WASHINGTON: Veena Reddy Sworn In As USAID’s First Indian-American Mission Director

WASHINGTON: US Agency for International
Development (USAID) on Monday named the first Indian-American – Veena Reddy –
as its Mission Director.

“Today,
Veena Reddy was sworn-in as our new Mission Director. She will be the first
Indian-American to lead USAID-India, representing the best of both countries,
and aims to bolster US-India’s development partnership leveraging her unique
experiences and leadership,” tweeted USAID.

“Best
wishes, Veena USAID-India. India-USAID partnership has the potential to make a
difference to the lives of people not only in India and US, but across the
world!” tweeted India’s Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh
Sandhu.

Veena
Reddy, a Foreign Service Officer with the US Agency for International
Development, is USAID/Cambodia’s Mission Director.

She
arrived in Cambodia in August 2017 and currently oversees a staff of 75 as well
as USAID programs in the food security, environment, health, education, child
protection, and democracy and governance sectors.

She has
served as Deputy Mission Director in Haiti, where she oversaw post-earthquake
reconstruction efforts, elections support, economic growth, food security
interventions, hurricane response, and the development of a new strategy.

Prior to
this posting, she served in Washington as an Assistant General Counsel,
covering legal matters for USAID’s programs in Asia, Middle East, and
Afghanistan, and Pakistan. She has also served in USAID missions in Pakistan,
the Central Asian Republics, and Central America.

Ms Reddy
was a corporate attorney at Rogers & Wells in New York and at Akin Gump
Strauss Hauer and Feld in London and Los Angeles.

 She holds a Juris Doctorate (JD)
from Columbia University School of Law and an MA and BA degrees from the
University of Chicago. She is a member of the New York and California bars.