. Dharmarajan, is Chairman, Department of Medicine; Chief, Division of Geriatrics and Director, Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program at Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center, Bronx, a University Hospital of New York Medical College, where he also serves as Professor of Medicine. Dr. Dharmarajan was instrumental in developing a 70 bed geriatric medicine program at Our Lady of Mercy Medical, over the last decade, with strong clinical, academic and research components, including a fully accredited fellowship program in Geriatrics. His program is one of the biggest in the country and recognized as among the finest in the tri-state area. Dr. Dharmarajan edited the textbook Clinical Geriatrics (CRC Press/Parthenon Publishing) released in 2003. He is currently editing his second book, the Handbook of Geriatric Medicine (Cambridge University Press). His publications in peer reviewed journals and text books and scientific presentations in national and international meetings total nearly 200. His research interests focus primarily in the areas of geriatrics, nutrition and anemia. Besides winning the Howard Gutterman Award for best research project in the Annual AMDA (2006) meeting, he has been a recipient of numerous recognitions and awards in Medicine. Dr. Dharmarajan is married to Lekshmi, a Cardiologist; they have a son, Kumar, presently an intern in Medicine at Massachussets General Hospital , Boston .

  Dr. Prathibha Varkey, ( Rochester , MN ) – SPECIAL RECOGNITION

  Prathibha Varkey, MD, MPH is Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic and serves as the Program Director for the Preventive Medicine Fellowship. She has made significant contributions to curricular reform in undergraduate and graduate education and serves as the founding Director of the Quality Improvement Curriculum at Mayo Medical School and Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, and the Director of Quality at the Division of Preventive and Occupational Medicine. She is the recipient of the 2004 AMA Foundation Leadership Award Program for her contributions to education and community services. Dr. Varkey's research interests include quality improvement, medical education and refugee health. Dr Varkey has a MD from the Christian Medical College , Vellore , India and MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston , MA . She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at the Hospital of St Raphael (affl. of Yale), New Haven , CT and Preventive Medicine fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

  Judge John B. Pessala ( Westbury , NY ) – PUBLIC SERVICE

  Judge John B. Pessala was born in Oulu , Finland and moved to Long Island with his family at the age of six. Graduating from SUNY Cortland and Hofstra University with a BA and MA respectively, John taught social studies at Smithtown Central High School and simultaneously completing a Juris Doctor from St. John’s University . Starting as a court attorney for Nassau County District Court, John went on to become Deputy County Attorney in the Family Court Bureau, Senior Deputy Town Attorney for the Town of Hempstead and Counsel to the Nassau County Executive. In 1993, John was elected as District Court Judge and was subsequently appointed and confirmed by NY State Senate as a Nassau County Family Court Judge. John is married to Elizabeth who is a law clerk to a Supreme Court Justice and has two children Anne and Alexander.

  Samual Easo ( Bergenfield , NJ ) – MASS MEDIA

  Samual Easo (Sunil) currently serves as Asianet USA 's Director of Production and Marketing in North America . Sunil has been instrumental in launching Asianet TV in USA and also in producing several ongoing TV News & Entertainment Programs featuring people, events and many facets of Indians especially Malayalees’ LifeStyle to the Asianet's Global Audience. The American segment at Asianet starts with US Weekly Roundup showcasing the rich Kerala culture being nurtured in USA to the world. This was the first program to show American Malayalees heartbeats to the World and will be celebrating the 200th episode within few months. This is followed by several other segments.