WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — Swati Dandekar, a former member of the Iowa state legislator, has been nominated by the U.S. Senate to serve as the Executive Director to the Asian Development Bank.
Dandekar was the first ever Indian-American to be elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 2003, and will succeed Robert Orr, who has held the post since 2010. The post also carries an ambassadorial rank.
She was additionally the first Indian-born American citizen to win a legislature seat in U.S. history, where she served the Iowa state legislature from 2003 to 2009. She graduated to the Iowa state senate, where she served from 2009 to 2011. President Obama nominated Dandekar to the top position of the Asian Development Bank in November of last year.
Moving on from the statehouse, Dandekar served on the Iowa Utilities Board from 2011 to 2013 and was on the Linn-Mar Community School District Board of Education from 1996 to 2002 as well as being a member of the Iowa Association of School Boards from 2000 to 2002.
Dandekar earned her bachelor’s from Nagpur University and a Post-Graduate Diploma from Bombay University.
Her and her husband Arvind migrated to the United States in 1973. Arvind Dandekar is the CEO and president of Fastek International, located in Hiawatha, Iowa.
