SATYAGRAH SOULS is a monthly column highlighting the commu-nity involvement and success of role-model Indian Americans, providing an inspiration for each of us to strive for similar uplifting purposes, while giving back to our local community. Indian Americans are going through a transitional evolution while getting entrenched in a new world, exerting zealous work ethics, supporting the American economy as entrepreneurs, high tech geeks, doctors, lawyers and more.
We are definitely imposing the positive intentions and good citizen values upon this fantastic country. But can our involvement run a bit deeper with issues near and dear to our hearts, within our local city with the local public school that our child attends? Do you sometimes hear your conscience asking you, “Am I doing enough?” with a pinch of guilt? Yes we can get involved a bit more, push our comfort zone and enhance the learning and involvement. Our involvement can simply start with developing a healthy curiosity in our local community, instead of being ‘busy’ bystanders.
Once we get involved, we will quickly discover how easy it is for us to make change happen and how receptive everyone around is to leverage our skills for the good. More importantly, how freeing and energizing the experience is; personally rewarding and transformative at the same time.
There are many who have made their mark in doing just that. With this monthly series, we want to highlight these SatyAgrah souls who are showing us the path. Here is a satyaGrah soul, who has found his calling…
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Raja Krishnamoorthi, 41, has a unique understanding of the challenges facing the U.S. economy and their implications for families and future workers. With successful experience in both the public and private sectors, he will go to Congress with clear ideas to help more Americans find good jobs and economic security in a changing world.
Raja currently serves as President of Sivananthan Labs and Episolar, Inc., small businesses that develop and sell products in the national security and renewable energy industries.
He is a co-founder of InSPIRE, a non-profit organization that provides training to Illinois students and veterans in solar technology, and was formerly Vice-Chairman of the Illinois Innovation Council, whose mission is to promote innovative technologies that support economic growth and job creation in Illinois.
Raja previously served as Illinois’s Deputy Treasurer, where he helped revamp the state’s unclaimed property system by using technology to increase the amount of property returned to taxpayers while cutting the program’s costs. He also helped run the state’s technology venture capital fund, assisting in the creation of hundreds of good-paying jobs in Illinois. In 2006, Raja was appointed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to serve as Special Assistant Attorney General in her Public Integrity Unit. He also served as a member of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, where he was Chairman of the Audit Committee.
The son of Indian immigrants to the U.S., Raja was raised in Peoria, Illinois, where he attended public schools and graduated as a valedictorian of his high school class. Raja earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in mechanical engineering from Princeton University and graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. Following law school, Raja clerked for a federal judge in Chicago, served as issues director for Barack Obama’s successful United States Senate campaign in 2004, and became a partner at an Illinois law firm.
Raja is married to Priya, a doctor at a local hospital. They live in Schaumburg with their sons Vijay, 9, and Vikram, 5, who attend public schools in District 54.
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Raja we are excited to see you run for Congress. What is your moti vation? What made you jump in?
Raja: Thank you Rishi for talking to me. I am running for Congress from Illinois’s 8th Congressional district, the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. I am the son of immigrant parents who were both engineers but found themselves without a job during the 1971 recession. My parents were then taken care of by the government programs back in those days. That has defined our lives.
My parents have always said that whatever you do, make sure that the government and the society is there for families who may not be so fortunate. That has been my motivation with every job I have held, every position that I have held in the government – and now running for Congress.
I will create an opportunity to continue to fulfill that and ensure that the ones who are not so fortunate are taken care of.
Our country which I believe is the greatest nation the world has ever known, has the ability to enable people to go from nothing to having something and realize the God given potential. We have to always remember that as we move up socially and economically, we reach back and pull people up and not remove the ladder. My mission is to help enable our people to get to their full potential, help more Americans find good jobs and economic security in a changing world.
Raja you have a unique blend of high-tech innovation, politics and public service. How will that help you with the job? What are the key drivers for success in office?
Raja: Simply stated, you need people with good relationship building, listening skills, you need to find the common ground and build on it. This is what we do every day in business. But for whatever reason we are not doing that in Congress.
As a Democrat, I may not share the same views as a Republican. But there is a lot that we share in common. So the question is how do we identify those common areas and build upon them? I have done that as a business man, and I hope to continue doing that in Washington DC, collaborating with others, discovering common areas, building upon them for the good of our country.
What are the top issues you hope to hit as a result of this unique nexus.
Raja: There are a number of issues I care about. The health of a society is based on health of education and how women are empowered economically. So let me highlight a couple of issues here.
One of the questions to answer is how do you get and keep people in the middle class, to have the skills to upgrade and adapt to the changing economy. Answer is higher education and life long learning. The price to go to college has sky rocketed keeping middle class families out of it. That needs to be fixed! We have a five point plan for colleges to help address that. Another issue is related to empowering women.
We have to empower the women of our country, even more economically than what we have now. That means equal pay, access to paid maternity, sick leave, high quality child care and more. And the final issue I want to talk about is innovation.
I believe that our energy future is renewable energy. How do we as a country move forward, innovate and create jobs in renewable energy for the future? Solar can provide 20% of the world energy by 2050, right now it is 1%. There will be economic wealth and gains to be made in that sector over the several decades.
What is going through your mind as a CEO from the hi-tech world jumping into the world of politics? Are you concerned that it may be too slow for a fast paced corporate innovator?
Raja: I spent a long time in government. The challenge and the pace at which issues are evolving is rapid and will keep anybody engaged. The real question is, are were going to have a political culture where we can get things done. We have to bring that small business acumen to the picture. As small business I cannot debate endlessly and not take action when there are clear challenges that need to be addressed head on.
Whether global climate change or equipping our citizens with the tools to evolve and work in a rapidly changing economy or addressing public policy challenges that are hard to escape. My background can help in moving the ball forward.
How was it like to work on the Obama campaign in Illinois? Can you share your insights and learning and how they are helping you today?
Raja: I worked for three of President Obama’s campaigns. Back in 1999 as a policy researcher for US Congress against Bobby Rush. I learnt from that campaign that timing matters when you run for office. In 2002 I was his policy director for the US Senate campaign.
I learnt that credentials may not matter but talking about issues and stuff that matters to everyday people is. That is something that President Obama did well which took him to victory on the Senate race. People of Illinois are good decent people who look past name and skin color, but look for who you are as a person, the message, how you want to help people and your vision to guide the country forward. I was inspired to run for office after the campaign.
How engaged is the Indian community in Illinois getting involved locally and giving back in the neighborhood and the schools?
Raja: I am seeing our Indian American community more and more engaged. I am heartened to see many amongst the young professionals, high school kids. There are many who have entered public service. We have so many volunteers who work in various capacities for our campaign. The next challenge is two fold: Get our community to vote commensurate to our numbers.
We need to have them run for office, become more politically engaged and have a full voice in the political life of our country. We need a seat on the table. If you don’t have a seat on the table you are on the menu. It is time, we engaged politically in the life of this country and its communities.
What is your advice for wanna-be political aficionados who want to run for office? How would you advise them to get started?
Raja: One important thing is to think deeply on why you want to run, and whether you can do something meaningful once you get into office. There has to be a good reason why you are running and then a message that communicates that motivation and everything builds off that. Whether getting support for campaign, fundraising or finally getting votes, there has to be a reason for what you are doing why you are doing. It has to be compelling.
You will be giving up a lot of time, putting a burden on your family and loved ones. But, it can be incredibly satisfying and meaningful if you have taken the time to answer the question and then giving it all you can.
Raja thank you! We wish you the best for your Congressional run and all future endeavors. We will be following you closely and hope to see you as the winner on November 1st 2016.
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Dear Readers
Do you have a story to share? We invite you to introduce us to folks in your community who are making a difference – we would love to profile them. Are there similar stories you are familiar with locally. The ones who helped address a simple issue in the community to make life a bit better. Perhaps someone you know decided to make a run for school board, was appointed to the planning commission. Provide us your insights on Indian Americans locally and nationally who are making things happen. These perspectives will help construct roadmaps for our community to empower ourselves, to hopefully ignite a desire in all of us to represent our local communities as doers, leaders, establish and entrench ourselves in this glorious country of America and help make it a better place.
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ABOUT RISHI: Rishi is Silicon Valley’s community worker seeking to make a difference in his local community. As an elected city councilmember in Saratoga, CA he continues to follow his passion for community service. As city councilmember Rishi seeks to provide services to the citizens of Saratoga cheaper, faster and better; community outreach and engagement is a focus for him on the council. As Saratoga’s community organizer, Rishi is host of many community events in Saratoga, many of which are free and always inclusive usually addressing a need or a cause. Community events such as bike safety workshop to help with the safety of kids biking to school, drought tolerant vegetation seminar, documentary screenings, Saratoga has Talent annual competition that raises money for Saratoga’s Seniors every year, Diwali, Dandia along with free weekly Sunday classes such as Lego Robotics, Bollywood fitness, Young Coders club, Meditation, Yoga, Hindi, Balagokulam and more.
Rishi’s day job is as a Silicon Valley hi-tech executive but his zeal for community service effervescent. Rishi is also the President of the Bay Area Indian American Democratic Club (www.baiadc.org) whose charter is to further the interests and values of Indian Americans, work towards political empowerment and advance ethical standards in the political system. You can reach him via his website www.RishiKumar.com.
A MONTHLY SERIES – BY RISHI KUMAR
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