President George W. Bush has nominated Indian American Rajkumar Chellaraj, a graduate of Madras University, to be assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Administration at the State Department.
A political appointee, Chellaraj, who is from Texas, currently serves as director of corporate development for the Celanese Corporation, a leading producer of industry chemicals. His nomination is before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The Bureau of Administration, currently headed by Acting Assistant Secretary Frank Coulter, provides support programmes to the Department of State and US embassies and consulates.
Chellaraj will be dealing with the nitty-gritty of diplomacy and issues that affect all State Department employees as they live and work at home and abroad - from Freedom of Information requests down to how diplomatic reception rooms in the Harry Truman headquarters building of the State Department are used.
Chellaraj earlier served as senior executive officer for the United States Mint at the Department of Treasury. Earlier in his career, he was at Strategic Analysis Incorporated and the Exxon Corporation holding a variety of different leadership and administrative posts.
Chellaraj received his master's degree in chemical engineering from Clarkson University and got degrees from New York University and Harvard University after migrating to the US.
{{/usCountry}}Chellaraj received his master's degree in chemical engineering from Clarkson University and got degrees from New York University and Harvard University after migrating to the US.
{{/usCountry}}His position was formerly held by William Eaton who resigned.