Obama nominates Indian-American to key administration post

Indian-American Arun M Kumar has been nominated by President Barack Obama to a key administration post, giving him charge of international trade at a critical juncture when the US is looking to increase its export.

Arun M Kumar, till recently a partner and member of the Board of Directors at consultancy firm KPMG, was nominated, by Obama to be the Assistant Secretary and Director General of the US and Foreign Commercial Service, International Trade Administration in the Department of Commerce.

"The extraordinary dedication these men and women bring to their new roles will greatly serve the American people," Obama said as he announced nomination to several other key administration positions.

"I am grateful they have agreed to serve in this Administration and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come," he said.

Kumar joined KPMG in 1995 as a Finance Management Leader and from 2005 until his retirement in September 2013 he led the firm's West Coast Finance Management Consulting practice.

He also led the firm's US-India practice from 2007 to 2013.

Kumar received a Bachelors degree in Physics from the University of Kerala in India, and an S M in Management from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.

From 1993 to 1995, he was the founder and CEO of Planning & Logic, Inc, a software company. Prior to that, he was co-founder and CFO of Netlabs, Inc from 1991 to 1993; the CFO of Elite Microelectronics, Inc from 1990 to 1991.

He also held important positions in several organisations from 1980 to 1990.