White House  - OFBNP

Press Release - April 8, 2009

Anju Bhargava, President, Asian Indian Women in America, a Pioneer Community Builder and Management Consultant is Appointed to President's Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

The President’s Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships is a Council of advisers to the President on issues relating to the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.  Including social service provision, community development, social change and relevant public policy issues. The President’s Council will form Taskforces in order to study in depth key topics and make recommendations to the President, White House staff and members of government. The Taskforces of the President’s Council will include: Reform of the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Economic Recovery and Fighting Poverty, Fatherhood and Healthy Families, Inter-Religious Dialogue and Cooperation, Environment and Climate Change, Global Poverty, Health and Development. The Council does not make recommendations about federal grants, or federal government hiring. Council membership is a one-year term.
 

Anju Bhargava is the Principal Director of Global Synergy Associates, an international management consulting firm working at the intersection of strategy, risk, leadership and culture through a combination of both business and human levers.  A change catalyst pioneer, Ms. Bhargava, a management consultant, has organized and advocated to build healthy American communities.  Her distinctive research based approach leverages best practices from many spheres - education, government/politics, civic/social, religious/faith based, medical/nursing, corporate/business, for hands on grass-roots level nation building, organizational development and individual coaching.  She is the President of Asian Indian Women in America (AIWA) and has worked extensively in areas such as employment, career development, cultural acculturation, integration, health, education and general welfare to develop a vibrant community. 

Ms. Bhargava began her career over two decades ago as a banker and has held senior level positions in Corporate America, focusing on business transformation, organizational development and risk management.  Her internationally cited research of NatWest USA Bank's Loan loss experience (Enterprise Risk Management) was published by The RMA Journal, and received recognition from the Office of the Comptroller of Currency.  Currently she is working with Rutgers Business School, as a Fellow of Department of Accounting, Business Ethics and Information Systems to frame thoughts on current risk assurance and Enterprise Risk Management issues.   Ms Bhargava has consulted for global companies in diverse industries, coached and mentored talent and provided thought leadership in the public and private sectors.  She has held senior positions at Bear Stearns, BB&T Bank, IBM Global Services, Fleet/NatWest Bank and Chase Manhattan Bank. She has developed an Executive Education program, Chakravyuhu or the labyrinth, a program for mentoring women to make the "step-change" in their careers in the Corporate World. She has taught Organization Management at Rutgers Graduate School of Business.

Ms. Bhargava was the only Indian-American to serve in the Community Builder Fellowship, President Clinton’s White House initiative (1998-2000) where she fostered partnerships, facilitated economic, workforce and business development.  She conducted the 1st comprehensive assessment of immigrants need in New Jersey which became the foundation for many government and community organizations programs (2000).  She was an advisor to Community Foundation NJ which brought diverse parents in Elizabeth and Jersey City together to breakdown cultural barriers.  She was recognized by the Partnership for New Jersey and Governor Whitman as a founder of New Jersey Diversity Network.  As part of AIWA with the City of New York she co-organized the 1st job fair for new underserved communities in 1986. For the past 20 years Ms. Bhargava has been the Hindu representative for Livingston's Interfaith Clergy Association and is a member of the Collective Hindu Initiative.  She has conducted and participated extensively in interfaith dialogues at the local, state, national and international level. She is the first Hindu woman Pujari in New Jersey.  She volunteers at St Barnabas Pastoral Care Department and Livingston's Interfaith Clergy Association.

Ms. Bhargava co-started Asian Indians in Livingston and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr initiative. She has advised Livingston Township and the Board of Education in developing diversity and inclusion strategies to integrate multicultural residents while enhancing the Township’s image and resulting property values.  She has organized community based affinity groups and created a language and cultural education infrastructure to facilitate adaptation and integration.  In 2006, she initiated Utsava, the 1st Festival of India in Winston Salem, NC, an event linked with Winston Salem's strategic direction to revitalize downtown and enhance bio-science workforce development, and with North Carolina's global education vision and goals for school children. She was a founding member of NJ Corporate Diversity Network, an initiative formed with Partnership for New Jersey to "maximize effectiveness of diversity initiatives to enhance business results and positively affect our communities and the economy".