ATLANTA , GA: Highlighting some of the most influential and well connected Indian-American professionals in the Country, the 2005 Network of Indian Professionals National Conference closed last night (September 6, 2005) with a look at the present and a vision towards the future of the group. The Conference convened over 900 professionals that included registered attendees, speakers and distinguished guests along with executives from leading corporations like The Home Depot, PepsiCo, MTV, The Blackstone Group, Microstrategy and more. Over a dozen Conference sessions and panels addressed many timely and relevant topics and included subjects like: HIV/AIDS in India , The philosophy of Vedanta, Indian-American influence on U.S. political landscape, Indian-Americans in Hollywood , and the Emergence of an Indian-American identity. Keynote speakers included 2004 Olympics Gymnastics team captain and silver medalist, Mohini Bhardwaj and 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist Suketu Mehta.

"I'm extremely honored that we were able to host the 2005 NetIP National Conference in Atlanta . It was simply the right place and the right time for our culture, community, city”, said Ashish Mistry, NetIP Conference Chairman. “Our achievements as a demographic group have been highlighted on a global stage and our goal for this Conference was to bring individuals tied to these accomplishments face to face with attendees. We worked very hard to make this happen and the results were simply amazing," said Mistry.

Over 40 speakers and entertainers were featured during the 2005 NetIP National Conference including:

• Ms. Mohini Bhardwaj, 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist and U.S. Gymnastics team Captain
• Ms. Saira Mohan, Supermodel
• Mr. Nusrat Durrani, SVP and GM MTV Global (parent of MTV Desi)
• Mr. Suketu Mehta, 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Maximum City
• Dr. Jagdish (Jag) Sheth, Charles Kelstadt Professor of Marketing – Emory University
• Mrs. Vibha Paul Rishi, Vice President of Marketing – PepsiCo
• Mr. Krishnan Menon, Chief Strategy Officer – DDB
• Ms. Pooja Kumar, Actress – Bombay Dreams, Flavours
• Ms. Kathy Kulkarni, Senior Public Policy Officer - Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
• Mrs. Maureen Lewis, Senior Fellow – Center for Global Development
• Mr. Anjan Mukherjee, Principal – The Blackstone Group
• Mr. Shyam Reddy, Candidate – Secretary of State for the State of Georgia
• Mr. Gordon Dwyer Todd, Counsel – U.S. Department of Justice
• Panjabi Hit Squad – London , England
• Tigerstyle – Glasgow , Scotland

NetIP North America also recognized the NetIP San Francisco and NetIP Dallas Chapters as their Best Large and Best Small Chapters respectively. In addition to the chapter awards, Chicago , IL was announced as the host city for the 2006 NetIP National Conference. “We look forward to hosting the membership of NetIP in Chicago over labor day weekend in 2006; this is the city where NetIP was founded and we are proud to host the Conference on the organizations 15 th anniversary” said Sharad Agarwal, incoming Conference Chairman.

ABOUT NETIP

The Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of Indian Americans through professional development, political participation, cultural enrichment, community service, and social interaction. NetIP has become a leading international organization for Indian professionals – one that has been recognized by political, civic and community leaders around the country. NetIP has become the unequivocal voice for the emerging and confident Indian American professional. For more information about NetIP and the 2005 Conference, please visit www.netipconference.org .

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