Indian makes it to White House

Gopal Khanna of Indian origin has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Executive Office of US President George W Bush, with effect from May 8.

An Indian-origin expert has been appointed the chief financial officer of the executive office of US President George W Bush, with effect from May 8.

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Gopal Khanna, the chief financial officer of the Peace Corps, had also held several senior executive positions in finance, information technology, operations and management consulting prior to joining the Peace Corps.

"I am honoured to join the White House staff and am looking forward to serving the President," Khanna said.

Congratulating Khanna, Peace Corps director Gaddi Vasquez said, "During his nearly three years of service, first as the chief information officer, then as the chief financial officer of the Peace Corps, Gopal distinguished himself as a visionary leader, with a well-planned strategy to build the global support infrastructure for the Peace Corps of 21st century."

"We congratulate him as the CFO of the Executive Office of the President," Vasquez said.

Khanna has a BA in economics, mathematics and political science from Christ Church College in Kanpur. He holds an MBA from the University of Maine in the US.

In the Peace Corps, as CIO, Khanna was responsible for successful implementation of standardised computing platform for the agency's 72 posts worldwide.

As the CFO, he led the modernisation and transformation of the agency's accounting and financial management systems.

This work, said a Peace Corps press release, has positioned it for strong fiscal management.