Us-India strategic and partnership forum announced adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen as vice chairman.

Washington: An Indian American Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen has been elected as the vice chairman of the US-Indian Strategic and Partnership forum (USISPF) a new organization set up to enrich business relation between India and the US the body said in the statement. The new representative body USISPF was set with target to promote bilateral trade and work on creating “meaningful opportunities which possess enough power to change the lives of citizen” statement from USISPF.

Though the originally Shantanu wanted to be a journalist, he embarked on the more “expected” career path of engineering up in Hyderabad, India. On landing up to the US to earn his master degree, he held product development roles at Apple and Silicon Graphics before co-founding an early photo-sharing startup called Pictra. Then with a chance business encounter between Adobe and Pictra led to Shantanu joining Adobe in 1998 where he gradually rose through product ranks and landed up as president COO in 2005, CEO in 2007 and chairman of the board in 2017. With him named as one of the world’s best CEOs by Barron’s Magazine in 2016 and 2017. He is a member of several boards, including pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, the USISPF, and the Adobe Foundation, which funds philanthropic initiatives around the world. He served on the President’s Management Advisory Board from March 2011 to January 2017. Shantanu has a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University, a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, holding five patents.

In addition Shantanu there is  also former CIA Director Gen (rtd) David Petraeus has joined as new advisor , Ajay Singh chairman and managing director of Spice Jet Limited and John Kern senior vice president of supply chain operations at CISCO have joined the Washington –based advocacy group as its new members in USISPF which now has 31 board members.

Shantanu said “Strong strategic ties between the US and India have never been more important than they are today,” as USISPF has emerged as a powerful force in the US- India strategic partnership, he said. While Ajay Singhsaid “India is at a pivotal time in this relationship, with the United States recognizing India as “a leading power” in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond,” Singh said, adding that he looks forward to promoting this powerful partnership through his work with the forum. Kern said India is an incredible country for Cisco, representing an emerging economy with a great growth opportunity, world-class talent, and an integral part of our global supply chain. “I look forward to building the US-India relationship through my work at Cisco and in my work at USISPF,” he said.

Petraeus, currently chairman of the KKR Global Institute, said he is a strong supporter of the relationship between the US and India, and look forward to being part of the important work of the USISPF.He will assist the forum with its assessment of geopolitical developments and counter-terrorism efforts.

Welcoming new team member Mukesh Aghi President of USISPF stated “We are excited to welcome these three important leaders to our board, “They will add great value to the work that the USISPF board and staff is already doing with regards to trade, supply chain management and defense work,” he said as per PTI LKJ and USICPF website detailed.