Capital IIT Alumni Association has enjoyed great support of Ambassador Ronen Sen ever since he assumed the post of Ambassador to the United States of America. Honorable Sen has supported the Association when we organized the Pan IIT Conference in 2005, when he delivered the keynote address.  His speeches always extolled the great work that IITians have done in India and the US. He challenged us to do more and guided us in areas where we can do more and excel in whatever we undertake.  Being located at the seat of the US government, Capital IIT Alumni Association has the advantage of being able invite, host, and hear many political, business, and technical leaders from India. In every case, the embassy's help and support was paramount and unflinching.

IIT 10th Anniversary and Farewell to Ambassador Sen

    

     With this background, bidding farewell to a friend such as Ambassador Sen is not easy. But, our grateful alumni arranged a grand function to honor the Ambassador on 25th February 2009 at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. The function was attended by a host of successful business, political, and technology leaders from the capital area!
The evening started promptly at 6 PM with drinks and International and Indian cuisine. Only the networking opportunities could compete with tasty hors d'oeuvres.
     San Sengupta, President of the IIT Alumni Board, presented a crisp speech describing how we plan to celebrate the Tenth anniversary of the Association, welcomed Amb Ronen Sen and Mrs. Kalpana Sen and other distinguished guests. We must say a few words about the planning that went into this event. While the main event was the Farewell function, we wanted to launch the Tenth Anniversary as well as announce a number of initiatives that the Association is planning to undertake. San and his Board consisting of the IIT wizards applied all the optimization algorithms and systems level planning so that each component played out an exact sequence during the cycles allocated to it.
     Mr. Thomas Davis, former Member of the House of Representatives, Virginia's 11th District, Jan 1995 to Dec 2008, spoke eloquently to the excellent contributions of IITians to the US technology and business environment. Readers will remember that Mr. Davis was instrumental in the 109th US Congress passing the resolution 227 in 2005, which recognized that the IIT alumni "made valuable and significant contributions to society in every profession and discipline..." and honored "the economic innovation attributable to graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology." The Association honored him with a plaque and a gift of a small statue of an elephant. The former Congressman spoke of the excellent record of Ambassador Sen and the very friendly relationship that now exists between India and the US.
     Congressman Jim Moran, Member of the House of Representatives, also expressed his first hand knowledge of Mr. Sen's diplomatic accomplishments that placed India at a great advantage in Washington, DC. Mr. Jim Moran also spoke about the importance of education as key to development of all people and lauded the efforts of Everybody Wins! DC and appreciated the support offered by the Capital IIT Alumni Association.
     Dr. Natwar Gandhi, CFO, Government of the District of Columbia, quoted Mahatma Gandhi about the criticality of education in the freedom and liberty of the individual. He was very enthused about the activities of Everybody Wins! DC and the support offered by the Association.
     Ms. Mary Salander, representing the Everybody Wins! DC, accepted a check for $1,000 from Mr. Sid Chowdhary on behalf of the Association. Mr. Sid Chowdhary expressed strong support to the organization and announced that the IIT Alumni members will provide 1,000 hours of volunteer mentoring to the students sponsored by Everybody Wins! DC.
     Ambassador Sen presented highlights of his tenure and the excellent support he received from the US friends during his term at the nation's capital representing India. He expressed his admiration for the accomplishments of IITians in both India and the USA. Mrs Kalpana Sen joined Mr. Sen on the stage and short and sweet remarks about her pleasant interactions with members of the association and their families. The Association presented Mr. Ronen Sen with a framed collage of pictures depicting him in the IIT events of the past. We hoped that he will continue to remember his close association with us as we wish him many great future accomplishments. Mrs. Sen was presented with an award of an American Eagle so that she may remember her life and activities in America.
     The evening went like a well tuned IT system (designed and implemented by the IIT guys) and everybody enjoyed the plentiful food and drinks being served from 6 PM to 10 PM. Of course, the organizers did not forget the sponsors. Suresh Shenoy, Hiten Ghosh, and San Sengupta thanked:


Signature Sponsor Tata Sons
 
Gold Sponsors IMC and TechniGraphics
 
Silver sponsor HSBC
 
Bronze sponsor State Bank of India
 
Sponsors CGI and Headstrong
 
The success of the event is also in large measure due to co-promotion by Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, TiE-DC, and Maryland India Business Round Table.
 
Electrosoft, State of Virginia, 3i Infotech, Wiener and Garg, LLC, and GeneSicSmi are among the well wishers of the event.
 
The function was attended by well over two hundred people, and the online registration for the event had to be closed as it was fully subscribed a few days in advance of the event. The most important thing is that we honored Ambassador Sen in a fitting manner and the alumni, the guests, and the sponsors enjoyed the function and contributed to its grand success.
 
If you missed the function, sorry about that! But, the Association plans to organize several other events and sponsors have already been inquiring how they can support. If the sponsors are proud of an event they supported, it must have been a successful function! The Board members have endeavored to bring value to the sponsors' generosity and to present a program that is affordable to members and cherished by all. We honored a great Indian diplomat and leader and the memories will stay with us and our distinguished guests for a long time.