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Four Who Broke Glass Ceiling Honored

Aseem Chhabra in New York

In recognizing and honoring four high-flying Indian Americans -- two corporate honchos, one legal expert and a scientist -- the organizers of the Excelsior Awards function sought to highlight the message that so-called glass ceilings are meant to be broken.

"If you look at the success of the south Asians in the US, you will realize that the concept of being a minority and that of having differences is a myth," Suresh Kumar, the president of the Network of Indian Professionals, one of organizers of the event, told rediff.com.

The glass ceiling is about high achievers from minorities, including women, reaching near the highest positions in an organization but being kept out from the topmost ones.

Kumar added that the Indian value system, including the importance to family and god, have helped the community succeed.

"The four award winners here reflect these ideals," he said. "In recognizing them, we are celebrating the community itself."

The 1999 Excelsior Awards went to Dr John Kuriyan, a professor at New York City's Rockefeller University; Rakesh Gangwal, the president and CEO of US Airways; Dr Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande, founder and chairman of Sycamore Network, Inc; and Preeta Bansal, the solicitor-general of New York State.

Two Indian-American organizations in the US -- one founded by immigrants three decades ago (AIA) and the other (Net-IP) dedicated to the cause of encouraging networking among young professionals -- administer the Excelsior awards.

The function, held on December 4 at the Asia Society, was organized by the New York chapters of the AIA and Net-IP.

Founded in 1968, AIA-NY is the leading community organization that sponsors a wide variety of events, including the annual Diwali mela at Manhattan's South Street Seaport. Net-IP NY, the largest of the Net-IP chapters in the US (there are 28 in all) boasts of over 700 members. Through lectures, seminars, to networking and other community events, the group provides professional its members with building opportunities.

The presidents of the two organizations, Dr Shashi Shah of AIA-NY and Suresh Kumar of Net-IP NY, presented the awards. The emcee was Sreenath Sreenivasan, an associate professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

Kumar said that Excelsior Awards were instituted four years ago to honor Indian Americans who excel in fields like academics, finance, healthcare, media, publishing and technology. The awards recognize the contributions they make to the larger mainstream community, he said.

Kuriyan received the award in the field of science and research. The Patrick E and M Haggerty Professor at the Rockefeller University, Kuriyan received his BS degree in chemistry from Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

After spending a year at Harvard University, Kuriyan joined the Rockefeller University as a fellow. The winner of several awards, Kuriyan is a member of the biophysical chemistry section of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.

In his acceptance speech, Kuriyan praised the Kendriya Vidalaya system of education in India, especially the fundamentals of sciences that he learnt there. Kuriyan's current field of research is on the structural biology of DNA application and cellular signal transduction. He said that, being an immigrant himself, he was particularly interested in tracking human migrations across continents based on DNA evidence.

Bansal, one of the youngest solicitor-generals of New York State, was recognized for her role in government. She grew up in Lincoln, NE, and did her undergraduate from Harvard-Radcliff College where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Later, she attended the Harvard Law School, where she was the supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Bansal has held prestigious jobs in the public and private sector. In Washington DC, she has served the Clinton administration as a special council in the Office of the White House Council and Counselor in the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice. She has also worked as a law clerk to US Supreme Court Judge John Paul Stevens.

Her work in Washington DC later got her a job with one of the leading New York's law firms, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she focused on media and the first amendment.

Growing up in the mid-west where there were few Indian families, Bansal learnt at an early age to assimilate herself into her environment. However, in accepting the award, she said that her life her taught her not to lose sight of her ethnic identity.

The award for success in the corporate environment went to Gangwal, who heads US Airways. A graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Gangwal earned his MBA in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

After stints at the Ford Motor Company and at the consulting firm of Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Gangwal joined the airline industry in the mid-1980s.

At United Airlines, he was credited with developing the new transcontinental routes and creating the United Shuttle. Later, after a couple of years with Air France in Paris, Gangwal joined US Airways. In his current position, Gangwal has been credited with bringing back the airline from the brink of bankruptcy and making it a profitable venture.

In his speech, Gangwal spoke about the need to work hard and to have vigor and discipline in life. In addition, he said that it was important to hold on to moral values and ethics. Corporate America cannot afford to have leaders who have shortcomings in this area, he said.

On the second day of the awards, at a power brunch Gangwal continued discussing his life ethos, and the lessons he has learned.

"There are no substitutes for the fact that (in basketball) you've got to be smart, you've got to work very hard," Gangwal said. "But in itself they are not sufficient. They are not going to get you where you want to go."

"You have to have the ability to deal with failure. And the better you are at dealing with adversity and failure, the better you will have the ability to make a success of your life," he said.

The fourth award winner of the night, Deshpande is, by all accounts, the wealthiest Indian in the world -- he is said to be worth at least $ 4 billion.

A graduate of IIT, Madras, Deshpande holds a PhD in data communications and was a professor for a brief time before joining the corporate world.

In 1990, he founded Cascade Communications. In seven years, Cascade grew from a two-person start-up venture to a company with 900 employees and $ 500 million in revenue. In 1996, Cascade was named one of the 'Top 25 Very Cool Companies' by Forbes magazine. In 1997, it was bought over by Ascend Communications for $ 3.7 billion.

In 1998, Deshpande founded Sycamore Networks, Inc with partner Dan Smith. The company went public earlier this October. On the opening day of the public offering at the Nasdaq exchange, Sycamore's shares jumped from $ 38 to $ 274, before closing at $ 185.

In recounting his success, Deshpande spoke about the questions of luck and chance. He said that while luck did play a role in his career, it was equally important to note that he was willing to take the risk to jump at opportunities.

Deshpande gave the example of a trapeze artist, who takes the risk of abandoning one a trapeze to catch another.

"If you are going to be in that game, you have to give up that trapeze to catch the other one," he said.

"You cannot have your hands on both trapezes at the same time. You have to let go one."

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