Richard Verma

Richard Rahul Verma
United States Ambassador to India
Incumbent
Assumed office December 19, 2014
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Nancy Jo Powell
Personal details
Born	November 27, 1968 Edmonton, Canada
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Melineh Verma
Alma mater	Lehigh University
Profession	Diplomat

Richard Rahul Verma (born November 1968) is the United States Ambassador to India. Verma was previously nominated by President Barack Obama in 2009 to serve as the Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, a position he held until March 2011.^[1] Verma began his career as a lawyer with extensive experience in national security and nonproliferation issues.

Early life and education

Verma’s parents were born in India and lived through the Partition of India. Verma’s father became a professor of English, specializing in Indian Literature,^[2] at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown for 40 years and his late mother, Savitri, was a special needs school teacher. Richard, the youngest of their five children growing up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, attended public school in the Westmont Hilltop School District.^[3] Verma graduated from Lehigh University (BS, Industrial Engineering), American University Washington College of Law (JD), and Georgetown University (LLM). At Lehigh, Verma was in ROTC, a member of Lambda Chi Alpha and his senior class president.

Career

Verma began his career in the U.S. Air Force as an Air Force judge advocate. Verma subsequently worked as a lawyer at Steptoe & Johnson until he became a senior adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from 2002 to 2007.^[4] In 2008, he was a member of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD proliferation and terrorism, and co-authored World at Risk (2008).^[5]

He joined the State Department in 2007 as Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs. After leaving the State Department in 2011, he joined the Washington, D.C. office of Steptoe & Johnson as a senior counselor.^[6] He is currently a member of the Secretary of State's Foreign Affairs Policy Board.^[7]

US Ambassador to India

In September 2014 Obama nominated Verma as the next U.S. Ambassador to India.^[8] On December 4, 2014, the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations voted to forward Verma's nomination to the full Senate. On December 9, 2014, the U.S. Senate confirmed Verma in a voice vote.^[9] Verma presented his credentials to President Pranab Mukherjee at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 16, 2015. ^[10]

Personal

Verma is married to Melineh (aka Pinky) Verma, an attorney. Prior to relocating to New Delhi, both lived in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC. They have six-year-old twins and a nine-year-old daughter.^[3]

References

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