President Obama nominated two Indian-Americans to high level positions in his administration Jan. 8. He renominated Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri, of Arizona, to be chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission for a 3-year term. He had previously nominated Chaudhuri for the same position back in July.
The President also nominated Deven J. Parekh of New York, to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation for a two-year term expiring December 17, 2016. He replaces Katherine M. Gehl who resigned, for the remainder of her term.
The nominations have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Chaudhuri currently serves as the vice chairman and associate commissioner NIGC. He also served as acting chairman of the NIGC from October 2013 to April 2014.
Chaudhuri, originally from Tempe, Arizona, is the son of an Indian father and Native American mother, a rare background among first generation Indian-Americans. According to a Creek Indian Nation obituary available on the U.S. Government War Archives website, Jonodev Chaudhuri is the son of Joy Chaudhuri and the late Ella Jean Hill Chaudhuri, a civil rights activist, lobbyist, cultural historian and writer, who died in 1997, at the age of 60 at her Tempe, AZ home.
Jonodev Chaudhuri has a brother Joydev Paul Mahagi. His grandmother on his father’s side is named Sulata Chaudhuri.
A graduate of Dartmouth College with a law degree from Cornell Law School, Chaudhuri was previously senior counselor to the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior from 2012 to 2013.
His Native American heritage appears to have determined his professional life. He has served a number of years on Native American courts – as an Associate Judge on the Puyallup Tribe of Nations Court from 2011 to 2012, an Appellate Judge on the San Manuel Mission Band of Indians Appeals Court from 2009 to 2012, and an Appellate Judge on the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court from 2006 to 2012.
Prior to becoming a judge, he served as a deputy public defender in the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office from 2010 to 2011. He also ran his own law firm Chaudhuri Law Office, P.L.L.C, where he was managing attorney from 2006 to 2010.
Chaudhuri also held Appellate Judge appointments on the Gila River Indian Community Court of Appeals from 2008 to 2010 and on the Yavapai-Apache Nation Court of Appeals from 2005 to 2009. From 2001 to 2006, he served as an Associate at Snell & Wilmer, L.L.P. Prior to this, he served as a judicial clerk for the Judge Noel Fidel of the Arizona Court of Appeals from 2000 to 2001 and a Judicial Clerk for the Judge James Ackerman of the Arizona Court of Appeals from 1999 to 2000.
Deven J. Parekh served served as a member of the Advisory Board of the U.S. Export-Import Bank which is the official export credit agent of the United States from 2010 to 2012. He has been a managing director at Insight Venture Partners since 2002, managing investments in e-commerce, consumer internet data, and application software businesses on a global basis. He is a member of the Board of Directors for several top data services, eCommerce, education technology, as well as big data companies. He is a board observer for Kony Solutions (SaaS/application software). He represents the firms interests in Alibaba (ecommerce) and Twitter (social media). Parekh was previously a Principal at Berenson Minella & Company, a New York based merchant banking firm, prior to which he was with The Blackstone Group.
In 2014 he was selected by AlwaysOn as a Venture Capital 100 winner for his investments in Twitter and Chegg. He was also selected to be on the 2014 Forbes Midas list. In 2010 Deven was part of a US delegation of several investors, government representatives, and technology companies that visited Russia to explore investment and technology collaboration opportunities between the United States and Russia.
He is a Member of the Technical Advisory Council of the Federal Communications Commission which assists the Commission with developing informed technology policies supporting America’s competitiveness and job creation in the global economy. Parekh was named a Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute, which seeks to develop the next generation of community spirited leaders.
He is a Member of the Board of Publicolor (which he chaired from 2007 – 2012), a New York City based non-profit organization that focuses on inner city schools. He is also Treasurer and Member of the Board of Governors of the National Academy Museum. He is a Member of the Board of the Tisch New York MS Research Center. Deven is a member of the Greater NY Partnership, which pairs business executives with non-profit executive directors. The Partnership is an initiative of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. Parekh is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations as well as the Economic Club of New York. He received a BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.