KPMG India Chairman elected to the Council of Foreign Relations

09 April 2019 Consultancy.in

Arun Kumar – the India Chairman of global professional services firm KPMG – has been chosen to be a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in the US. Kumar will leverage his previous expertise as an official under Obama’s government to offer contributions to the global think tank.

CFR is a global institution that was established in the US in 1921, with the specific mandate of being an independent think tank that would inform global leaders in the domain of government, business, education, journalism and religion. The firm aims at facilitating strategic foreign policy decisions.

Membership at CFR is a highly exclusive affair, and is reserved for those who are “unmatched in accomplishment.” Chairman of KPMG India Arun kumar has now been inducted into this exclusive group, not only due to his senior position in the business world but also due to his prior diplomatic experience.

Kumar holds a degree in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, following which he joined Elxsi in San Jose, California as a Controller. He then broke off for an entrepreneurial venture, founding supercomputer company Cyndrome in 1984, where he remained for nearly five years. Arun Kumar, Chairman at KPMG India

In 1995, Kumar joined Big Four accounting and advisory firm KPMG as a Partner in their Mountain View and Santa Clara offices. He remained at KPMG for nearly 19 years, and served as a Leader of management consulting and a Thought Leader in planning and forecasting. Since 2017, he has been the Chairman & CEO of KPMG India.

Between 2014 and 2017, Kumar served under the Obama administration, specifically as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the US Commercial Service. He was primarily responsible for promoting inward investment in the US – experience that he will now leverage in his new role.

Commenting on his appointment, Bill Thomas, Chairman of KPMG International said, “We take pride in Arun's election as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), which has been an influential voice in international relations not just in the US, but across the globe. I am confident that with his global business and diplomatic experience, Arun will add immense value to the CFR.”

Kumar added, “I am honoured to join the Council of Foreign Relations. The work of the CFR is more relevant than ever before, especially in Asia and the part of the world where I now live. I look forward to working with other members of the CFR to foster leading ideas and conversations around vital and strategic foreign policy and business issues in the Indo-Pacific corridor.”