Kerala Center announces award winners for 2024

Photo above: Top row, from l. to r., Wesley Mathews, Hashim Mooppan, Esq., Suja Thomas, and Varkey Abraham Bottom row, from l. to r. Dr. Sunanda Nair, Sibu Nair, Johnson Samuel, and Samcy Kodumon New York: 

The Indian American Kerala Cultural and Civic Center, Inc. will honor eight Indian American Malayalees for their outstanding achievements in their field of specialization and for their service to the society, at its 32nd Annual Awards Dinner to be held on October 19, 2024.  Public officials and leaders from the USA and India are expected to attend this prestigious event.  

“The Kerala Center has been honoring outstanding achievers since 1992. Every year we invite nominations and the Award Committee has to make a unanimous choice for a candidate in a category to receive the award, and this year is no different from previous years in terms of their achievements,” said Dr. Thomas Abraham, Kerala Center’s Trustee Board Chairman and Award Committee Member.

“Kerala Center is very happy to honor American Malayalees who excel in their professions and who work for social progress -- their examples should be an inspiration for others,” said Dr. Madhu Bhaskaran, Chairman of the Board and Award Committee.

This year’s honorees are: Johnson Samuel (Long Island, NY), Humanitarian and Social Service; Suja Thomas (Albany, NY), Nursing Leadership; Wesley Mathews (Trenton, NJ), Public Service; Dr. Sunanda Nair (Houston, TX), Performing Arts; Hashim Mooppan (Washington, DC), Legal Services; Samcy Kodumon (L.I., NY), Pravasi Malayalam Literature; Sibu Nair (Buffalo, NY), Community Service; and Varkey Abraham (Long Island, NY), Business Leadership. 

The awardees will be honored at the Kerala Center's 32nd Annual Awards Dinner on Saturday, October 19, 2024, at 5:30 PM at the Kerala Center, 1824 Fairfax St., Elmont, New York. There will be variety entertainments and a fabulous dinner for the evening.

Dr. Madhu Bhaskaran is the Awards Committee Chairman and other members are Dr. Thomas Abraham and Daisy P. Stephen.

Kerala Center President Alex K. Esthappan said that the Center has recognized over 185 American Malayalees in the last 32 years and that it is great to see that they have continued to rise further in their careers and serve the society. All are invited to join this Annual Awards Dinner. Please contact the Kerala Center to reserve your seats at: 516-358-2000 or at email: [email protected].
For further information, please contact: Alex Esthappan, President, 516 503 9387, Raju Thomas, General Secretary, 516 434 0669. 

Wesley Mathews – Public Service

Wesley Mathews is President & Chief Executive Officer of Choose New Jersey, the State’s leading nonprofit business attraction organization. He promotes New Jersey domestically and abroad as the premier American state in which to build and grow a business. Prior to joining Choose New Jersey, Mr. Mathews was a career diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service and served at embassies and consulates in Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Germany, and Nigeria, as well as in Washington, D.C. During this time, he served as a loaned federal executive to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, establishing the State’s first international trade and investment office. He was instrumental in enhancing New Jersey’s global reach and devising successful strategies to attract greater foreign direct investment. Mr. Mathews is also Chair of the New Jersey-India Commission and serves on several boards, including the New Jersey Innovation Institute and the FIFA World Cup 26 New York New Jersey Host Committee. 

Suja Thomas – Nursing Leadership
 

Suja Thomas is the President of the National Association of Indian Nurses of America (NAINA) and is an Advisory Board Member of the CGFNS Alliance for International Ethical Recruitment Practices. Suja also works as Clinical Lead and Hospital Nursing Supervisor at the Samuel S. Stratton VA Medical Center, with research interests in geriatrics, patient safety, and simulation in nursing education. 
In 2016, she was honored with the Robert Scholar Award for Clinical Excellence. She received the Transformational Leadership Award in 2014 for a research study conducted with the goal of reducing rates of back injury for health care workers through minimal lift program.  She received Quantum Leadership Award in 2021 and Clinical Excellence Award – Nursing Administrator in 2022 from NAINA.

Dr. Sunanda Nair – Performing Arts

Dr. Sunanda Nair is a distinguished Mohiniattam dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She is widely recognized as the “Global Ambassador of Mohiniattam,” promoting its nuances and practices through her dance school, SPARC, and with numerous performances on national and international stages. She is an A-grade artist for Mumbai Doordarshan and has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Sunanda was awarded the Kerala Sangeetha Natak Akademi Award in 2010 and the ‘Kala Ratnam’ Award by Kerala Kalamandalam in 2016.

Her PhD thesis, “Intrinsic Lyrical Feminism in Mohiniattam” (Mumbai University, 2016), reflects her scholarly contributions to the field. Through her dedication to Mohiniattam, Sunanda Nair continues to inspire future generations and uphold the beauty of this classical art form on a global stage.

Hashim Mooppan, Esq.  - Legal Services

Hashim Mooppan is nationally recognized as a leading appellate litigator and legal strategist.  Hashim is currently a partner at the law firm of Jones Day, and he previously held leadership positions in the U.S. Department of Justice, as Counselor to the Solicitor General and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Appellate Staff.   A former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, Hashim has argued five cases in the U.S. Supreme Court and dozens more in the lower federal courts, including several high-profile cases concerning the scope of the President's authority.  Hashim has personally worked on more than 50 Supreme Court merits cases and nearly 100 court of appeals cases, developing a broad range of substantive experience concerning federal constitutional, statutory, and regulatory litigation.  

Hashim graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, and from Harvard College, cum laude.  Hashim grew up in Hewlett, NY with his parents and brother, Unni, Haseena, and Saleem Mooppan, and he resides with his family in Arlington, VA.  
 

Johnson Samuel –Humanitarian and Social Service

Johnson Samuel (Sam/Reggie) is the Founder of Life and Limb, an organization established in 2013, dedicated to serving the needs of amputees throughout Kerala, by providing the highest quality of prosthetic limbs to them. To date, Life and Limb has donated 204 limbs, at an average cost of about $2,000 per limb. They are planning to provide 100 limbs in 2024, at an estimated cost of $170,000. Their mission is to provide individualized care and support that will enable thousands of amputees in Kerala one step closer to regaining control of their lives.

Johnson Samuel resides in Long Island, NY. He came to the USA when he was 17 years old, graduated from Mineola High School, and did college in Queens for his Computer Science degree. For the last 22 years, he has been working for Montefiore Medical Center as Senior Manager leading the IT Networking Department.

Sibu Nair – Community Service

Sibu Nair is a key figure in the Asian community, currently serving as the Deputy Director of Asian Affairs for NY State in Governor Kathy Hochul’s administration. His migration to the US in 2005 marked the beginning of a career that would see him work at the University at Buffalo, NY, in the Department of Medicine for several years.

Mr. Nair is CHAI's founder and Executive Director (Council of Heritage and Arts of India, Inc.), a not-for-profit mainly focused on promoting the Arts, Culture, and Heritage of India in Upstate NY.  He has been involved in the organization since 2018. Since 2010, he has been involved in the Asian community in various capacities. He is a visionary who understands the importance of preserving Asia's heritage and rich culture. He was the past president of the India Association of Buffalo. He served as the Vice President of the Hindu Cultural Society of WNY in 2018.  He successfully bridged the gap between East and West friendships by installing the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the town of Amherst. In 2021, Sibu Nair was honored with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, a prestigious Overseas Indian Award by the Government of India, at the Consulate General of India, NY.

Varkey Abraham – Business Leadership

Mr. Varkey Abraham is a Founding Director of Hanover Bank U.S.A. Abraham is also the CEO of the A and S Leather Company and V A Smith Shoe Company International. Further, Abraham is a real estate investor and serves as Chairman of the Pravasi television channel. He is a member of Loka Kerala Sabha (Invitee). Abraham is a former president of Indo-American Malayalee Chamber of Commerce and also served as a Marthomma Sabha Council Member. He was born in Kerala, India, and is well known in the South Indian community as a philanthropist.

Samcy Kodumon – Pravasi Malayalam Literature

Starting writing in the late 1970s in Kerala and in the late 1990s in America, Samcy has already carved out a niche for himself as an American Malayalee writer. He started publishing his poignantly existentialistic short stories in newspapers and literary magazines. In the US, he espoused the online media as well and went on to paperback publication. He has already published 3 collections of Short Stories and 4 Novels. His latest work is an English translation of his first novel, under the title of The first Book of an Exotic (available in American book stores like Barnes & Noble).

He has been actively involved with LANA (Literary Association of North America) and KCANA (Kerala Cultural Association of North America). He founded the literary forum known as Vicharavedi NY. He has garnered several prestigious awards for his short stories and novels, including MAM (Malayalee Association of Maryland), Janani, and FOKANA. Samcy's latest work is a must-read, a well-researched and gripping historical novel about [Black] slavery in the US, currently serialized in Emalayalee.com.  He now lives with his spouse and children and a grandchild in Long Island, NY.