American Society of Indian Engineers Held 2014 Inauguration Event
From left: Harshad Patel, Raghu Dass, Showri Nandgiri – VP, Sekhar Amadapuri – President, Raj Basavaraju – Treasurer, Rajesh Tolikonda – Secretary, Mahendra Korivi, and Sai Gowthami.
By Dinesh Shah
SUGAR LAND: American Society Of Indian Engineers (ASIE), a Houston based organization for engineers, architects, designers, and engineering technicians organized, a first time ever “2014 Inauguration Event” on January 23 at Sankalp. Despite of a worst weather of the season, more than 60 technical professionals participated to welcome the 2014 new ASIE Board and Board of Advisors and also to express their thanks to the 2013 Board and Board of Advisors.
At right Dinesh Shah receiving a Certificate of Appreciation from 2013 Outgoing President Vishal Merchant.
After the registration and social networking, the dinner was served and the meeting was called to order. Each member made a brief self-introduction. Vishal Merchant, the outgoing ASIE President warmly welcomed all attendees and he introduced his board members, Karthik Balasubhramanium, Amal Dutta, Sekhar Amadapuri, Showri Nandagiri, Madhu Kilambi, Rajesh Tolikonda, Raj Basavaraju, and Chetan Vyas. He sincerely thanked them for their incredible service by giving a plaque as a token of gratitude. He honestly appreciated them for volunteering their time and effort to insure the tremendous success he had in the past year. Under his leadership, ASIE hosted guests such as Mayor Annise D. Parker, Houston, The Consul General of India, P Harish and the Director of Public Works and Engineering, Daniel W. Krueger. He accomplished one of the best outreach efforts of mailing out informational membership flyers to over 1800 engineering professionals in the Houston area, increasing awareness of the organization. ASIE was also instrumental in spearheading more than $12,000 in scholarships to students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering programs from public universities in the Greater Houston Area; also organizing our first ever Awards Ceremony to honor senior engineers and architects for their accomplishments. “The vision of ASIE is to expand and provide benefits of the experienced and well established present generation to the new, young and dynamic generation of the future by supporting initiatives in engineering and architecture, including Science Fair, Mathcounts, and E-Week programs. Thus a solid foundation has been laid for the future, and now ASIE and all the incoming Presidents have to decide to take the organization to the next level and focusing on Building the Future together with the younger generation” said Merchant.
Later, he introduced the Board of Advisors, included Dinesh Shah, Hasmukh Doshi, Mahesh Wadhwa, Virendra Bansal, and Srinivas Chintalapati. He offered a plaque to each one for his appreciation for their valuable guidance. As a surprise item, he had chosen two members and presented a Special President’s Award to Dinesh Shah, a Board of Advisor and a 2014 Chairman, who helped organizing sponsored events for members. The second award was given to Raj Basavaraju, a board member for helping in increasing the ASIE membership.
As a part of PDH credit requirements, a 30 minutes seminar on “Leadership” was presented by H.H. Doshi.
Afterwards, the outgoing President Vishal Merchant introduced the incoming President, Sekhar Amadapuri and performed an oath ceremony. Sekhar in his remark said, “I am honored to be elected the President for 2014. We have had an excellent year under the leadership of Vishal. My board and I will try our level best to keep up the momentum.” The President-elect Amadapuri congratulated 2014 elected Board Members included Showri Nandgiri – VP, Raj Basavaraju – Treasurer, Rajesh Tolikonda – Secretary, Harshad Patel, Naresh Kolli, Mahendra Korivi, Sai Gowthami, and Raghu Dass. He also introduced Board of Advisors – Dinesh Shah, Chairman, Vishal Merchant past President, Ram Gupta, Mahesh Wadhwa, and Joseph Abraham. Further, in his brief remarks, Sekhar mentioned that 2014 will be important year for him and ASIE, as ASIE will be celebrating 20th anniversary and they are planning for a Giant Gala.
The event was complimentary for all members and their guests as it was generously sponsored by HDR Engineering, Shah Companies, ARKK Engineers, and Geotest Engineering.