Indian-American politician Swati Dandekar (@Swati_Dandekar) has been nominated by the US Senate to the post of Executive Director to the Asian Development Bank which has ambassadorial rank.

The first-ever Indian-American to be elected to Iowa House of Representatives in 2003, Ms Dandekar, would replace Robert M Orr, who has held this position since 2010.

Ms Dandekar, 65, was also the first Indian-born American citizen to win a state legislature seat in the United States. Obama had nominated Ms Dandekar to the top US position in Asian Development Bank (ADB) in November last year. A member of the Iowa House of Representatives for from 2003 to 2009, Ms Dandekar was also member of the Iowa Senate from 2009 to 2011.

Thereafter she served on the Iowa Utilities Board from 2011 to 2013. From 2000 to 2003, she was a member of the Vision Iowa Board of Directors.

Ms Dandekar also served on the Linn-Mar Community School District Board of Education from 1996 to 2002 and was a member of the Iowa Association of School Boards from 2000 to 2002. Ms Dandekar received a BS from Nagpur University and a Post-Graduate Diploma from Bombay University.

Married to Arvind Dandekar, in 2014 she tried to run for the US House of Representatives from Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, but lost in the primaries.

Ms Dandekar and her husband Arvind migrated to the United States in 1973. Arvind Dandekar is the CEO and president of Fastek International, located in Hiawatha, Iowa.