US President Barack Obama has appointed an Indian American, Srinija Srinivasan, to his 13-member Commission on Presidential Scholars.
Srinivasan, vice president and editor-in-chief at Yahoo, would serve as a member of the reconstituted Commission on Presidential Scholars -- a group of eminent private citizens from across the country -- to be chaired by Marina C
McCarthy.
"The Commission on Presidential Scholars is charged with recognising the future leaders of our country and honouring them for their outstanding achievements," Obama said in a statement.
"I am grateful that these impressive men and women have agreed to serve on this commission and help a new generation realise their potential and pursue their dreams," the US President said.
Since joining the company as its fifth employee in 1995, Srinivasan has led a range of editorial and policy functions, beginning with the organisation and evolution of the Yahoo! directory.
She has overseen network editorial standards and original content development, guided the company's corporate responsibility arm, and directed policy issues including privacy and data use, advertising standards, youth safety,
community guidelines, and accessibility.
Prior to joining Yahoo!, Srinivasan was involved with the Cyc Project, a ten-year artificial intelligence effort to build an immense database of human commonsense knowledge.
She chairs the Board of Trustees for SFJAZZ, a non-profit organisation dedicated to jazz creation, presentation,and education. She is also a member of the 2000 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.
Srinivasan holds a B S with distinction from Stanford University in Symbolic Systems, and was honoured as a Presidential Scholar in 1989.
The other members of the Commission are Jose Miguel Amaya, director of Diversity for Hy-Vee Inc, an employee-owned retail corporation operating 230 retail stores in 8 Midwestern
states; Michael A Caplin, an attorney and president of Turtle Island Consulting, which provides strategic planning advice to
the non-profit community.
I King Jordan, the first deaf President of Gallaudet University, Colin Kippen, currently Executive Director of the Native Hawaiian Education Council.
Yvette Lewis, founder and director of "So This is Opera," a program that introduces young audiences to the world of opera in performance, workshop and residency settings; and Reginald Lewis, City Administrator for the City of East Orange New Jersey and oversees the complete day-to-day operations of all municipal services for 70,000 residents.