Bhuvanesh Boojala took charge as the new President of the American Telugu Association, ATA, a premier umbrella Organization serving the Telugu people’s needs across North America. Mr.Boojala, who hails from the Washington DC area, has been an ardent follower of ATA since 2004 and, as a Coordinator, was instrumental in the success of the Philadelphia Convention in 2014. Mr.Boojala was sworn in as the new President of ATA on Saturday, January 16th, at the ATA board meeting held at the Omni International Hotel in Nashville, TN. President Parmesh Bheemreddy passed on the baton to the new president.
The meeting was well attended, given the pandemic situation, by the board of trustees, past presidents, advisers, standing committee heads, regional coordinators, and directors from all around the US. ATA Board of Trustee elections were held in December 2020 to fill 15 vacant board of Trustee positions, a 4-year term, and around 5000 ATA members all across the US exercised their franchise. The newly elected Board of trustees elected includes Jayanth Challa, Kashiviswanatha Kotha, Parashuram Pinnapureddy, Sharada Singireddy, Somashekar Nalla, Thirupathi Reddy Yerramreddy, Hanu Thirumal Reddy, Prasheel Gukanti, Raghuveer Reddy, Ram Annadi, Ravinder Gudur, Rinda Sama, Sharath Vemula, Sudheer Bandaru & Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy Thupally.
Addressing the board, President Boojala laid out the organization’s road map and announced that 1-844-ATA-SEVA will be expanded to all the major cities across the US and that its dedicated volunteer base is ready to serve the community during crisis times. ATA Board encouraged the Telugu Community to reach out to the ATA Service line during an emergency. President Boojala re-iterated that while ATA will stay true to its core beliefs of promoting literary, cultural, educational, and social activities of the community, his focus areas would include emphasizing ATA’s Foundational activities in India and ATA achieving financial stability during his tenure. President encouraged the board to brainstorm new ideas on how to involve second-generation youth in ATA related activities, increase youth participation, and eventually come into leadership positions. Mr.Boojala was ecstatic to announce to the board that the 17th ATA National Convention will be held at Washington DC Walter E. Convention Centre from July 1-3, 2022, the first time in the organization’s history. ATA Youth scholarships, Literary programs, Student Services, Health camps, and ATA Matrimony programs will be given a new impetus during his presidency. A new business incubator committee has been added.
The ATA board elected the executive committee members for the next two years: Bhuvanesh Reddy Boojala(President); Madhu Bommineni (president-elect); Hariprasad Reddy Lingala(secretary), Sainath Reddy Boyapalli (treasurer), RamaKrishna Reddy Ala (Jt. Secretary), Vijay Kundur (Jt. Treasurer) and Raghuveer Reddy(Executive Director).
The new president appreciated President Bheemreddy and his team for their excellent efforts and relief efforts during these troubled COVID-19 times.