Phil Murphy Indian American and his new announced transition 2018 team

New Jersey: Govt. -elected  Phil Murphy has named four Indian –Americans which includes a Sikh and a Muslim to his transition 2018 leadership team, it was less than a week after his election Day victory  which reflects diversity and representing women and minorities in as part of his campaign pledge. As on November 13 he stated“ I pledged to build my administration to mirror the diversity, talent, and potential of New Jersey, and my transition will no different, To a person, this transition is full of incredible talent and experience, and I’m thrilled to see them serve. Together, we’ll start the difficult job of building a stronger, fairer economy that works for all nine million New Jerseyans.”

Appointees include: Jay Bhatti, cofounder, BrandProject (Government Technology and Innovation Committee); BalpreetGrewal-Virk, director of community engagement, Department of Population Health at Hackensack Meridian Health (Health Committee); Lt. Col. Kamal Singh Kalsi, medical officer for the 404th Civil Affairs Battalion, Fort Dix, New Jersey (Military and Veteran Affairs Committee) and Ehsan F. Chowdhry, president, New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association (Law and Justice Committee).

As per news India times. Kalsi who is Lt. Col. Kamal Singh Kalsiwho has joined the team’s five person Military and Veterans Affairs Committee,   he is the president and founder of the Sikh American Veterans Alliance a recently formed group.  He said “I’m honored to support and advise the governor-elect’s team,” Kalsi said in a statement. “We need to make sure veterans from all generations – from those who served in the Vietnam War era to those who are returning from the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan – have the care and support they deserve. Knowing we are still a country at war, we will also work to make sure all New Jerseyans have the opportunity to serve our country.” Kalsi was the first Sikh soldier to receive a religious accommodation to wear a turban and maintain a beard in uniform in more than a generation.

Grewal –Virk a criminal Justice graduate of Seton hall University has Master’s degree in corporate and organizational culture and MBA with focus on marketing as base while he also possess PHD in segment of Health Science. Other one Chowdhary  is Staten Island native, describe himself to be as “half South Indian and half Pakistani” when he was candidate for a position in Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association.

While Bhatti is Indian born and received an MBA from Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania has held high powered tech industry jobs, product manager at Microsoft before funding his own venture capital firm New York based Brand Project. Murphy rolled out of 81 members of his transition team that includes committee chairs and advisers policy makers and labor leaders and former state administration officials, as he said” Our co-chair boast rich diversity of both background and experience and unique outside perspectives”.