NEW YORK (TIP): Noted community activist Andy Bhatia has been elected president of the Federation of Indian Associations in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, which organizes the largest India Day Parade in New York City. Andy took charge on January 1 along with a new team comprising of Srujal Parikh (executive vice president); Alok Kumar (vice president); Chhavi Dharayan (secretary); Jatin Patel (joint secretary); Himanshu Bhatia (treasurer); Anand Patel (immediate past president), promising that an all out effort will be made to expand the activities of the organization.

Andy Bhatia is the president of American Sales and Marketing Partners LLC, who has extensive experience in the airline/travel industry. He retired as Area Sales Manager for Air India in New York, where he worked for nearly 35 years, both in the field and at the North American Headquarters in various capacities.

He has served in the FIA in various capacities for several years. For a quarter of a century, he actively participated in organizing the India Day Parade and Diwali Festival in New York City and Diwali Mela in Jackson Heights, among other community events in the Tri-State area on behalf of Air India.

He was honored thrice by the FIA and the National Federation of Indian Associations (NFIA.)

He is credited with conceptualizing and launching the ‘Know India Seminars’ in USA and Canada which were attended by more than 6000 American travel agents to qualify as India tourism specialists. He also formulated the concept of selling co-op tours by agents in non-conflicting sales territories to increase tourist bookings to India.

He was instrumentalin launching a bi-monthly India Travel newsletter and the Traveler’s India magazine.

He continues to be engaged in the industry as a consultant and serves as a member of several travel trade associations including the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s New York Chapter and the American Society of Travel Agents, Airline Sales Managers Association and SKAL International.

Andy worked at the Public Relations and Development Office at the University of Bridgeport as executive secretary of the Committee on Informal Education. He chaired the Halsey International Scholarship Program consisting of community support groups representing sixteen countries including India’s Shastri Scholarship Committee.

Organizations including the Gujrati Samaj USA, City Council of New York, and Jackson Heights Merchants Association too honored him.

He was also selected for the Paul Harris Fellowship Award of Rotary International for International Relations in 1998. The travel industry honored him several times.

Another honor he cherishes was the WICC Radio Station’s Community Service Salute (1971, 1974) for community service in the Greater Bridgeport area. He was also honored by the Rotary Club of Bridgeport with the Outstanding Young Man of America award (1971 and 1974) for leadership qualities when he was a student.

The Indian Panorama honored him with Excellence Award.