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Meet Sumona Guha, the only Indian-American from Biden's team when he met PM Modi
According to US Department of State, before joining the top post, Sumona Guha worked in the Secretary's policy planning division. Previously, she worked as a senior advisor in the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US President Joe Biden during his three-day visit to the United States, a number of top American officials were in attendance. But there was only one Indian-American who was part of that meeting - Sumona Guha - who was appointed as special assistant to the President and senior director for South Asia by Biden after he took over as US President.
She was also a part of US Vice President Kamala Harris' high-profile entourage during her meeting with PM Modi. Guha was the co-chair of the South Asia foreign policy working group on the Biden-Harris campaign.
According to US Department of State, before joining the top post, Guha worked in the Secretary's policy planning division. Previously, she worked as a senior advisor in the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Guha also served as a special advisor for National Security Affairs in the Office of the Vice President, as a foreign affairs fellow in the US Senate, and as special assistant to the Under Secretary of State for political affairs.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Guha holds degrees from Georgetown and Johns Hopkins University. She started her career as an economist in 1996 in the office of national drug control policy and the last update shows her current position as senior vice president at Albright Stonebridge Group, according to the LinkedIn profile.
Biden, who was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20 this year, created history by appointing at least 55 Indian-Americans to key positions in his administration, ranging from his speech writer to almost every wing of the government.
Nearly half of them are women and a sizable number of them are working in the White House. So far, the Obama-Biden administration (2009-2017) has the distinction of appointing the largest number of Indian-Americans in any administration.
During the meeting between PM Modi and President Biden, Guha was among the top US officials like secretary of state Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu.
President Biden had said earlier this year that Indian-American are taking over the United States.
