American Telugu Association brings in new leadership

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At a ceremony Jan. 21, 2023, Madhu Bommineni was sworn in as American Telugu Association’s 21st President and will be serving in that role for 2023 and 2024.

The formal ceremony was held at ATA’ board meeting in Las Vegas at the Mirage Resort, where outgoing President Bhuvanesh Boojala conducted Bommineni’s swearing-in ceremony, handing her the gavel symbolizing transfer of responsibility to the new President.

Hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina, Bommineni is the second woman President at ATA and has been associated with the organization for the past 18 years serving in various positions including as Joint Secretary, Secretary, and Executive Director.

During the meeting, the ATA Board also elected Jayanth Challa, unanimously as the President-Elect for the next 2 years.

Under the direction of the President, the ATA board also elected the Executive Committee to serve along with the President, for the next two years, a press release from ATA said.

The new Executive Committee consists of President Madhu Bommineni, President-elect Jayanth Challa, Ramakrishna Reddy Ala (Secretary), Satish Reddy (Treasurer), Tirupati Reddy Yerramreddy (Jt. Secretary), Ravinder Guduru (Jt. Treasurer) and Hari Prasad Reddy Lingala as Executive Director

Bommineni thanked outgoing President Boojala for his guidance and advice in her past two years as President-elect. She recounted her 18 years with ATA, which she said brought her a sense of fulfilment through service to the community and gave her opportunity to grow as a person. She encouraged more women to take part in ATA.

The ATA Board of Trustee elections were held in January 2023 to fill 16 vacant positions for a 4-year term. Newly elected Board of Trustees elected include Anil Boddireddy, Sunny Reddy, Kiran Pasham, Kishore Guduru, Maheedhar Muskula, Narsi Reddy Gaddikoppula, Ramakrishna Reddy Ala, Raju Kakkerla, Sai Sudhini, Srikanth Gudipati, Narsimha Reddy Dhyasani, Raghuveer Maripeddi, Sainath Boyapalli, Satish Reddy, Srinivas Dargula and Vinod Koduru.

Addressing the board, President Bommineni shared her goals, laid out the road map for the organization and announced that team emphasis must be “Responsibility, Teamwork and Commitment to community service.”

President Bommineni re-iterated that while ATA will stay true to its core beliefs of promoting literary, cultural, educational, and social activities of the community, her focus would b on increasing youth participation with emphasis on involving second generation Telugu American youth, to take ATA forward. She urged the board to brainstorm new ideas to meet those objectives. She is also keen on strengthening the ATA SEVA team by providing the needed resources, and stressed the need for ATA to be closely involved with communities where members live through service activities.

The meeting was well attended by the Board of Trustees, Past Presidents, Advisers, Regional Coordinators, Regional Directors, Regional Advisors and Standing Committee Chairs & members of ATA, from all around the U.S., the press release said.