US president elect Joe Biden has appointed two more Indian Americans to his team: Gautam Raghavan is coming in as Deputy Director in the Office of Presidential Personnel while Vinay Reddy will be the Director of Speechwriting.
Gautam Raghavan serves as Deputy Head of Presidential Appointments on the Biden-Harris Transition. Prior to joining the transition, he served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Previously, Raghavan served as an Advisor to the Biden Foundation, and as Vice President of Policy for the Gill Foundation, one of the oldest and largest private foundations dedicated to the cause of LGBTQ equality.
Raghavan openly identifies as gay, introducing himself on his Twitter handle as “Appa, husband, gay, immigrant, proud naturalized citizen”.
Today, my husband and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.
On our wedding day, our marriage was only legal in DC and six states.
In the midst of all the hate, toxicity and cynicism, remember that progress is still possible. And good people can still change the world. pic.twitter.com/6SRTeeXTw1
— Gautam Raghavan (@gauragDC) September 6, 2020
 During the Obama-Biden Administration, he served in the White House as the liaison to the LGBTQ community as well as the Asian American & Pacific Islander community, and in the White House Liaison Office for the U.S. Department of Defense and as Outreach Lead for the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Working Group. A first-generation immigrant, Gautam was born in India, raised in Seattle, and graduated from Stanford University.
Vinay Reddy serves as a speechwriter on the Biden-Harris Transition and served as Senior Advisor and Speechwriter for the Biden-Harris Campaign. He previously served as chief speechwriter to Vice President Biden in the second term of the Obama-Biden White House, after which, he worked as Vice President of Strategic Communications at the National Basketball Association.
During the Obama-Biden Administration, he also served as senior speechwriter at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services, deputy speechwriter for the Obama-Biden reelection campaign, and speechwriter for his home state Senator, Sherrod Brown of Ohio.
Reddy grew up in Dayton, Ohio, the middle of three sons in an immigrant family and is a product of Ohio public schools from kindergarten to Miami University to The Ohio State University College of Law. He currently lives in New York with his wife and their two daughters.
Already, at least eight Indian Americans have received high-profile appointments in the incoming Biden-Harris government.
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Already, at least eight Indian Americans have received high-profile appointments in the incoming government: Vivek Murthy is US Surgeon General nominee, Atul Gawande and Celine Gounder are on the coronavirus task force, Neera Tanden is nominated for Office of Management and Budget lead, Vedant Patel will be White House assistant press secretary and Mala Adiga has been chosen as policy director for First Lady Jill Biden.
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