WASHINGTON (TIP): US President Barack Obama has announced his intent to appoint three Indian- Americans to his 14-member advisory commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). The Indian-Americans include, US Air Force officer Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary, prominent community leader Shekar Narasimhan and popular film and television actor Maulik Pancholy. N Nina Ahmad of Bangladeshi-origin has also been nominated to the AAPIs.

“I am pleased to announce that these experienced and committed individuals have agreed to join this Administration, and I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years,” said Obama in a statement issued by the White House. Obama is currently on a four-nation tour to Asia. Chaudhary is an Air Force officer, currently serving as Executive Officer to the Commander, Air Force District of Washington, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. He has logged over 3,000 flight hours as a pilot and flight test engineer, including over 700 combat hours, it said.

Currently managing partner at Beekman Advisors since 2003 and chairman of Papillon Capital since 2012, Narasimhan previously was the managing director at Prudential Mortgage Capital company from 2000 to 2003 and the chairman and CEO of the WMF group Ltd from 1988 to 2000. Narasimhan is also a co-founder of the Emergent Institute (formerly known as the Indian Institute for Sustainable Enterprise) in Bangalore, a nonprofit institution training entrepreneurs to build social ventures.

He received a B S from IIT Delhi and an MBA from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. While, a film, television, and stage actor Pancholy is widely known for playing the role of Jonathan for six seasons on NBC’s award-winning series 30 Rock. He also appeared in six seasons of the showtime series Weeds and played Neal on the first season of the NBC series Whitney. Pancholy is active with a number of non-profit and social policy organisations such as Asian-Americans Advancing Justice, the New York City Anti-Violence Project, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Bangladeshi-origin Ahmad is coowner and executive vice president of government Affairs for JNA Capital, a real estate finance and development company based in Philadelphia.