Woburn, MA, December 2, 2022: US Congresswoman and Assistant Speaker of the House of Representatives Katherine Clark and Museum of Science President Tim Ritchie joined about 300 entrepreneurs, corporate executives, philanthropists, educators and community leaders to honor New England Choice Award recipients at Hilton Woburn Hotel in Woburn, MA. (Photos: Cocoon Media)
Organized by INE MultiMedia, Inc., in collaboration with INDIA New England News, New England Choice Awards also honored Congresswoman Clark and Mr. Ritchie for their services.
Renowned nephrologist, philanthropist, community activist and Visterra President and CEO Brian Pereira was honored with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement. In addition, six leading Indian American go-getters and super achievers from academics to business to healthcare, and a non-profit organization were awarded the prestigious New England Choice Awards (NECA) on Nov. 19, 2022 at Hilton Woburn.
This year’s NECA award recipients were: Madhu Sudan, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Sciences at John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University; Indira Viswanathan Peterson, a leading scholar of Sanskrit, Tamil literature and South Indian cultural history and performing arts; Aman Narang, President and Co-Founder of Toast Inc., which empowers restaurants of all sizes and has a market cap of $11 billion; Seshi Sompuram, President of Shishu Bharati, which teaches Indian languages and culture to about 900 students each year; Dr. Nagagopal Venna, MD, Chief of the Division of Neuro-Immunology and Neuro-Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital; Shriya Srinivasan, a MIT Postdoctoral Researcher, Incoming Assistant Professor at Harvard University, Forbes 30 Under 30 and a Biomedical Engineer; and India Association of Greater Boston (IAGB), one of the oldest non-profit community organizations in the United States.
“One of the feedback that we heard constantly from our Awardees and audience was that it was a very elegant and unique event that was very inspirational and heartwarming,” said Dr. Manju Sheth, MD President of INE Multimedia and creator of the awards show. “This show has truly been a labor of love for me. I am very grateful to be given an opportunity to honor some extraordinary people.”
The 2022 New England Choice Awards team consisted of Anu Chitrapu, Upendra Mishra, Mandy Pant, Anupendra Sharma, Manju Sheth and Aditi Taylor. The judging committee consisted of several prominent members and entrepreneurs of the Indian American community.
NECA this year was produced with the support of number of community sponsors: Cocoon Media, TaranaOM Creations, Sraveo, Foto Duniya, Paani Restaurant, and DJ Randeep.
Aakriti, a vibrant team of dancers with rigorous training in Indian classical dance disciplines, performed songs and dances from the film Bajirao Mastani and TV show Bandish Bandits. Young vocalist and singer Reeshabh Purohit of Berkele College of Music entertained the audience with songs.
