Kiran Ahuja is a civil rights lawyer and activist who will hold a leading position in the US presidential transition team. She is set to be the head of team for the federal administration human resources agency, the federal investigation office for civil service and protection of whistleblowers.
This agency-review team ensures that a smooth transition of power takes place for the Biden-Harris duo. Review teams differ from the COVID advisory board, where two other American Indians also hold leading positions. The former exist to help in the transition only.
Earlier, Ahuja was the CEO of Philanthropy Northwest, for over three years. From 2015 to 2017, Ahuja, a civil rights lawyer, worked as the chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management, US.
Ahuja earned her Juris Doctor (J.D) degree in 1998 from the University of Georgia School of Law. She then went on to work for the Department of Justice hoping to engage in civil rights work.
Realising the system was too slow for her, Ahuja quickly shifted to non-profit work. She then went on to become the founding executive director of the National Asian Pacific Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and worked there from 2003-2008.
It was in December, 2009 that she was appointed as the executive director of the White House initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, under President Barack Obama.
Her work as the ED at the White House includes increasing healthcare for the Asian Americans and Pacific Island (AAPI), revealing exposure to health toxins by nail salon workers and translating necessary information on the Gulf Oil Spill to the non-English speakers who were AAPI members.
