ASIE’s May Meeting a Power Luncheon with Mayor Turner

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The ASIE presents a check for $10,001made out  to the Greater Houston Community Foundation to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner at the group’s May meeting at the Omni Hotel on Woodway on Thursday, May 26.
Photos: Navin Mediwala

By Dinesh Shah

HOUSTON: The American Society of Indian Engineers and Architects’ May meetings have traditionally become the venue to invite the Mayor of Houston and this year marked a speech by newly elected Mayor Sylvester Turner. The luncheon event was held on Thursday, May 26 at the Omni Hotel on Woodway, where the banquet hall and reception area were packed with over 300 guests socializing and networking; most of them engineers and architects (E&A) of various firms and sponsors from all across the Greater Houston area.

The event has also traditionally coincided with the annual fundraising event to benefit an Engineering and Architecture Student’s scholarship. ASIE started the scholarship twenty-two years ago with the goal of providing a platform for professional development and networking for E&A of Indian origin and since then it has grown to benefit the engineering community of Greater Houston.

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ASIE Program Committee members including U of H students ready to welcome more than 300 guests for their name tags and sitting assignments.

ASIE is taking an active role in MathCounts, Houston’s Science Fair, Engineers Week events and Future Cities Competition. In these 22 years, ASIE has provided over $50K in scholarships to engineering students at local universities in the Greater Houston region. This year a special donation was made to help the members of the community affected by the recent floods. All this has been made possible by the generous contributions from sponsors of the Indo-American E & A companies.

This year’s program was organized on short notice as it was difficult to invite the Mayor in advance due to his busy schedule. The Program Committee head by Chetan Vyas and the Fundraising Committee came into action and planned an elegant program and made a sold out successful event.

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Mayor Turner addressing more than 300 Engineers and Architects.

The program started as soon as Mayor Turner arrived and lunch was served. Naresh Kolli with Geotest Engineering and the current President of ASIE, welcomed the Mayor as the keynote speaker who would share his perspective on Houston infrastructure. Kolli also welcomed the table sponsors and their invited guests.

ASIE Past President Sanjay Ram made opening remarks and emceed the event. Ram, who has just been re-appointed by Turner to a 2-year term on the Board of Metro, welcomed the invited guests from various governmental agencies and private companies.

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Mayor Turner addressing the Engineers and Architects audience.

He was followed by Dr. Karun Sreerama, ASIE Life Member, a successful entrepreneur, and a leader in the community in civic, business, philanthropy and advocacy levels, who introduced Mayor Turner by sharing his accomplishments in the five months since he has been in office, particularly for getting the budget passed unanimously by Council; for promoting economic development and prosperity; tackling flooding and drainage issues; and getting potholes in roads quickly fixed.

Mayor Turner gave an overview of the City including the past, present and future issues, introduced his City Council team, and elaborated the topic of budget, road pot-holes, and his perspective on infrastructure.

Later, the ASIE Board and Advisory Council presented the Mayor with a check of $10,001 made out to the Greater Houston Community Foundation for use in flood relief. ASIE Life Member and current Vice President, Dinesh Shah closed out the event with thanks to the attendees and sponsors.