US President Joe Biden has appointed Gautam Raghavan, an Indian American, as head of the White House personnel office.  Raghavan succeeds Catherine Russel who has been appointed executive director of Unicef.  Raghavan was Russel's deputy at the White House Office of Presidential Personnel which is in charge of vetting and recruiting political appointees to about 4,000 jobs that do not career civil service positions.

Raghavan was the first employee hired by Biden's Transition Team and served as the deputy head of presidential appointments, according to the White House. From there he went on to become deputy director of the personnel office with the title of deputy assistant to the president.

The Stanford University graduate was born in India and grew up in Seattle. He is openly gay, and according to the White House “he lives with his husband and their daughter in Washington.” He worked in the White House Office of Public Engagement as liaison to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community as well as the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the administration of former President Barack Obama.

He has been an adviser to the Biden Foundation.

His resume includes a stint as the chief of staff for Pramila Jayapal, the Democratic member of the House of Representatives who is the chair of the leftist group of lawmakers known as the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

According to Indian American media, at least 20 Indian Americans are currently working in the Biden administration. (SAM)