The South Asian Studies Association presented its 2013 Community Service Award to Gunjan Bagla, managing director of Amritt for his role in promoting U.S.-India relations and supporting the cause of the organization.

Manu K. Vora, of Naperville, Ill., will be honored by ASQ, the world’s largest network of quality resources and experts, for his innovative contributions and achievements in quality at the ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement on May 5 in Indianapolis. He will receive 2013 ASQ’s Spencer Hutchens Medal for his commitment to social responsibility in founding, funding and leading the Blind Foundation for India to serve over 15 million blind people in India.

Risk Management Solutions has appointed Paul Dali as chairman of its board of directors. Dali has been serving as an advisor to the board for the past year, providing invaluable perspective as the company develops new technology and business capabilities to enable insurers and reinsurers to achieve breakthrough benefits from resilient and real-time risk management practices, the company said.

Last month, Shivinderjit Singh was sworn in as the traffic commissioner for City of Brea, Calif., by Mayor Ron Garcia at a general session of the Brea City Council. Singh is licensed electrical engineer and real estate broker. He is office chief in city’s Division of Electrical Engineering-Construction, as well as, CEO of DreamWorks Real Estate and CFO of Eagle USA Mortgage.

TD Bank has appointed Nandita Bakhshi to executive vice president and head of retail distribution and products. Based in Cherry Hill, N.J., Bakhshi is responsible for ensuring TD Bank stores and distribution channels deliver legendary service and competitive products to meet its customer needs, the company said.

Optimal Strategix Group, a strategy consulting and analytics company, has added Samuel Morasca, Jr., a senior partner of SOLIDexecutive Inc., and David Motley, a senior managing director of Headwaters SC, to its board of directors.

 

Mouser Electronics Inc., a design engineering resource and distributor for semiconductors and electronic components, and Brand News has honored Punya Prakash, an engineer with Texas Instruments Inc., with its Rising Engineering Star Award.

ERBA Diagnostics Inc., an in vitro diagnostics company, has appointed Mohan Gopalkrishnan as vice president of operations. Gopalkrishnan will be responsible for managing ERBA Diagnostics’ daily operations and will be based in its Miami headquarters.

Deeya Energy, an energy storage systems company, said that Ravi Sharma, a veteran in the Indian energy and telecom sectors, has joined its global board of directors and will play a key role in the future growth of the company. As an industry leader, Sharma has nurtured and grown businesses in energy, telecom and satellite technology companies over more than a decade now, the company said.

Babcock & Wilcox Co. has appointed Kairus K. Tarapore chief administrative officer. Tarapore replaces former B&W Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Vangel Athanas. Tarapore’s responsibilities will include oversight of B&W’s global personnel management, talent acquisition, compensation, benefits, organizational and performance initiatives.

Impelsys, a provider of electronic content delivery products, has named Robert F. Kidd executive vice president of sales, based in the company's New York headquarters and reporting directly to Sameer Shariff, the founder and CEO of the company.

TA Associates, a Boston-based growth private equity firm, has promoted Dhiraj Poddar to principal and director in the firm’s Mumbai office. Poddar was one of several recent promotions. TA Associates also promoted executives in its Boston and London offices.

The South Asian Business Alliance Network said that four prominent network patrons received awards from media and national organizations in 2012. Pam Kwatra received a Best Personality Award; Mohammed Islam received  an Asian Business Award; Amy Ghosh received a Hind Ratan honor; and Sunil Tolani also received an Asian Business Award. 

Osmotica Pharmaceutical has appointed Praveen Tyle as president and chief executive officer. He was also elected as a member of the company’s board of directors. After serving as a CEO for the past seven years, R. Forrest Waldon will take on a new role as an advisor to the company and will continue to serve on the board of Osmotica Pharmaceutical.

Overstock.com Inc. has hired Bhargav Shah as its new senior vice president of technology. Shah spent the last several years at Boston-based KPMG as director of the firm’s IT advisory group. Overstock.com Chairman and CEO Patrick Byrne said Shah will be responsible for providing vision and leadership for developing and implementing information technology initiatives within the organization, as well as influencing business strategy through innovative use of technology.

Two U.S. citizens will be honored by the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin at the organization’s upcoming awards banquet in Kochi on Jan. 6. The banquet is part of the group’s annual conference, which will run for two days at several locations in Kochi.

Noor Menai has been named president and CEO of Chinatrust Bank in the United States. Menai, who most recently served as executive vice president of North America for parent bank Chinatrust Commercial Bank, will oversee the bank’s U.S. operations which include commercial and industrial and commercial real estate lending groups, as well as 12 branches in California, New Jersey and New York. Menai will continue to oversee North American operations for Chinatrust Commercial Bank.

Sanjiv Bhatia has been named managing director and emerging markets equity portfolio managing director at Harvard Management Co. and Amit Tiwari has joined the firm as senior vice president and international developed equity portfolio manager. Harvard Management Co. handles Harvard University’s endowment, which is one of the largest for any U.S. university. Bhatia and Tiwari were two of four recent new hires at the firm.