OAKLAND (TIP):  Indian Americans Shantha Kumari Rajendran, 36, and Adi Sethi, 27, have been named among Oakland County’s Elite 40 Under 40.

According to the information posted on the county’s website, County Executive L. Brooks Patterson’s seven-year-old initiative “recognizes and spotlights dynamic leaders under the age of 40 who are making a difference in Oakland County and beyond.”

Rajendran, who is a Staff Engineer-Systems Lead for Panasonic Automotive, is a 15-year veteran of the automotive industry as an Embedded Systems Engineer. She specializes in Human Machine Interface and User Experience and has filed 10 automotive patents, two of which were recently approved. She has submitted several technical papers to Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE) and Society for Information Displays (SID) conferences and is an active SAE volunteer.

“Shantha was the first woman in her family to finish school, university, become an engineer, work in the USA, get a master’s degree with honors,” her husband Ganapathy Lakshmanaperumal writes. “She has great balance between her career and family.”

Rajendran holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering and a master’s in Management. A Stanford Certified Project Manager, she is pursuing her second master’s degree at Harvard University.

Another Indian American Adi Sathi, 27, serves as the director of Asian Pacific American engagement at the Republican National Committee and the chief of staff of the Young Republican National Federation.

After completing both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Michigan, Adi was elected in February 2015 to a two year term as a statewide Vice Chair of the Michigan Republican Party at the age of 24. For his work in this role, he was recognized in both 2016 and 2017 on Newsmax’s annual list of 30 Most Influential Republicans Under 30. Over the last eight years, Adi has managed or advised on numerous successful political campaigns at the local, state, and federal level.

As a student, he was elected to serve as the Executive Director of the Association of Big Ten Students, an organization that consists of the 14 Big Ten schools from 11 different states and represents over 540,000 students. For his work in this role, he was invited to the 2013 White House Youth Summit and recognized by Red Alert Politics on their 2014 ’30 Under 30′ list. Most recently Adi was a 2016 Fellow in the Michigan Political Leadership Program through Michigan State University’s Institute of Public Policy and Social Research. He was previously an APAICS Legislative Fellow in the Office of Senator Orrin G. Hatch who serves as both the President Pro Tempore of the U.S.

Senate as well as the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. In his free time, Adi enjoys cheering on Michigan sports teams, working out, and watching Netflix documentaries.

The Oakland County Executive’s Elite 40 Under 40 program is an initiative of County Executive L. Brooks Patterson that recognizes and spotlights dynamic leaders under the age of 40 who are making a difference in Oakland County and beyond. In its seventh year, the program is open to individuals who live or work in Oakland County and are born AFTER December 31, 1978.