The dominance of the Indian diaspora in the new US government is increasing. President Joe Biden nominated Indian-American lawyer and rights activist, Kiran Ahuja, to head the Office of Personnel Management. Personnel Management is a federal agency that manages more than 2 million civil servants in the United States. If this decision is approved by the Senate, then 49-year-old Kiran Ahuja will become the first Indian-American to serve in this top position in the US government.
Kiran Ahuja has served as the chief of staff of the director of the US Office of Personnel Management from 2015 to 2017. She has more than two decades of public service and nonprofit/philanthropic sector leadership experience. Kiran Ahuja currently serves as the CEO of Philanthropy Northwest, a regional network of philanthropic institutions.
She began her career as a civil rights lawyer in the US Department of Justice, settled school segregation cases and filed the department’s first student racial harassment case. From 2003 to 2008, Kiran Ahuja served as the founding executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, an advocacy and membership organization.
