President Barack Obama has appointed Indian American management consultant Anju Bhargava as the member of a faith-based advisory council of the White House. The Faith council is part of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships. The council includes religious and secular leaders and scholars from different backgrounds as its members.

 

The office acts as a resource for nonprofits and community organizations, both secular and faith based, looking for ways to make a bigger impact in their communities. Bhargava is the second Indian American to be appointed to the council after Eboo S Patel. Patel is the founder and executive director of Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago. Both Bhargava and Patel's appointments are for one year.

 

Bhargava is the Principal Director at Global Synergy Associates, an international management consulting firm. She is also the founder president of the New Jersey-based Asian Indian Women of America. In the community arena, she served as a Community Builder Fellow for President Bill Clinton's White House initiative (1998-2000), where she fostered partnerships, facilitated economic, workforce and business development.