Bob Danville, Chief of Global Sourcing for The Home Depot presenting the award to Shiv Aggarwal	Vijay Vemulapalli	Narsi Narasimhan	Dr. P.V. Rao

Shiv Aggarwal of Global Mall, Narsi Narasimhan, Chairman of Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, Dr. P.V. Rao, professor of Emory University, and Vijay Vemulapalli of Vibha Inc., were Indian awardees among "25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia."

Shiv Aggarwal is currently busy translating into reality his vision of creating North America’s first Indian indoor mall (Global Mall). He says Global Mall will have dual wings — "a shopping mall and a community hub." Aggarwal chairs the Board of Gwinnet’s village Community Improvement District, which raises money to provide increased police protection and landscaping in the area.

Narsi Narasimhan, who is the co-founder and the CEO of Paalam Inc., needs hardly any introduction. He is well known in the community and founder of IPN, an informal networking group around metro Atlanta. He is the current chairman of Georgia Indo American Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. P.V. Rao is an erudite professor of nuclear physics in Emory University and held in esteem by the Atlanta’s Indian community. Dr. Rao has rendered dedicated service spanning over four decades to the cause of the Indian community in America. He has exhibited extraordinary versatility in handling different skills and tasks. Dr. Rao is presently the vice president of Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta - an organization actively building bridges between various religious communities of metro Atlanta.

Vijay Vemulapalli is well known as a leader in the Indian non-profit community in Atlanta. For the past 15 years, he has been heading Vibha - a national voluntary organization with more than 15 centers in US - creating awareness and raising funds for the underprivileged children of India and the US. He is currently the Secretary and a member of the board of Vibha.

The Home Depot hosted a luncheon reception in honor of Georgia’s Asian American community leaders and businesses on the same day. Chairman & CEO Frank Blake hosted an exclusive reception in honor of the 25 award winners.


"The Home Depot is proud to be a part of the effort to honor these individuals for their accomplishments and contributions to the community," said Lynn Wong, team leader of Asian Affinity Group at the Home Depot.

Over 200 community leaders from the diverse Asian Pacific community participated in the luncheon and award presentation. Consuls of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan were also present at the event.

Frank Bifulco, Chief Marketing Officer of the Home Depot, delivered the keynote ad-dress at the awards presentation. In his address, Bifulco stated that the Home Depot was working towards meeting Asian consumers shopping needs and experience. This year’s 25 nominees were selected by a committee comprising of Asian journalists based in Georgia -. Ravi R. Ponangi of Indian Tribune, Sunny Kim of Korea Times, Yom Razak of Georgia Asian Times and Peter Yeh of World Journal - and the committee started the selection process way back in December 2008.

"This year’s award winners represent over 20 different ethnic Asian communities in Georgia and these individuals have provided positive contribution to the community, while enhancing the Asian image overall," said Li Wong, publisher of Georgia Asian Times while introducing the 25 award winners.

Bob Danville, Chief of Global Sourcing for the Home Depot, presented a crystal plaque to each of this year’s award winners.