US President Barack Obama has nominated Mavelikkara-born Arun M Kumar to a key administration post making him in-charge of international trade at a critical juncture when the US is looking to increase its export.
Arun, a partner and member of the Board of Directors at the consultancy firm KPMG LLP, was nominated as Assistant Secretary and Director General of the US and Foreign Commercial Service, International Trade Administration in the Department of Commerce.
At KPMG LLP, he led Management Consulting and Finance Management for the firm in the Western region, serving major global clients as well as emerging Silicon Valley ventures. He also founded and led KPMG’s US-India practice. He has served on the advisory councils at the Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Arun is co-editor of ‘Kerala’s Economy: Crouching Tiger, Sacred Cows’, published by DC Books in 2006. He is also the author of a book of poetry, ‘Plain Truths’, published by Current Books in 2010.
Arun received his Master’s in management from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in physics from University College, Thiruvananthapuram. He did his schooling at Lawrence School, Lovedale.
He is the son of B Madhavan Nair and Kamalamma. He is married to Poornima Kumar, daughter of noted historian A Sreedhara Menon and Sarojini Menon.
He started his career in India as a member of TAS, the Tata Administrative Service.