Indian American Sunil Puri Named to President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts

President Joe Biden has appointed Indian American entrepreneur Sunil Puri as a member of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts (PACA). Members of the committee “are civic and cultural leaders who are selected by the President of the United States to serve as representatives in their own communities for the Kennedy Center,” according to a White House press release announcing the appointments last week.

Established in 1958 by President Eisenhower, the PACA has played a valuable role in sustaining the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Cultural Center. “The center considers PACA appointees to be ‘Ambassadors for the Arts,’ acting as a national network for the center,” the White House said. The committee serves as a national forum, giving its members the opportunity to share with the Kennedy Center their views on the center’s artistic programming.

The Mumbai-born, Rockford, Illinois-based Puri is CEO and founder of First Midwest Group, a national real estate firm active in residential, commercial, and industrial development. He has also been active in venture capital and other private equity investment domestically and in Africa, South America, and Asia for over two decades.

Puri immigrated to the U.S. from India in 1979. A long-standing advocate for social equity and immigration issues, he previously served as a commissioner for President Obama on the White House Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

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The Puri Family is also highly active in philanthropy, notably with the creation of the Puri School of Business at Rockford University in 2014.