Ankur Vaidya is elected new FIA president

Vaidya, 34, will be the youngest president to hold office of one of the largest non-profit Indian-American organizations in the US.

Vaidya, who hails from Gujarat and has an engineering and real estate background, started as a volunteer in the FIA and has risen to the top post.

Vaidya, who has been in the US for over a decade, has been an integral part of the FIA Executive Committee for the past two years and brings along a highly in-depth and professional experience to the distinguished position in the FIA.

Others elected to the 2014 FIA executive committee includes Anand Patel (executive vice-president), Srujal Parikh (vice-president), Nishil Parikh (general secretary) Chhavi Singh (joint secretary) and Alok Kumar (treasurer). Sanjay Amin will become the immediate past president.

The new officers will take charge from January 1 next and will be sworn in during FIA’s Republic Day celebrations in the same month.

The 43-year-old premier Indian-American organization has been holding India Day Parade for the past 33 years in the streets of Manhattan to promote and project India in mainstream America.

 New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York Governors, US Senators and Congressmen and Indian ambassadors as well as film celebrities and prominent personalities from India have patronized the parade by taking part in the previous years.

 Some 200,000 people had gathered last year on either side of the Madison Avenue and at the cultural program venue last year making it the largest Independence Day congregation in the world.

 The 103-floor Empire State Building, New York City’s historic landmark, was also draped with special lighting during the occasion.

 The FIA has in the past done fund-raising for Woodbridge apartment fire victims, Uttarkhand flash foods and helped in the conduct of Vibrant Gujarat summit.

 In order to address the issues of Immigration Bill that may be potentially harmful to Indians, the FIA conducts an interactive session with Chairman of the US House of Representatives Rules Committee, Congressman Pete Sessions to address the issues facing the Indian community.